Thursday, October 28, 2010

HOT HOT HOT

Yes, it's Hot 100 Update #5. I don't know why Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot" song popped into my head. Perhaps because of Steve's confession last night that he associates people with songs -- and he likes hot peppers, and started the Hot 100 contest. So apparently, that's his song -- in my head, anyway.

I've had a wonderful time cruising among your blogs this week -- I've found lots of inspiration and motivation and plenty of thoughtful commentary that encourages me to delve deeper into my own mental blocks regarding weight loss/food addiction.

Right, to the goals:

#1: Eat Weight Loss Portions Every Meal: I have worked harder on this in the past four days than ever before. It requires me to REALLY slow down when I eat, and that's always a challenge for me. I am trying with all my might to STOP EATING when I'm about 80 percent full.

For lunch now I'm eating small, organic burritos that have 370 calories. It's a decent amount of calories, I think, but the portion is very controlled. It's a deliberate training technique -- I challenge myself to make that burrito last as loooong as possible and enjoy it thoroughly. And when it's gone, it's gone.

I am not "full" after I eat it. But I am no longer hungry. I am trying to live in that state now, and be comfortable there. It does not feel comfortable to me yet. Or, I should say that physically it does, but emotionally and mentally it has the opposite effect. I feel anxious, a little nervous, I feel like something is missing.

It takes a lot of concentration to redirect my mind to something else and forget about eating more so I can feel just a little bit fuller (I have nothing else to eat, so I can't anyway!). But if I can distract myself for 10 minutes, the urge to stuff more goes away on its own.

Monday night we went to my friend's event (the one I was whining about) and on the way home we looked for a place to eat. We ended up at a Shake Shack, a gourmet burger joint that only sells burgers, hot dogs, fries, milkshakes and beer and wine. Fun, no? I vowed to drink only water, and that's what I did.

I was relieved to see when my cheeseburger came it was small -- very good portion control. Ditto the fries. I ate my meal slowly. It was good. And I wanted more. How hard was it to get up and walk away? SOOO hard. So very very hard. For inspiration, I came home and read The Daily Diary of a Winning Loser.

Sean has some great thoughts on how to handle food addiction and food freedom. He should know -- he went from over 500 lbs to the low 200s!

Goal #2: Run a 5K: I missed last week because of the hiking fall. This week I did two 5Ks (yay!). The first was Monday and I thought I'd smoked it. Seriously, the machine said I came in under 40 minutes and that I did my last mile in under 12 minutes.

Well, that was not what a different machine told me Thursday morning when I got up early to go to the gym for run No. 2! At the same rate of speed, this machine said I was doing about a 15-minute mile. Whoa. Big difference. I thought it strange that I was suddenly a Speedy Gonzalez on Monday. Bottom line: I ran two 5Ks. That's what counts.

Goal #3: Lose 25 lbs. A month ago I bought a light jacket in a size that usually fits my shoulders and bust but not my hips. It fit all over. I got excited. On Sunday I bought another, different light jacket in the same size. It fit my shoulders and bust. It did not fit my hips. ARRRRGH! These hips! I assume it's a different style and cut and all that, but I will be so excited when I lose a few more inches from the woolly mammoth hips. That said, the skinny jeans are slowing getting looser, back to where they were four months ago.

By the way, what does NSV mean? Good luck Hotties -- look forward to reading your updates!

12 comments:

  1. NSV= Non Scale Victory!!! Sounds like you had a great week....

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  2. What an awesome week! I was about to say great NSV! :-) Thanks for jumping in and explaining it, Ron - now I can say it!

    Great NSV!!!

    Keep up the good work, Ish. You have inspired me to try and slow down my eating. That is such a real challenge for me.

    p.s. I got a good chuckle out of the song.

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  3. Gee thanks, now I have that song in my mind!!

    SO good on resisting temptation, especially at a place called Shake Shack! Good for you!

    Gotta tell you, I didn't know what NSV was either, I kept meaning to google it. I'm not into acronyms!

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  4. Woooohoooo! Way to go with the mindful eating. It really makes it much more enjoyable doing it that way too. If you're a food snob like me, getting more from it without eating more is always a bonus. Thanks so much for your comments on my blog too. I was struggling with whether or not to continue on this path but it was really everyone's comments that helped me realize that I've got a good thing going and it would be silly to stop.

    Happy Friday! :)

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  5. Doing great! Keep it up! I totally get the uncomfortable feeling after dinner being satisfied and not full. I still work with that.

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  6. Yay for you! I love when I put on an old pair of jeans and they fit. You are doing so great.

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  7. You are doing such a great job. I think it was a victory to only drink water and have the small cheeseburger. Eating out is hard and I also had to learn that I didn't need to feel that I'm FULL feeling. Just, not hungry anymore. I still struggle with it and I'm sure it is emotional. Learning when I'm really needing food and just wanting food is a habit I am working on.

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  8. It took me a while to find your blog, were you the one who asked me about my chai? If so, I commented back, but you might not have seen it so I came here.
    "I make a chai drink brewed in milk and water. Its 1/2 cup skim milk, two chai spiced tea bags, water, sweetener, sugar free vanilla creamer. Comes to 50 calories a cup.
    I like Tazo spiced chai and good earth chai tea. More about it here: http://www.2basnob.com/chai-tea.html"

    Now, it looks like you are doing an awesome job on your goals! Especially with the portion control!

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  9. I see you got your question answered:) Love the NSVs!

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  10. You are SMOKING HOT, Ish! Love, love, love your drive to slow down your eating. When I manage to do that, I really enjoy my food so much more - it is almost like a ritual - and that tends to fill me up in half the amount I would have otherwise needed.

    Keep going and GOOD LUCK for the coming week!

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  11. You are doing great towards your goals! Hope this week is off to a good start too!

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  12. I think I need to do your method, Ish. Limit my meals and enjoy them slowly!

    I tend to bring all my food for the day, but I eat it over time, kind of grazing at it. So, that I never really feel fulfilled, but I do eat my Calories. I may make them three meals at work and see how that works for breakign my food addiction.

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