Nine lessons learned from losing 90 pounds
When you lose over 90 pounds, the process will change you. You learn things about yourself, see yourself in a new light and even evolve into a better version of yourself (and not just because you lost a ton of weight). I’m going to share with you nine lessons I have learned on my journey to losing over 90 pounds in hopes that they can help you on your journey. I enjoy sweets and treats more the less I eat them On my journey, I didn’t restrict any types of foods, including sweets. In fact, at the beginning I was eating sweets multiple times a day. Eventually I began to focus on foods that really gave me sustained energy and the sweets became less of my daily routine. And you know what? Creating more space and time between the sweets really allowed me to create desire and anticipation for the treat. I savored them more and they were much more enjoyable when they were just a standard part of my day. Emotional eating comes in many forms I was aware that I was an emotional eater but as I began to check in with myself more regularly before eating, I realized I was emotionally eating ALL. THE. TIME. If I was stressed about the kids being crazy kids, let’s look for some relief in the pantry. Work task that I didn’t want to start? Hmm…. maybe I should grab a snack before I get started. Bored? Let’s eat. Tired? A quick bite might energize me. If I was having a disagreement with my husband, I’ll show him by eating the last of the cookies! Feeling proud of my kids school performance? Let’s get ice cream! Becoming aware of all the times I was eating when I wasn’t truly hungry helped me figure out the real solutions for those problems. Now I take a power nap if I’m tired or go to my room for a quick breather when they kids are being crazy. Solving for the true problem allows me to feel better while also losing weight in an enjoyable way. It was time to parent myself My high weight of 250 pounds came from a lot of emotional eating and a side of “I don’t wanna.” I didn’t want to deal with my emotions. Eating fresh fruits and veggies didn’t sound fun. 11,000 steps each day sounded hard. I didn’t want to stick to a food plan. I basically conditioned myself to be a big baby whose brain would throw a fit at the thought of what it would take to get healthier and lose weight. I wanted pleasure and I wanted it NOW. I realized that many of the things I was allowing myself to do (like eat entire boxes of cookies or sit on the couch all day) were things I would never let my kids do. I know that moving your body, getting sunshine and eating a well balanced diet is key to good mental and physical health. Somehow I had convinced myself that because I already KNOW these things that meant I could be exempt from actually doing them. Not only was living my life that way taking a toll on my body but I was increasing mom guilt as I knew I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching to my kiddos. So I started to parent myself. I would acknowledge that I was making changes and that changes are often uncomfortable. That’s OK. It wasn’t going to kill me. In fact the more I practiced this new way of living, the more I would become comfortable with it and even appreciate it. I also made an agreement with myself that just because “I didn’t wanna” didn’t make that a valid excuse for not doing something. Logically I knew these actions were all what was best for me and I could do them even if “I didn’t wanna.” The scale is just one piece of data Yep, it’s been said before and I’m saying it again. The scale is just a number. And it is only one number to consider on your weight loss journey. From the beginning of my weight loss journey, I made sure to track other measurements too. I took body weight measurements, used habit trackers and took progress pictures. These were invaluable as I had weeks were the scale didn’t move (or gasp, went up!). These other measurements helped me stay grounded as I could reflect on the efforts I was putting forth and other changes that my body was making. Other ideas for non-scale measurement are body fat measurements, changes in how much you can lift and cardio endurance. Not sure how to measure cardio endurance? Climb a flight of stairs each month and record how long it takes, how long it takes you to catch your breath and how you feel afterwards. You can also track your mood throughout the process. Every morning record your mood in a journal. Exercise has been proven to elevate your mood so when you start noticing more happy and content days, that’s progress! The only diet drama comes from my own head This lesson took me a little longer to learn. When you are 100 pounds overweight, the beginning of your weight loss journey can be very thrilling. I made very little changes to my diet (I only stopped eating when I had enough, instead of being full) and the weight seemed to fall off. Eventually more changes had to be made to keep losing weight and certainly it was falling off me anymore. Cue the drama! I realized that the weeks where the scale didn’t drop “enough,” stayed the same or went up a bit were really difficult for me. All the sudden my motivation would disappear and I would start questioning if I would ever be able to reach my goal. I knew this was a normal part of the weight loss journey but it felt terrible. So I
How To Stop Night Time Snacking
How do you stop late night snacking?! It’s a problem that many of my clients have. You finish up the nightly chores, put the kids to bed and grab a seat on the couch to relax for a bit. Then it hits you, “I think we still have some of those chips in the pantry” or “I could really use some chocolate right now.” Whatever the craving, it comes down to eating when you hadn’t intended and with a side effect of weight gain that you truly didn’t want. Here are five tips to STOP night time snacking: Make a commitment Sounds simple enough but this is different than simply saying that you want to stop night time snacking. This is an actual commitment that you follow through on. Something I do with myself and coach my clients on is the concept “Decide and done.” Once you make the decision that you are not going to snack at night anymore, that’s it. No more discussion. No more back and forth with excuses and justifications. No more second guessing the decision. Going back and forth with yourself about whether or not to have that snack only serves to make you miserable now and potentially make a decision that takes you further away from the person you are trying to become. “To-try list” The thoughts we think are instructions for our brain. When we tell our brain NOT to do something, the instructions aren’t very clear. While the instruction to not do something is generally singular, the options for what to do can be endless. With lack of clarity on what to do in that moment, your brain will want to default back to what it knows and what it has always done: reach for the night time snacks. To make the instructions for your brain more clear, make a list of 20 things to try when you are having a craving to snack at night. Every person is different so I can’t tell you that knitting will certainly work any more than I could tell you the reading a book would. These are things to try and then evaluate how well they worked. Change your routine Humans are creatures of habit. We love routines and predictability. If night time snacking is a part of your routine, then consider creating a new night time routine. You don’t have to turn the whole routine upside down. It could be something as simple as not sitting in your usual spot on the couch. Also, be aware that if your body is used to being fed again at 9pm you are likely going to experience hunger cues at that time for a few weeks before your body gets used to the new routine. This is OK. Expect it and remind yourself that you are getting closer to being the future version of you that doesn’t snack at night. It’s something to be celebrated! Close down your mouth After dinner, clean your mouth and shut it down for the night. Take the time to brush and floss your teeth, rinse with some mouthwash as well as put some Chapstick on. I don’t know about you but I LOVE a fresh and clean mouth. When I have that clean minty feeling, I have no desire to eat plus the taste from the toothpaste also alters the way food tastes (hello orange juice!). Not only can this deter you from wanting to eat but it also a great self care. Self Care A lot of my night time snacking had nothing to do with being hungry. Many nights I would plop down on the couch after a long, stressful day and want to eat something just to feel good. Especially during the pandemic, many of us are just wanting to feel good instead of the stress we feel daily trying to juggle working from home with homeschooling and keeping every one healthy and safe! The simplest version of self care is to check in with yourself before you make the decision to eat. Ask yourself “What am I really hungry for?” or “If I wasn’t hungry, I would be feeling…” Allow yourself to get curious with what else might be going on. Are you lonely or bored? Did today feel pretty crappy and you just want to feel good? Are you tired and just need to go to bed? The best form of self care is to give yourself the support you truly need. So those are my five tips to stop night time snacking but I will give you a bonus tip as well. Maybe you feel like this is all too overwhelming and beyond what you can handle right now. That’s OK. We all have different abilities at different times in our lives. Maybe for you the best thing is to just not buy the types of foods you snack on late at night and replace them with more nutrient dense, prepackage snacks. It is best to have them prepackaged and commit to only having one a night. As you master that level up in your nighttime snacking game, you will feel more confident in eventually cutting it out entirely.