Losing weight & eat whatever you want: the answer is simple

June 2011, I wrote a post titled How do I lose weight and eat whatever I want? In this post, I defined the terms of my no diet diet plan, which I still follow (although never meticulously) to this day. However, this post isn't really about following my personally-defined eating plan, but the simplicity of the answer to the original title of the post. 

How do you lose weight and eat whatever you want? 


The answer is simple. You change what you want to eat.


Everyday at lunch, I eat a leafy salad, fruit, a piece of gluten-free rye bread (toasted) topped with a protein choice (tuna/egg salad or hummus). For the work week, I prepare the various parts of my lunch on Sunday so it is simple to assemble it in the morning. However, last Tuesday night I forgot to prepare the head of green leaf lettuce for the next day (wash, tear into bite size pieces, spin, place in lettuce storage container). So I found myself washing lettuce on Wednesday morning, which is stressful (I hate the time-crunch) and time-consuming (I'm out the door at 6:30 with the two bears, so I have to be organized).


That's when I realized that I prefer to eat my lunch prepared at home rather than the food that I can buy at work. I would rather endure the stress of upsetting the morning routine and increasing the possibility of missing my train because I would prefer to eat my leafy lunch over a subway sub, fish and chips at the pub, sushi with tempura or perhaps a mini-pizza from Panago.


I'm one of those bring your lunch to work kind of gals. I just can't fathom the amount of money that people spend buying their lunch everyday. I've been brown-bagging my lunch for years, for a lifetime in fact. 


But in the past, from time-to-time, I looked forward to the day when there just wasn't the time to pull together a lunch or I forgot it on the kitchen counter so I could buy my lunch. And when I bought my lunch, I wanted something different; which usually translated into a meal with a side of french fries, bigger portions, more carbs and way more fat. But not now. The internal panic button goes off and I go into scramble mode. I spin a head of lettuce between pulling on my pants and putting on a new diaper on the baby bear. 


While I still enjoy the taste of pub/restaurant/fast food, I now prefer the taste of healthier foods. I chose to satisfy a need to eat nutritious foods as opposed to foods that only satisfy my taste buds. When I do buy my lunch, I seek out (and if part of a group suggest) healthier establishments. With one group of friends, we meet in the food court and eat our own lunch prepared at home, or we forgo the food and just chat.


Do you want to eat whatever you want and lose weight? The solution is simple, just change what you want to eat.

Why I eat quinoa on Monday and Tuesday

I love the feeling of an upcoming bowel movement first thing in the morning. Especially on Wednesday, which is the day I step on the scale. I rise from bed at 5:10 and I hope for the evacuation process to begin no later than 6:00 am. Timing was a bit off this past Wednesday as I was fully clothed and about to leave the house with my kids in tow when the need finally came to pass.

So this Wednesday I weighed in crap and all. The scale did not move. Zero, zip, zilch.

Crap!

Then the floodgates opened twenty minutes later and continued on the remainder of the day. But, it was too late. I recorded "0" in the progress report for March 21.

I must admit that I wasn't surprised by Wednesday's results. Nowadays I have a much better sense as to what the scale is going to do. Of course it is still unpredictable, but I can look back on my food choices, the amount of exercise I fit in, and I can feel it when I'm retaining water. However, the best indicator of weight loss (or not) seems to be the frequency of bowel movements. If you ain't pooin' the scale ain't movin'.

Last week, the regularity train ended heading into the work week. How do I say this delicately? I wasn't experiencing, you know, anything... well, satisfying. Upon reflection, I surmise that this state of semi-constipation occurred due a few instances of unusual weekend eating.

Saturday
- All normal, however, lunch's selection wasn't as healthy as the rest of the day. We went to the Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. The little bears were delighted to look at the cows, pigs and peacocks, run on the top of a course of hay bales, and the tractor ride to the pancake house. So, lunch consisted of three pancakes with maple syrup and bacon.

Sunday
- All normal, however lunch was not as healthy as the rest of the day. My friend and I went shopping in Buffalo. I knew the prospects of getting a decent salad at the food court was minimal, so I opted to eat lunch breakfast (salad, piece of gluten-free toast with hummus). For lunch, I settled on a grilled chicken souvlaki pita with a salad.

The meal was massive, and I forgot to tell the Mr. Souvlaki employee to take it easy with the salad dressing and toppings (must have been daydreaming). As he squeezed a massive amount of salad dressing on the salad and did the same with the tzatziki for the sandwich. A few hours later on the trek home, we stopped at McDonald's for a drink and a snack (small french fries).

This leads to another observation about the digestive system. Digestion appears to slow down whenever I choose to eat food prepared anywhere else besides at home. I suspect this happens due to a combination of factors from eating less vegetables and fibre, eating bigger portions etc. And it takes time (three days) for the everything to, you know, get back to normal.

In any case, to safeguard against this sort of issue, I implemented an informal eating guideline - one which I did not follow last week - I eat a side of quinoa for dinner on Monday and Tuesday nights. It just seems to get things, you know, moving.

So the next time your meal consists of processed/junk food, try to eat more fruits, vegetables and quinoa to get it moved through your system.

As for me, last Wednesday's result was zero; however, after the um, log jam cleared, the next morning I weighed in 1.4 pounds down. I'm telling you, if you ain't pooin', the scale ain't moving.