Wednesday, November 26, 2008

"Portions" My New Lifestyle, Not Diet!

In trying to figure out why I am not losing weight with the sugarless diet, I have decided that my portion sizes might have something to do with it. Also, I need to increase the amount of my daily physical activity, a huge given, but I truly believe I could lose a few if I cut down on my portion sizes.

Because I eat vegetarian, hardly any dairy and no sugar, I have assumed that I can eat everything in whatever portions I want. So when I make a batch of the most delectable gingersnaps ever, I heap them on a plate, go find a cozy spot to curl up and sit, and take my time eating each one while reading a book or doing a Japanese number puzzle. I'm in the clear, right? The cookies are healthy--no white flour or white sugar, so I am good to go, right? Obviously not!

To my dismay, I have to admit that I have been overeating. It has not even crossed my mind until recently, for some reason. Perhaps it has something to do with the year coming to a close and the one goal I was very much looking forward to, I have not attained. In searching for all the reasons why I have stayed 15 pounds over my desired weight, I have concluded that eating half a batch of cookies probably doesn't help my plight, nor does eating five bowls of quinoa, even though it is healthy!

So, the other day I decided to take into account my portion sizes. Already I feel better about myself. I don't need that super-full/sick feeling in my stomach to tell me that I'm done eating. I need to use common sense and forget relying upon my animal senses. The animal in me will gorge. But I am not an animal, and I don't need to load up on food for fear of starvation.

I am not calling this a diet, because I hope to carry this idea to fruition throughout my life. While this may sound totally obvious to you all, this has been a great revelation for me! We'll see if anything significant (weight-wise) happens over the next month.

Oh, and I thought "Portions" was quite appropriate, being that tonight is the eve of Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

2 comments:

Mrs. Jelly Belly said...

You know, I have the same problem with oatmeal that you have with quinoa. I had to force myself to cut it down to one bowl in the morning (instead of five bowls throughout the day) because I gained 10 pounds since I started eating so much of it.

Love your blog - and Happy Thanksgiving!

C and G said...

Hmmm portion sizes. yes that is a tricky one for me too. My no sugar november went off without a hitch. I'm carrying on into december with an added restriction as well as a little moderation. i'm taking out white flour too but my moderation is that on Sunday's i can have a treat (one and only one:). i expected that i would drop a few lbs but that didn't happen at all. i'm thinking for me it is two-fold - portion size and SLEEP!!! i have a 6 mo old and he just started sleeping 5-6 hour stretches at night. before that he was up every 2-3 hours. that made for a very tired mommy!!! anyways, hopefully now that i am able to get more sleep my body will work more efficiently at burning the baby bulge!!!