Dieting Rules

I have noticed over the years that all diets out there to lose weight have "rules".  Some are ridiculous, some are very restrictive, and some are quite reasonable, so much so that you wonder why they even need to be worded as "rules".

In watching others and reading their success stories it seems to me that the most successful "rules" are those that we think are reasonable and achievable for ourselves. 

Some would drive me up the wall, like no baked goods.  Baking is a hobby of mine.  To take it away would be to take away part of my personality. 

Others seem quite reasonable, like instead of the very restrictive no chocolate, have a small set portion of very good quality or very emotionally nourishing chocolate (or whatever your treat is).  I was trying to have only one wrapped chocolate a day from a batch we got at Christmas.  I didn't like the flavour much so it was very easy to still indulge elsewhere in my day too.  It needs to be a treat I really like and can savour.   For me possibly Ferrero Rocher, or a very smooth milk chocolate similar to Kinder Surprise chocolate.  Then I would be willing to stop at only a small portion.  Having a small treat at set times and savouring it would be much better than no treats at all, or unlimited treats. :-)


Making a rule that I need to exercise for half an hour, or an hour, every morning would not work for me.  I co-sleep and trying to get out of bed without waking anyone else is an exercise in futility.  I could make a rule for myself to not sit still longer than an hour during the day, and no longer than one episode of a favourite show at night.  That might be more achievable.  After all as a mum of 4 I have plenty of reasons to get up and get moving, to hang out washing, to do dishes, to clean.  Plenty of exercise opportunities there.

I still need to think more about some other areas that I need to work on for my health, but this has at least given me some ideas.

Best wishes
Jen

Watching my food Day 5 and 6

Yesterday was a complete write off.  I sadly now know that they have the kJ value beside each meal on a McDonald's drive thru menu.  Yup, McDonald's for lunch and I think I am going to just stick my head in the sand about how many kJ there are in an Angus with fries and juice.  And then to dinner!!!

My excuse - have been so busy that the dishes were not done from Monday fully before Tuesday afternoon arrived so my sink was overflowing.  Sadly it was also leaking and the maintenance guy came by to redo the seal around the drain... couldn't use sink for 24 hours at least.  So as all good well-prepared people do I "flexed" around my curve ball and ordered pizza.  Yum!!

So today I just moped.  And ate lollies, and fruit cake.  And not a single healthy thing yet while trying to do dishes in a basin.

Ok whinge over.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Portion counting and timing of meals will be my focus.  Well, after I get the dishes finished.  :)

Best wishes
Jen

Breastfeeding and losing weight!

I have been wondering if my goal of 8000 kJ is too low.

After some looking around I have come up with this site.   For my activity levels which you can tell are pretty low I can eat about 11,100 kJ.

So maybe my weight gain is not due to eating too much but not eating my meals at regular spacings (I forget to eat in the busy-ness of mornings and then munch all afternoon) and from eating very little vegetables and too much protein.  On the two days I calculated my protein I had close to 100g protein.  I am supposed to have 70g due to breastfeeding.

It might be time to change my way of journalling.  I think I need to count my portions of foods to see that I am getting a good balance and try more to have evenly spaced meals during the day.

Wish me luck,
Jen

Watching my food Day 4

Overall intake: 9483 kJ

Overall exercise:  negligible

High point:  I found a site for calculating calories on my recipes.

Low point: I am getting to the point of getting sick of calculating every little kJ.  Going to try to stick to it for one complete week.

Total kJ for Monday: 9483 kJ

Watching my food Day 3

Overall intake: 9020 kJ

Overall exercise:  676 kJ grocery shopping for an hour

High point:  I avoided high energy snacks today and discovered that 2 corn thins with creamed honey, no butter, is a nice emotional snack for me.  404 kJ

Low point: After shopping I ate my toddler's leftover finger bun.  Now that was over 1000 kJ I didn't need.

Total kJ for Saturday: 8344 kJ

Best wishes
Jen

Watching my food Day 2

Overall intake: 10783 kJ

Overall exercise:  neglible (sat around watching gymnastics competition for 5 hours)

High point:  We had dinner at home when I really wanted to get pizza and just sit around more.

Low point: I ate too much junk food during the day.  I could have prevented this by making some home made biscuits and taking some fresh fruit and sandwiches.

Total kJ for Saturday: 10783 kJ

Best wishes
Jen

Watching my food Day 1

Overall intake:  8389 kJ

Overall exercise:  1735 kJ  (included grocery shopping and helping to prepare a gymnastics hall for a comp tomorrow so an unusually big bit of exercise on my part)

High point:  I actually remembered to add vegetables to tonight's dinner which otherwise would have only been crumbed fish and potato gems.

Low point:  I ate some of a leftover chocolate Easter egg after getting cranky with  my whiny 12 year old.

Total kJ for Friday: 6654 kJ

Best wishes
Jen