Plans for Healthy Eating (diet & nutrition): Life Improvement

I am no stranger to dieting. To dreaming about being thin. No starvation virgin. I have been on more diets than I can begin to recall or count. I started dieting when I was eight years old. I have had successes and extreme failures. I have tried everything from liquid diets, low carb diets, low calorie diets and odd diets like cabbage soup and the likes. 23 years of diet experience has taught me a lot about what does not work and I have learned some about what does work.

What I know to be true about the ones that do not work:

• Fad diets suck! And therefore I am totally avoiding them.
• Diets too low in calories only lead to failure and binge eating for me. Not going to go there ever again!
• Diets that never let me enjoy an entire food group -like carbohydrates are too hard and I cannot stick with them.
• Diets that don't have any rules don't work for me. I suffer from having a lack of self-control.
  

What I know to be true about the ones that have worked for me:

• Diets that focus more on being healthy than being skinny work for me.
• Diets that are easy to follow are ones I stick with.
• Diets that give me energy help me to stick with them.
• Diets that allow me to feel normal in social situations are ones I stick with.
• Diets that are low enough in calories help me see results fast so I feel motivated to stick with them.
• Diets that are not too expensive help me to stay with them!
  

Knowing what I do about what does and does not work for me coupled with what I know about nutrition and weight loss I have decided on the following -THUS FAR:

• I will greatly focus on eating extremely healthy foods.
• I will start at about 1500 calories a day for 7 days.
• I will reduce my calories to about 1200 a day until I get within 10 pounds of my goal.
• I will menu plan to keep myself from being too hungry and caving-in and eating too much of all the wrong things.
• I will eliminate certain foods I know I just cannot control myself with.
• I will have rules like "no cheese" in the beginning so I can see results fast and help keep costs down.
• I will make as much as I can from scratch to keep costs down and health benefits high -also I think I will enjoy food I make more than something from a box or can!
• I will keep HEALTHY low calorie snacks on hand.
• I will have "in case" activities to resort to when I feel bored and just want to eat (something I sadly struggle with).

I have struggled with my weight almost my entire life and I fear that if I do not once-and-for-all get a firm grip on it and concur it I always will. There were some times in my life that I was not lead by a number on a scale or the fear of finding out a number on a scale. Those times were when I was generally happy, busy with fulfilling activities and projects. They were times in which I was truly focused on being healthy much more than the size I wore and when I was physically active.

I know that I am someone who gains weight -far too easily- when I am stressed out. I think my body overly produces the hormone cortisol when I am stressed out and I know I eat more when I am avoiding issues or trying to stuff things down. For many reasons I need to reduce my stress level and I need to make de-stressing and relaxation a daily part of my day. (This will work well with my 40 days of praying about Hawaii.)

I used to be a strict vegetarian and I enjoyed it, really! I found, though, that I was getting very chubby and I decided to eat white meat again and I lost about 10 pounds instantly. But later on I went on a somewhat vegan diet -yet I still ate lean chicken -about a breast a week's worth. That worked well for me. I will try to incorporate a vegan based diet with my like for occasional chicken and such. I love cheese -far too much- but when I just give it up I do okay, so I am going to give it up (but if I am served something with cheese I won't just skip it, but do my best to have just a little).

I have a SERIOUS addiction to the fatty & sweet combination (like doughnuts and cakes and pies and cookies, OH MY!). So for the first month or so I will do my best to not have any. I thankfully don't care much for candy, but all the birthdays and holidays coming up will be quite the challenge!

I know that when I tried Atkins I suffered so much from boredom. I could not take the combination of chicken, cheese and eggs anymore. (Remember I don't eat red meat.) It worked well at first, but within two months of falling off the low-carb wagon I gained back all of it plus the wicked two or three more! To combat boredom I will try at least one new recipe a week.

One new element I will try this time around (in addition to making de-stressing/relaxation a priortiy) is eating as much as I can in raw form. I know that most nutritional value is lost in cooking so I will explore eating raw and minimal cooking when possible.

I will be cutting back on caffeine -I would like to be caffeine free, but for now I will be happy to just cut way back. I know I am not drinking enough water, so I will starting NOW be drinking much more. I will try to have at least 8 glasses of water a day. I know it helps to feel full and flush toxins, but I can see that my skin is too dry - I know I am not getting enough water! (I have had a glass of ice water already since I started this post!)

I will avoid diet drinks and stuff with scary amounts of sodium and chemicals to replace missing flavors. I am going to focus on eating healthfully and as naturally as I can!

Okay. Well, tomorrow will be day one for this new diet. No, scratch that, "way of life." I know, without a doubt, that I need to make this a LIFE change or I will need to just give up now and make peace with the fact that I will always be fat. I don't want to ever be this fat again -never. I know I can do this. I know I need to do this. I WILL do this.

Aloha!