Changes

Hello everyone.  We have been enjoying some glorious fall weather here in  Pennsylvania. Warm days in the mid to high 60 's and nights in the 40's. The leaves are so beautiful in all of their fall glory.  Hard to believe we had a mini snow storm here a few weeks ago. I love this time of year, and for some odd reason, I always feel  like it's the time for fresh starts. Maybe this goes back to my memories of school years, when that clean, untouched notebook, and sharp pencils were awaiting all the endless possibilities of what the year would bring. Some people feel renewed in the spring as we come out of winter hibernation, but for me the fall evokes that feeling.

After speaking with Rosalie last week, and after reading all of your kind, supporting, encouraging comments, I went into the new week with renewed commitment and focus. I realized that so many people, when you talk about weight loss (myself included), think they are doing all the right things, but then are puzzled at the results. I can't tell you how many of my friends say things like, 'I don't understand why I can't lose weight, I hardly eat anything', or 'I don't eat very much sugar at all'. Some people, including those that I'm around alot, are convinced of this, especially the sugar part. It's frustrating because I feel that I can see so clearly what they are doing wrong, but they can't.  But this also applies to ourselves. Often we can't see the  little things we do to sabotage ourselves, and it's so obvious to others.

So I took a good look at myself, and realized if someone was watching me through a crystal ball, they might see me doing the following....having  more than 2 glasses of wine at a time, having more than 2 glasses of wine plus a square or two of dark chocolate, breaking off small pieces of white bread from the bread basket at a restaurant, trying alittle pasta off someone's plate at a restaurant, trying to keep my  sugar/carb count in my head instead of on paper, overdoing the portions of the stuff I can have, etc., etc. They are all little things,  that add up and can hinder the weight loss results you want. Unfairly some people can get away with them and still lose. I for one am not that person. Those little things matter. I know this because this week the scale was down 3 pounds. I took a good look at what I might be doing wrong and tweaked things a bit. I'm sure that is why I lost.

Now, remember I was up the week before and feeling down about that. I realized that even though many have lost weight on this plan by not counting calories or exercising, or even writing their food intake down, that it was not going to work for me that way. The beauty of the world we live in, and the creative spirit of those around us, show us there are endless possibilities to achieving our goals. I realized that I have been following this plan for awhile now, and although there were some imperfectons along the way, the losses for me were not coming the way they were for other people. I believe in the Belly Fat Cure. I believe that sugar is the root of all evil. I have seen the benefits in my own life of leading a low sugar lifestyle. But I needed more. I needed to add a few other components to get to my goal. I needed to tweak how I was going to continue on this plan, and how it was going to work for me.

So this is what I decided. First off, I believe a body in motion is a good thing. I needed more exercise than the daily walk with the dogs around the neighborhood. I headed back to the gym, back to the elliptical and weight  machines. Not everyday, but a few days a week will be my goal for now. I have learned that the smaller the goal, the happier I am when I reach it. The large, unattainable goals that I don't reach ( lose 5 lbs every week, work out everyday for an hour) just frustrate me and make me unhappy. I know an awful lot about exercise and training from years of practice. I was a real fitness nut in my younger days, the mom who hired babysitters just so I could go to the gym every day. I've had a few trainers over the years, and I know alot about all the machines, circuit training, etc. I just had to get back to a regular schedule, and draw on those years of knowledge. Jorge may say you don't need to exercise to lose on the BFC, but I am the exception. I need alittle bump in the old metabolism to make this work.

Second, I realized that I have to set some caloric limits. Others can follow the plan and not count calories, but I had to consider them in my daily eating. I was keeping track of my food intake, and the sugars and carbs on fatsecret, and with the tap and track app on my phone or ipad. You can pick what you want to track. I track sugar, carbs, fiber, and the calories are tracked as well. I couldn't help but notice that I was often about 2200 calories every day. Now for all of you who have done well  by not counting anything but sugars and carbs, I think you may just have a more realistic view of portions, or maybe you eat slower and get full faster, or maybe you  have more discipline. I'm not sure, but I know that I was eating way to much of the good stuff; the stuff with zero sugars and zero carbs, like cheese, mayo, etc. The reason alot of people don't count calories is that it's too hard to keep track of a large number like 1500 calories a day. Sure the apps and online programs help, but it's a lot easier to remember how many sugars or carbs you have eaten, then how many calories you have consumed. That's what I loved about the Belly Fat Cure.Having been a longtime weight watcher prior to the BFC, I turned back to the point system to help me. I know from my mom who follows the program, that 29 points is the daily allowance. I have a cool little app that lets you tap in the nutritional value of your food and it tells you the points.  I realized that a point is equal to about 50 calories. It's just a handy unit to help you keep track more easily. So in addition to counting my sugars and carbs, and tracking what I eat, I put the info into the WW point calculator on my phone and it keeps track of the points for the day. 

I have had some eye openers. Those brown Rice Works chips ( I'll do a review on them later) that I had with my lunch sandwich yesterday, while only having an s/c count of 0/1, came out to a whopping 3 ww points. In comparison a slice of ezekial bread is only 2 points and also a s/c count of 0/1. There is much more nutritional value in the Ezekial bread, and less calories too. One of the  coconut flour pumpkin muffins comes out to 3 ww points. When you add the cream cheese you are at 4 points. So the s/c count is low, but the calories are high. I have to back off them for a little bit, as they have become the snack of choice lately.

 I know some of you are saying, I can't do all this tracking, and I will tell you that it takes alittle time, I will admit. But it also slows me down and makes me more aware of what I'm eating. For me that's a much needed thing, to slow down and be aware.  I could see that my normal breakfast of 2 ezekial  pieces of toast, topped with 2 slices of canadian bacon, some cheese, chia seeds and two poached eggs was well over 500 calories, but only a s/c count of 0/2. This week I am having 2 pieces of ezekial bread, with butter and two poached eggs and the calories are only 350, but still has s/c count of 0/2.  Same sugar/carb count, but well over 150 calories less. That adds up in a day.

Do you see where I'm going with this? It has been working for many of you to follow the BFC straight as it is written, but for me and my body I'm losing at a snails pace and I need to do better because I'm so frustrated. I needed to realize that even though I am following the plan, I am still eating too much food for my individual metabolism and body type. So I am still tracking and staying within my 15 gms of sugar and 6 carb servings, but also keeping my calories down a few hundred a day by tracking those in the form of points.

Can I keep this up? I am going to try. I am a foodaholic, and a carboholic. I have a hard time limiting myself, eating proper portions or smaller quantities of food. Keeping an eye on the calories via the ww points, at least for this week, made me realize how much I am eating, even while staying true to the BFC guidelines. Stay tuned!

Thought for the day: “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."  Arnold Bennett