Well, today I achieved something I hadn't since 2 years ago when I got my cancer diagnosis. At that time, I had been training for the Chicago Marathon and had worn my favorite "medium-sized" bicycle pants for training. Today I fit back in those pants...and I did it without looking like a stuffed sausage.
I have gone through the weight loss yo-yo before in my life, and, although this is an achievment, there is always the fear of gaining the weight back. What's interesting this time is I am taking a rather stringent and scientific look at my life style and how certain foods and exercise impact both my mood and my waistline.
One of the biggest, albeit silent, contributors to weight gain and ill health is sodium. We have all heard this before and assume by living a fairly healthy lifestyle that we are within the recommended daily allowance. Then I started monitoring my sodium intake religiously, along with calories, fiber, protein, etcetera. I use SparkPeople.com and have for about a year now. I was shocked to find out two things. One is that my body really needs very few calories to sustain itself. Sad but true. And two is that in order to keep within the daily allowances for anything and everything I cannot eat any processed foods. It is shocking what eating processed food does to your sodium levels. It's actually staggering. I then tried a little experiment. I ate my normal, new diet all day of veggies, fresh protein, olive oil, milk, yogurt, and had a vigorous work out. But when I was leaving the gym at 8:30pm to go pick up my daughter from dance pratice, I was famished. I grabbed a small bag of turkey jerky from Target. The calories were nothing to throw off my day, but the sodium content was unreal. The result was a 2.5 pound weight gain the next morning. Now, since I have been monitoring my intake, my weight has stayed very consistent day to day. I am certain the sodium created a significant water weight gain which will dissipate. But that must not be good for the body or heart.
I will say that finally having a tool and actually using that tool to examine how my body responds to various foods has been a tremendous education. I guess having cancer has made me far more aware that what I put in my body actually does make a difference. And I am learning that I do not need to be hungry to maintain my weight. I just have to eat what is right for me. No one diet fits everyone, but eating natural, earth-based foods is certainly something we should all try in order to stay healthy. And, I gotta say, not squeezing into a pair of pants that make me look like a stuck pig is a decided bonus!
I have gone through the weight loss yo-yo before in my life, and, although this is an achievment, there is always the fear of gaining the weight back. What's interesting this time is I am taking a rather stringent and scientific look at my life style and how certain foods and exercise impact both my mood and my waistline.
One of the biggest, albeit silent, contributors to weight gain and ill health is sodium. We have all heard this before and assume by living a fairly healthy lifestyle that we are within the recommended daily allowance. Then I started monitoring my sodium intake religiously, along with calories, fiber, protein, etcetera. I use SparkPeople.com and have for about a year now. I was shocked to find out two things. One is that my body really needs very few calories to sustain itself. Sad but true. And two is that in order to keep within the daily allowances for anything and everything I cannot eat any processed foods. It is shocking what eating processed food does to your sodium levels. It's actually staggering. I then tried a little experiment. I ate my normal, new diet all day of veggies, fresh protein, olive oil, milk, yogurt, and had a vigorous work out. But when I was leaving the gym at 8:30pm to go pick up my daughter from dance pratice, I was famished. I grabbed a small bag of turkey jerky from Target. The calories were nothing to throw off my day, but the sodium content was unreal. The result was a 2.5 pound weight gain the next morning. Now, since I have been monitoring my intake, my weight has stayed very consistent day to day. I am certain the sodium created a significant water weight gain which will dissipate. But that must not be good for the body or heart.
I will say that finally having a tool and actually using that tool to examine how my body responds to various foods has been a tremendous education. I guess having cancer has made me far more aware that what I put in my body actually does make a difference. And I am learning that I do not need to be hungry to maintain my weight. I just have to eat what is right for me. No one diet fits everyone, but eating natural, earth-based foods is certainly something we should all try in order to stay healthy. And, I gotta say, not squeezing into a pair of pants that make me look like a stuck pig is a decided bonus!
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