Now and then...

So I'm going to go back about 5 years and delve into my diet history...

... to help decipher: why has my weight loss been so much easier and more sustainable this time?

While it may because I've learnt so much about how the body regulates fat storage/release and metabolism, learning this has only provided me with the fuel to actually put this information into action...

Fortunately, to aid me in my 'history-delving", i actually have a diary of what i ate when i LAST lost weight, and last got to 65kg (that's right, i am slimmer now than last time!). Here are the things I noticed:


1) EXERCISE

2007: I used to run 45minutes, every morning at 5am, before breakfast. I'd do a 5 minute walk warm up, then jog for 20 minutes, walk uphill for 10 minutes, then sprint the last 5, and walk warm down for 5. On weekends I would have to counteract my binges (which appeared after about 4 months of dieting), by doing 4-5 hour slogs of walking. And I did pilates once or twice a week. And i was tired...

2008: I sleep-in until 6am. I walk everywhere I can: to the train, around uni, up stairs, so that most weekdays I clock up about 10,000 steps of incidental walking (8km). I do pilates (40mins) once a week when i have the energy, and on weekends I go for a walk outside - 1 hour up/down hills, with the occasional jog.


2) FOODS

2007: On 'diet' days - despite always getting the 2 serves fruit & >5 serves veg, my diet consisted of quite a few overly processed foods: I replaced normal cheese with kraft 'Free' singles and low fat cottage cheese. I ate a lot of tuna (never salmon) and tofu, and avoided meats where I could (especially lamb and pork). I ate artificially sweetened yoghurt (Nestle 'No fat') as opposed to reduced-fat plain yoghurt. I avoided nuts, seeds, and oils like the plague (using cooking spray or no oil at all). I used to eat seeded/wholewheat crackers, but instead went for the thinner/lighter Cruskits. I drank a lot of Diet coke (2 x bottles /day), and was always chewing sugarfree gum, mints, and lollies. I tried to eat the bare minimum of carbohydrates like bread, pasta, cereal and rice. I even limited lentils and pulses, afraid that they were too high in carbohydrates. I drunk skim milk instead of low fat milk. I used to bake 'low kilojoule treats' - brownies that replaced the sugar with splenda and the fat with blended prunes, 'almond biscuits' that replaced the almonds with almond flavouring and only used egg whites instead of whole eggs. I ate low joule jelly, 'diet' chocolate mousses/desserts, and drunk sugar-free cordial. I snacked on whole packets of 'fat free' rice crackers, and ate 99% fat free maggi noodles.
This produced a diet very low in fat (~15g/day), low in carbohydrates (~150g/day), and quite high in protein (~100g/day) - and probably at <1000calories/day.
(At binge times: I ate everything in sight, and consumed about 300g fat, 500g carbohydrates. This gave me a daily caloric intake of >4000 calories/day. If you look at my caloric intake over a week, it will be: 500, 700, 800, 4000, 200, 700, 4000, etc etc...!!! - from one extreme to the other - although still the same amount of calories on average as in 2008 (now).

2008: I always get the 2 serves fruit, & >5 serves of vegetables per day. I limit my processed foods to a minimum, except having some sort of 'nut bar' once a day (Sesame snaps, Be Natural bars, Go Natural bars, lately: Artisse Organic Flax seed bars) or a handful of almonds (when I'm home). I eat salmon AND tuna. I cook with generous (though still sensible!) amounts of olive, sunflower and sesame oils. I still don't use margarine or butter on my bread. I eat reduced-fat cheddar cheese, and creamed cottage cheese. If I occasionally eat crackers, they are always wholewheat (and not 'light' or reduced fat - just ordinary seeded crackers!). I eat whole eggs 3-4 times a week. I eat my meats with freedom, (though still don't like greasy cuts of pork or lamb - but I never have!). I drink reduced-fat milk and low-fat (unsweetened, or Attiki's low-sugar yoghurt), and always make sure i get 3-4 serves of dairy in me a day. Now I avoid all artificial sweeteners like the plague (including soft drinks, lollies, jellies etc etc) - if it is artifically sweetened, I will not eat it! I also avoid MSG (to a lesser extent than sweeteners, but I try not to eat much of them!). I eat generous serves of pasta, rice and bread at mealtimes - especially when I am craving them, and don't try to shut my carb-cravings up with sugar-free treats or vegetables. If I eat a 'treat' or 'sometimes'-food - it is always the Real McCoy, I don't see the point in going for a dodgy/diet version of what I'm really craving.
(This produces a diet with moderate amounts of fat ~40-50g/day, ~200g carbs and ~75g protein. My daily caloric intake is ~1500kcal.)
(I don't binge anymore, although my caloric intake does still go in (less-extreme) cycles from day to day: for a few days in a row it will be low at about 1200, then I'll be more hungry and consume 1,500-1,700/day).


3) MEALS

2007: On average, my meals were eaten in the caloric ratio of:
1 Breakfast: 2 Lunch: 3 Afternoon tea: 3 Dinner: 1 Dessert
(Despite knowing the benefit of a healthy-sized breakfast, this was a habit I could NOT break and would NOT break - for fear that I would end up ravenous in the afternoon and have consumed all my daily allowance, and thus go over, and 'blow my diet'!)
I used to push my meals back as long as I could, to see if i could last as long as possible without food. I never ate lunch (or snacked after breakfast) before 12am, and dinner was usually at 8/9pm at night. I ate dessert about 1/2 hour before sleeping.

2008: On average, my meals are eaten in the caloric ratio of:
1 Breakfast: 2 Lunch: 1 Dinner
(Lunch is usually me grazing over a period of ~4 hours between 11am and 3pm!)
I eat when I'm hungry, even if that means breakfast is at 10am. I try to cook dinner at about 6-7pm, never later. I save dessert from the night before for breakfast the next (usually fruit salad and yoghurt), and go to sleep at least 2 hours after last eating.


4) SOCIAL SITUATIONS

2007: I was afraid of going out, because I knew that there would be unhealthy food there. I was worried that people would judge me for not eating the food they were passing around. I used to eat very little for the day before and the morning of to 'save calories' for that evening (and exercised a great deal), "just in case" - and 'filled up' on water/vegetables/sugar-free foods before hand. I was worried I would crack under pressure and eat everything in sight (which i did!). I was worried that I would drink too much, then crack under pressure and continue drinking more and eat everything in sight (which i did!).

2008: I will admit, I'm still moderately afraid of going out - that I will crack under pressure, and that people will judge me for not eating the food. But now I eat more of the food, so the judgement is less of a problem. I have definately got my drinking under control (never more than 2-3 standard drinks in a night), by realising that if i drink wine/champagne it hits me earlier than if i drink spirits (which take a long time to hit me - several hours! - and are often accompanied by sugary drinks!). Suits me fine cos I don't really like spirits anyway, and I love my wine! I eat normally the day before, and the morning before going out (if anything, I eat more!). If I do eat a little bit too much, then the day after is when I automatically eat less and exercise more - because I'm just not hungry, and my body is fuelled for exercise!

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5) THE RESULT?

2007: 4 months of that, and the cravings (-->binges!) got worse and more and more frequent, and I got more and more tired and lethargic and depressed (the vigorous, painful exercise stopped!) - and the weight piled on in a matter of weeks.

2008: Still going strong: my energy is high, and my cravings are low. And the binges... well, non-existant! If i decide to 'stop' my diet - I'll still be doing my 10,000 steps a day, incidentally. I'm already eating what I want, so how can I 'stop' that?



:) Nikki