One Thirds

One of the things I credit with my weight loss success over the last few years is changing my diet to eat more balanced meals at every meal time. The diet I used to take off the weight initially had me count calories as well as percentage carbs, protein, and fat at each meal. Using this way of eating, I found myself more satisfied with each meal. Even more importantly, the intense cravings I had for fatty, salty, and sugary food disappeared when my nutritional needs were being met.

However, counting each of these nutrients at every meal is a daunting way to live one's life. So, how do I achieve the same results to help me take off more weight without being a slave to my online tracker? One of the things my dietician, Marie-Hélène, suggested to make it simple is to think of my plate being divided into thirds and filling 1/3 of it with protein (meat, fish, tofu), 1/3 with veggies, and 1/3 with starches/carbs (potatoes, bread, rice, other grains). At breakfast I could substitute fruit for vegetables.

How simple! And a fun challenge to shake up my meals. I know I often have trouble including a protein but I was surprised at how often I'd leave out carbs. Eating with this one thirds approach kept me satisfied and even throughout the day, and all without calculating a single ratio!

Moving Meal Times

Instead of slowing down for the summer, my schedule has gotten intense. With 6 different groups, I mountain bike cross country Mondays, road ride Tuesdays, downhill bike Wednesdays, race cross country Thursdays, ride cross country Fridays, and road ride Saturdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I also do a Pilates class. Plus I've been averaging 55 hours a week at work. I've been finding it hard to figure out when to eat and what to eat, not to mention how much to eat to fuel for my rides but still lose weight.

I decided it was time to call in a professional. I engaged my friend Marie-Hélène Bourbonnais who is a registered dietician to help me out. We met (via phone as she is Montréal) the first time at the beginning of this week and went over a common sense approach individualized to my needs. It was awesome that MH was already reading my blog so had an idea of my challenges.

I'll be addressing all the different things MH has me work on over the upcoming weeks but the one I wanted to talk about today is the idea of moving meal times. If you haven't guessed already by my riding timetable, I tend to be quite scheduled. I usually eat breakfast at 9 am, lunch at 12:30 and dinner around 7 pm. This has proven a challenge with my summer evening ride schedule. Plus I'm eating at those times whether hungry or not and not eating some times when I'm very hungry.

So, this week I focused on eating my meals not at predetermined times, but rather when I was hungry, and ideally before I was beyond hunger (hangry). Some days that meant lunch at 11 am. Other days at 2-3 pm. If I was really hungry I ate more. If I wasn't as hungry, I'd eat lighter. I tracked everything for MH but tried not to analyze the calories, fat, carbs, and protein like I am wont to do.

An amazing thing happened. I appreciated my meals more. I enjoyed the food more. I didn't overeat to feel I had to make it until my next predetermined meal time. I didn't feel the need for meaningless snacking. If I was actually hungry for a snack I made a nutritious choice. Without ever feeling I was "starving" myself or unsatisfied, a week later, I'd lost 3 pounds.

Gravity

Gravity is a big factor in my sports of choice. With downhill skiing, a heavier athlete will go faster. Unfortunately, carrying more weight is not a positive with cycling. It is incredibly frustrating to be riding with a group where you can keep the pace on the flats, have to hold back on the downhills, yet get dropped every time the road inclines.

I get discouraged as I see the lighter riders peel away from me on the ascents. I am digging in for all I'm worth and the riders I was with only moments ago seem to float away.

A quote from Bicycling magazine hangs in my office, "It's simple, brutal, and cruelly effective: For every 5 pounds you lose, you climb about 30 seconds faster over 5 km of uphill."

I've discussed this a great deal with one of my closest friends, someone who on the surface looks the least likely to understand my frustration yet has been my biggest source of support.

A couple things she said to me this week really resonated. One, she told me that I am in great shape, better than most women, and better than I've ever been before. This shouldn't be news to someone who works out an average of two hours per day but it's not how I see myself. I feel as though I will never be in shape until I lose more weight, that the two things are mutually exclusive.

That takes me to the second thing she said, that I use my weight as an excuse to hold me back from what I can achieve physically. I have never thought about it in those terms but she is absolutely right.

It's time to stop using weight as an excuse and to push even harder. This week I'm going to examine food from a fuelling perspective. My food choices will be evaluated on whether they have the potential to increase athletic performance or slow me down. I will also carefully consider the amount I eat. It's time to have food propel me forward instead of holding me back.

Fail to Plan. Plan to Fail.

I've had a bit of a struggle getting back on track post vacation. So I decided I needed to take the initiative to plan some meals in advance. As I don't enjoy cooking and tend to eat out often this was a not a usual habit. I listed out a number of healthy options for breakfast (oatmeal, eggs, cereal and fruit, smoothies) and lunch (eggs, pita pizzas, soup) that I knew from past experience had the right blend of protein, carbs, and fat and that all weighed in at around 250-300 calories.

For dinner I did an inventory of my fridge and cupboards and came up with a list of meals using up meat I had on hand and integrating a ton of fresh veggies. I then went to the grocery store armed with a plan. Upon my return I pre-cooked staples like brown rice and mini potatoes that I could easily add to a meal without the weight time of cooking them then.

The week went incredibly well. I was actually excited about the meals I had planned so not easily deterred off course. Because I had pre-planned and pre-purchased the ingredients the meals were quick and easy to put together. Cleaning up my eating kept me full of energy throughout the week which I felt in my riding.

This was one of the biggest changes I've made yet. Within a week I was able to lose 5 lbs of the "vacation weight" that had crept up on me. I am now planning to see what I can do for next week!

Living the Good Life on Vacation

While it’s nice to go to an all-inclusive and have people wait on you hand and foot, my favourite vacations have been the ones where I could be active. On some of my best vacations - exploring Scotland and France by foot, a fitness retreat in Utah, running and surfing in Australia - I have actually managed to lose weight while on vacation!

Recently I spent the most amazing 2.5 weeks in Costa Rica. The first week I saw much of the country via a mountain bike tour while the second week I went to surf camp.

Rather than pack on the pounds while I was away I made a point of instead indulging in all the amazing tropical fruit, eating the local staples of beans and rice, and focusing on fuelling my body for my sports. I did indulge in the odd bevvy and a nice dinner out but instead of the vacation being about the food I kept my focus on the activity part of my trip and set myself up for success to climb volcanoes and pop up on my surfboard.

I didn’t end up losing weight on vacation but as importantly I didn’t gain it either. And judging from how long it took me to recover from it, I was incredibly active while away! I’m hoping my major gains from the vacation were in fitness rather than in pounds!

Hitting the Reset Button

I’ve had a stressful month. I had a minor accident with my brand new Audi which has required dealing with three insurance companies and a body shop. A new house is being built next door to mine which not only causes all kinds of noise disruption while I work from my home office but has also been causing damage to my property and the landscaping I’ve laboured over the last few years. I’ve traveled to Toronto twice for business in a month, completely throwing off my eating and working schedule. I’ve had three family visits, which while nice, also get me out of my routine. I had a knee injury that took me off the slopes and out of my ski training.

I feel like everything has gone off the rails. And as usually happens to me the first thing to go is my diet. I have not been following my new habits and thus feel heavy, puffy, and frustrated.

It’s time to hit the reset button and get back on track. Before adding any further habits I need to revisit the four habits I have already introduced and make sure I am following them closely.

So to revisit I am going to focus on the four habits I’ve introduced so far:

1) Eliminate nutrient lacking junk food from my diet, specifically chips, candy, chocolate, and pop

2) Stop eating when I’m full

3) Enjoy eating well at restaurants, making it a game to choose the healthiest options

4) Not eat when the TV is on

It’s time to make my health the priority it should be.

Mindless Munching

I generally eat well most of the day. With work and other commitments I’m usually too busy to think about snacking. Where things really come off the rails is in the evening when I’m chilling out after my busy day.

That’s when the TV comes on and I can get into full couch potato mode. If movies are better with popcorn than surely TV is better with snacks! Even though I generally don’t keep junk food or trigger foods in the house, it’s amazing what I’ll find to snack on – almonds, raisins, cereal, crackers… Even healthy foods aren’t good for me if I’m eating them out of habit rather than hunger.

So my new habit was this simple: no eating if the TV was on. I expected to do less evening eating. What surprised me was how much less TV I watched! Instead I caught up on my local newspapers at mealtime and eliminated most of my evening snacking. Even my living room stayed tidier. I found if I was hungry enough I would go to the kitchen and have a proper snack but 90% of the time I didn’t bother, telling me that my evening snacking has been driven by needs other than hunger.

20 Meetings, 4 Days

When I travel for business my goal is to meet with as many people as possible over the course of my trip. I spend time with suppliers, agency partners, clients, and old friends. Last week I had 20 appointments over the four business days (plus two travel days) I was away. To get in 5 appointments a day, I schedule them over breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee, and dinner.

Over time I had come to accept that when I travel for business I will gain a pound a day each day that I'm gone that I then have to take off when I get home. But I'm tired of each one week trip setting me back an average of three weeks. So this trip I vowed was going to be different. I would continue to work on my Week 2 goal of stopping eating before I was stuffed and, adding to that, would try to order the healthiest choices on the menu when dining out.

Being back in an environment where I often did not make the right choices was tough. Whether I was successful or not at a particular meal had a lot to do with where I was (i.e., memories associated with the place), who I was dining with (how they eat, external pressures to eat more or eat differently), and how I was feeling (tired, frustrated, happy, in control).

As victories, I never once felt stuffed and felt I had way more energy than I usually do on these trips. I drank less coffee than I usually feel I need on these trips - partly because I didn't feel as tired as usual and partly because I didn't want the extra calories that the lattes and cappuccinos I prefer deliver. At one point I smelled a deep fryer smell and thought "ew gross" as opposed to "mmm fries" so change is afoot!

There is still room for much improvement but instead of beating myself up over everything I could have done better I look forward to making additional strides next time I'm in the same situation. At the end of the week I had gone up 1 lb putting me at 3 lbs down since starting the 50 Week Food Challenge 3 weeks ago, and 47 lbs down overall. Given I would usually have gained 4-6 pounds on a business trip of this duration, I am trying to see this as a step in the right direction. I'm building new lifelong habits and some are going to be harder to change than others.

Stuffed

I hate being so full that I feel stuffed. I'm talking about that feeling one gets after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner when your stomach hurts and the button of your pants threatens to pop. Too late, you ask yourself, "why did I go for that second helping? Why didn't I say no to dessert?"

When I was in my early 20's I was out for burgers and fries with a tiny girl friend. Nearing the end of the meal, I told her "I am so full." She answered simply, "then stop eating". I'll be honest. It had never even occurred to me that stopping before I finished my meal was an option.

Like many children of the 70s, the rule in our house was you didn't leave the table until everything on your plate was finished. That habit became ingrained in me as an adult. Waste not want not.

So this week's food challenge was to be more mindful of my hunger, particularly how full I am and to not eat past the point of being comfortably full.

When you are not used to listening to your body's natural cues this proved more difficult than I thought, not necessarily by overeating but by sometimes not eating enough or at the right time. I caught myself getting "hangry" on a couple occasions when dinner was delayed after that evening's work out.

But for the most part it felt great to be ready for and really enjoy each meal. I felt I had more energy than when I eat too much and my system gets bogged down digesting all the extra food.

At the end of my second week, I had lost 1 pound. I am now down 4 pounds since starting my 50 Week Food Challenge two weeks ago, 49 pounds down overall.

My Junk Food Frenemy

When I'm "On" I would never even consider eating boxed food. Everything I cook is made from scratch using whole foods. I don't eat or drink anything with artificial sweeteners. If an organic version of a food is available I buy it no matter the additional cost.

But when I'm "Off" it's a whole new ballgame. Potato chips, candy, chocolate, ice cream, pop - these are the friends I turn to when I'm craving a treat.

My junk food habit started back when I was a pre-teen. My mother would buy cream puffs or long johns from the local bakery as treats for dessert. But not for me. They were only for the "boys" - my father and brothers. As "girls" my Mom and I were meant to always watch our weight and deny ourselves this type of pleasure. 

While my Mom's intentions were good, it was this kind of denial that led to my cycle of restriction = rebellion. Is it any wonder that part of my allowance starting being diverted from Archie Comics to Cadbury Easter Cream eggs and potato chips? My brothers never had that problem.

Even as an adult when I'm bored, lonely, frustrated, stressed, or angry these are the foods I turn to. The irony is that when I do, I don't even enjoy them. They come along with guilt, a stomach ache, and a less than stellar workout the next day. 

So for Week 1 of my 50 week challenge I decided to end the cycle and not bring any of these treats into my house. I'm not going to deny myself a bite of chocolate or a handful of potato chips at a party or ice cream out with friends but I'm ending my secret love affair with these foods in the privacy of my own home.

At the beginning of the week I caught myself almost picking up a liquorice or a soft drink as a treat. By the end of the week I got used to the idea that it was not an option. But I never felt deprived as I knew that it was the only concession I had to make this week. When I craved the bubbles of a soft drink, I drank carbonated water from my Soda Stream. Instead of processed sugar, I began enjoying fruit more again. It felt good to let go of the guilt associated with these nutrition lacking foods.

At the end of Week 1, I had lost 3 pounds. I have now surpassed my halfway marker - down 48 pounds with 47 to go. 

Background

Like many people who have struggled with their weight, I have a messed up relationship with food. I wish I could be like my friends who have been thin all their lives as they seem to really enjoy food. It would likely surprise them to know that many overweight people do not derive the pure pleasure from food that they do. Our relationship with food is more of a love-hate relationship. We have emotional connections to food they can only imagine. One moment food is comfort and love. The next it is the enemy - the thing that makes us fat and prevents us from living to our fullest potential. Food is something to be monitored, tracked, feared, loved, despised... Is it any wonder, with this as the basis of our psyche, that most diets are doomed to fail?

Since moving to Whistler, BC I have dramatically improved my fitness. I have lost and kept off 45 pounds for two years. Along the way I improved my cardio and strength, which has paid off in all the sports in which I participate in this outdoor mecca - cycling, alpine skiing, nordic skiing, hiking, Pilates, and Crossfit. I have participated in Fondo's, Cyclocross races, and triathlons. I work out often and at high intensity. I feel like I have that part of my health dialled in.

But I am not yet at my goal weight. I would like to lose another 50 pounds. And I know to do it I have to change my relationship with food. Diets only work short term. The restriction ultimately leads to rebellion. It becomes all or nothing. On or off.

Like I've done with exercise, I want to make healthy eating a habit, something I want to do. I want to create a healthy relationship with food that I can maintain the rest of my life.

So begins the 50 Week Food Challenge. Each week I am going to introduce a new Food Habit. I am reluctant to call them rules as rules are made to be broken. Habits are established over time. If they aren't followed on occasion, they can remain habits.

I hope you will join me along my journey, adapting habits that will help you be healthy where they fit with your life or just supporting me along the way.