8 days without counting calories

It has been 8 days without me counting calories and I am down just over 3 pounds. By the way it was never a goal to lose weight by stopping my calorie counting it was my goal to cut my stress and to try and fix what was no longer working for me. You see it is stupid to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, and that was just what I was doing. 

Now am I say that it is wrong to count calories? No, I am not, counting calories served me greatly while I was trying to figure out what I needed to do. It has helped me create the habits that I now have. And I have learned just how bad fast food, and processed foods are for me. I have also learned that for every research that says that eating a certain way is bad for me there are other researches that say it is good for me. We are all different and we have to learn what works for each and every one of us. We have to stop believing that it worked for me, it will work forever one else. 

Now what is still true is it is all about eating less than what we burn. That is a fact of life. It is also true that some of us will gain weight eating food that others lose weight on. That is just who each of us are. It is also true that some foods will trigger us to binge eat. For me it is a salt and or sugar. If it get to much salt I want more, the same with sugar. And help my please if I get both together. 

I have to say that in doing this my blood pressure is also down which surprised me. I have to say also that my stress level is really down too. I believe it is a combination of not worrying about counting calories, and I am back to my early morning meditation. Mediating first thing in the morning sets my day up so much better. 

Now to the question I believe you want to know what am I eating. All I can say is a well rounded menu of items. I eat plenty of veggies, fruits, and nuts. I also eat small portions of all types of meat, and fish. I limit myself to processed foods to once or twice a week other than my cereals. I do still have my milk and whey protein with breakfast. By the way breakfast is my largest meal of the day. I eat dinner at about 6:00 pm and I do not eat again until after 8:30am. So in a fashion I do fast. Lunch is either snacking on veggies, fruit and nuts or it will be a sandwich. If I have a sandwich for lunch then dinner is light with salads only. 

My activities is still walking and working around the house. I also ride the scooter most times to the hiking trails, and doing chores around the local area. My total activity burn for each day is averaging about 2400 calories. Now that is total of resting and activity burn. I am also twice a week working out with dumbbells and the curl bar. Nothing heavy and no extreme numbers. Just enough so I work my muscles. 

I will say this I had to find my way of managing myself and I am still a work in process, and each of you have to do it yourself. Sure it is okay to listen to others but take it with a grain of salt, and figure it out for yourself. We are all different and we all have what works for each of us but you have to work at it and find it yourself.

Early Morning showers

What a beautiful morning, sometime very early this morning we did get a thunderstorm and some rain. But now the sun is shining and it is going to be a very warm day. It also looks like it will get to 100 degrees or higher this weekend. 

Yesterday, I collected most of the camping stuff and took it over to the storage garage. That will make some room in the shed and garage. My goal is to get the Jeep back in the garage along with the scooters. 

My weight is coming back down. I have dropped almost 3 pounds in just over a week. What am I doing different? That is a good question, the only thing I can say is that I am no longer counting calories. I am logging what I am eating but not the calories. I am freely eating what I enjoy, and to be honest I am eating less than before. Now I cannot swear that I am eating less calories for I do not know how many calories I am eating. But I am eating less meat, I am eating less snacks. My snacks were always nuts and fruit, and still is. Before I was always worried that I was not eating enough so I was trying to get my whole budget eaten. Now, not knowing the calories I just eat what I feel I need. I do enjoy a beer or ice cream at times. And I no longer fear eating a slice of bread. For me count calories had become a head game that was causing me to stress out. And the stress was causing me to eat more than I really wanted. You notice I am not saying needed. 

The key for me it seems was to use calorie counting to get my habits in place, and now the key is staying with my habits, of eating healthy real food most of the time. 

The scooters

Linda was complaining about her scooter not acting correctly. After riding it myself and noticing it did not react like mine does, and seeing they are the same scooter technically. I posted a question on the Vespa owners Facebook site and was told that I should disconnect the battery and let the computers reset. Yes, they have computers that run everything now days. So I did yesterday. And this morning I reconnected the battery on both scooters and took them out for a spin around the neighborhood. They seem to be much closer to the same now, as for as idle and the clutch engaging. They do each have their own personality due to the way that their rear suspension is set up, and the fact Linda’s scooter has a custom seat that is lower then my seat. Now we will just have to see how Linda reacts to the change, when she rides it.

Can you live and love your diet for the rest of your life?

This is an important question you have to ask yourself. I have been using Loseit for almost 7 years. And I have been on one diet or another for about 40 years. While, I have managed to lose a lot of weight using Loseit I get tired of my food choices and I end up gaining weight back. This has been the case since I was about 30 years old. I can lose weight easily because I have that type of will power that my dad and also the Navy taught me to have. Will power can only take me so far, then my human nature kicks in and I start gaining weight again. Now that I know I have to always weigh myself I catch the fact I am gaining soon and I can kick my will power back in and lose the weight again. But that is not a type of life that is all that healthy or even happy. So what I am trying to do now is find a happy point that I can eat as healthy as possible, be as active as I can be and to enjoy what I am eating and the activities that I am doing. To my dismay and to the dismay of most of my Loseit friends, I am finding that after almost 7 years that counting every last calorie I eat is very stressful and it is actually causing me to eat more that I would other wise. 

Now I am going to say this right now, I am not saying you should stop logging your food or if it is not stressing you out to stop counting calories. I still keep a journal of what I eat, I just do not keep a count on the calories I am eating. I still use my Apple Watch so I know how active I am, but to be honest I do not pay attention to that every day either. What I am seeing is that my blood pressure has dropped, and I am eating less due to not stressing over that last calorie I ate or the fact that I have not eaten enough for the day to hit that magical calorie count that everyone says we have to eat just to not be starving our bodies. So what is my gage or way I eat? That is a good question, I am eating to not be hungry, I am eating to not get a dizzy spell due to not eating enough or eating often enough. I am still at times having spells with low blood sugar. My wife and I even care snickers bars with us in case that happens. But if I am not hungry I do not eat, if I am hungry I eat just enough to take away that hungry feeling. My weight is much more stable this way even with too much salt at times. My headaches are fewer and much less often. And my blood pressure is down about 10 points for both readings. 

What I am going to say is that you need to stop worrying about what you weigh and worry more about stabilizing your weight. Stop the yo-yoing that is very unhealthy. Also, stop worrying about your ideal weight, and except yourself at what you are happy with in the way of your activity level and eat as healthy as you can enjoy life with. Even a 10 pound weight loss makes you healthier than losing 50 - 100 pounds and then gaining it all back plus even more. You need to find yourself an enjoyable point that your weight is stable, you are active, and you enjoy your life, and you enjoy the foods you eat. Once you get to that point you will have less stress, you will have better blood pressure and in turn you will be healthier. 

So if you find counting calories enjoyable, and you find the restrictions you have in your diet enjoyable, and you enjoy your activity level you should have found your happy weight or will at some point. 

For me I am going to continue on my path for now, if I continues to work then I will not change, but if I see I cannot make it without counting calories then I will again count calories. I am not say good by to Loseit or my friends I am saying I am taking a break.

Holiday Weekend

My weight is hanging in there. Not sure why but something did not set well, yesterday I had issues with stomach cramps and very bad case of gas. I know I have had too much salt every week now for about 2 months, and my weight shows it. And to be honest my weight is up but I am still eating well within a safe range even without counting calories I know it due to my experience. I am logging what I eat every day, I just am not counting calories. I am going to try fasting, by not eating any snacks for a few weeks. I have been saying that now for a month and I have not managed it yet. 

After the thunderstorm left the area we went for a ride, Linda had a chance to try out her new seat for her scooter. She can now flat foot it while on the seat.

Intuitive eating

 I am trying my hand at not counting calories. I believe I am doing okay. My weight is down a little again, I do believe it is due to too much salt over the past weekend. I am writing down what I am eating, I just am not counting calories. I can say this I am not stressed over eating now, and I am not eating any differently. I am eating less nuts now. And I am not eating the ice cream that I was eating. I am also not eating as much fruit, and I do not know if that is good or bad. I am also sleeping better. Last evening we had watermelon and I for me it is a great diuretic. I also have to say that when I am not thinking about calories what I am eating taste better to me. 

The spring showers just keep coming and going. Nothing bad just a little rain every now and then. We have our first tropical storm that looks to be headed just to the east of us. So we may not get rain. But if it turns more to the west we could get very wet here. 

Day two without calorie counting

Yesterday was day one without calorie counting. I have to say I did not feel the need to snack, I had cereal for breakfast, lunch my wife and I were out riding our scooters and went outside the Village for the first time. We stopped at The shack, a local hamburger and other types of food local legend place. We had a small burger and it was great. This place is not fast food the meat is local and hand formed, the buns are even baked at The Shack. Supper was trout, rice, and asparagus. And I did not snack at all yesterday so even with the burger my food was down for the day. I also noticed that I did not think about food at all. I believe it is the fact that I was not thinking about a calorie goal for the day, I was only thinking about what I was doing and doing it.

We left The Shack and came back home, Linda decided to go to the Bank here in the Village, and before getting back home it started raining and she got very wet. Luckily it is warm and she did not get cold.

I will post a picture from The Shack.