Less Hustle More Coffee

So it’s so hard to lose weight. It seems no matter what you do, there you are, with the extra weight you vowed to get rid of. Everyone else on the planet seems to be jumping from this plan and that plan trying to find the answer. Once found, can it be maintained? I have found I do well when limiting pasta, bread, cheese, increase the protein, the water, exercise, use lots of vinegar dressings and mustard instead of mayo. But then I start missing the other stuff (love ranch dressing and mayo). And heaven forbid if I have an extra glass of wine. Have we no self discipline? Maybe, Maybe not.

So Why DO I Overeat? Why do YOU overeat? Why do we continue to eat the WRONG things and avoid the RIGHT things? For me, I came up with my reasons below. Not in any given order.

1. I’m AFRAID of being hungry. When I get too hungry I get the shakes and get nauseated so I’m afraid and I always eat when I get the slightest of nudges in my tummy.
2. I use food as a REWARD for having a bad day or for going to the doctor or because I’ve been stressed.
3. Programmed by TIME to eat at certain hours of the day. Even if I’m not hungry I think I’m due an eating session because it’s “time” to eat.
4. Social events with others. I eat what they eat and when they eat and even eat more than I might have otherwise. If they do it why shouldn’t I is what I tell myself.
5. Special events. I am giving this one it’s own category. It deserves it. Because it’s a big culprit. Birthday’s, Baby Showers, Holiday’s, Anniversaries, and then throw in Vacations, or special excursions.
6. Feels good to eat. It just meets one of the basic needs in life and it just feels satisfactory to eat! I don’t know how to explain but I have a feeling you probably understand.
7. Taste. I don’t think my senses of taste or smell are excellent these days, but I still love the taste of so many things. Pizza – the sauce, the melted cheese, the pepperoni. Are you with me? A bite of juicy steak dipped in creamy horseradish or au joux (sp) – I’m too lazy to look it up – I’ve worked all day and too tired, lol. You get it. Taste is a special thing and I love food because of it’s taste. I could go on – an egg sandwich with mayo, a salad with ranch dressing and lots of cheddar cheese. Are you hungry yet?
8. Stress. I don’t know how many times I have gone to get a burger and fries because I had so much stress on any given day at work – especially when I was in HR. I rarely do that now, but I used to a LOT.
9. I think I deserve it. If I’ve been good for a few days, I feel like I deserve a big ole juicy burgah!
10. Others have picked the meal or cooked the meal or have somehow influenced the meal and it might not be what I’d have chosen. I’ll give an example. Mom and George love the regular enriched spaghetti. I prefer whole grain or spinach or bean pasta of some type. George is willing to compromise. Mom prefers the enriched pasta no matter what. And bread – same thing. Mom likes her white, refuses to eat whole grain. George is a little more compromising with me on that but he doesn’t always like whole grain and honestly if it turns to leather I don’t like it either but I DO TRY!

So now I know the reasons WHY I overeat. I need to learn the ways to combat these things. I am open to your suggestions! But here’s my own list of what I THINK I should do.

How NOT to Overeat

1. Always keep a protein bar or something in my purse or bag so I don’t get the shakes.
2. Only eat when I’m hungry and I hear my stomach growling! 😉 Ignoring the clock. Awww that is hard.
3. Change my mindset that I don’t have to eat the WHOLE cake at events – just a couple of bites of things that tempt me. BUT I LOVE CAKE!
4. Check menus out at the restaurant ahead of time when going out to eat.
5. No one says you have to clean your plate. Eat your favorites first and leave the rest when hungry.
6. Split meals in two. Have half for the next day.
7. Try to eat balanced meals because when I do that I am most fulfilled and tend to eat less.
8. Dare myself to get stressed and eat a healthy salad with vinaigrette salad, LOL. Or perhaps go for a pricey salmon meal instead when stressed? Now we are talking.
9. Remind myself that even carrots taste good. So does spinach. Good healthy food tastes good too, we just forget.
10. Try to steer away from sugar, creamy sauces, and excess bread, fried foods, and fast food.
11. Keep increasing the greens and the fruits and the protein.
12. Keep on exercising.
13. Try to get my 8 hours of sleep. Right now I’m at 7 because of work and the dog.

I’m about to peek at my medical records from the last physical a couple of weeks ago. I dread it. I have had the results a week and have not looked at it yet. It makes me depressed to see it if the numbers are worse. The last few years, coming off of Isagenix – tired of the shakes and tired of their products, the pandemic where we ate comfort food, and then after the pandemic we all went hog wild seeing each other again and celebrating, and realizing life is short and eating whatever the heck we feel like – ugh….much like many of you have.

The exercising has been good for me and I probably need to increase the water intake. The exercise has redistributed the weight – then one of us has a birthday and I blow my progress.

I have loved this place being a community and I always enjoy your contributions to whatever topic I lay before you. Thanks for being here. Let’s support each other in this “health journey” and see how we can find our way without paying multi level marketing those extra dollars to be a part of their “journey”. Let’s create our own with REAL food that we can get easily from the store. And LORD HELP us, as we hear of fasting and famines, and world disaster. The Bible tells us it’s coming, but God will help those that believe. I BELIEVE. I REALLY DO. I think we are also going to place our membership at church Sunday. Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise. We have thought about it the last two Sundays and something always gets in the way.

George’s Birthday Weekend

No it’s NOT weed. It’s the Rosemary. We have a lot of it. Harvest time. George worked on some that had been drying out in the sunroom this weekend.

He enjoyed his birthday weekend, eating out at various places and getting upgrades with Hello Fresh. I AM NOW looking forward to MY birthday weeks! We ate well all weekend.

Videos

Well the last video flopped the big one. I think maybe only 30 watched it. Boooooo. But at this point it doesn’t make me do anything but shrug and go “oh well”. The last one on the other hand got over 200 in just a week and half.

I understand my “peeps” out there for the Less Hustle More Coffee VLOG are not on Facebook, not always my family and friends, and maybe not even those that read this blog but a whole bunch of people that don’t know I exist. For the most part I enjoy it so I’ll keep going. Once I change the mix up of what I’m putting on there I expect it to grow tremendously. I’ve purposely kinda held off b/c I’m afraid of what happens if it does explode, I’d be scared to death. I’m not sure I’m ready until I have TIME to be. So I’m ok with a minimal audience right now. When I set my mind to something. I know what it can do. 🙂

Anyway dinner’s ready. Gotta go.