Losing Weight

Trying to lose weight is hard, and a lot of people know that. It doesn’t help that there is a good amount of conflicting advice out there. I once listened to an ad that said orange juice, bread, and butter are horrible for you, and I don’t think that’s actually true. Though, full disclaimer, I AM NOT A NUTRITIONIST so I don’t know for sure what’s bad for you and what’s good.

I have wanted to lose about ten pounds for a few months now. I spent far too much time eating junk food, and far more than I should have had—not exactly in a sober mind. And when I’m around people, I suck my stomach in so that it looks a bit flatter than it actually is. Sometimes I wonder if that’s part of the reason I don’t gain weight too fast. I often have my core engaged, and when I’m sober, I don’t eat a lot in one sitting. And it seems unless you are obviously overweight or obese, people think it’s silly that you want to lose weight. I’ve had friends and parents say, “you’re not fat, you don’t need to lose weight,” and in their defense, they see a slimmer side to me than when I’m alone and I’m not sucking my stomach in. But who says you have to be overweight to want to lose five to ten pounds? I’ve been the height I am now for almost a decade, and I used to be 10-15 pounds lighter. Was I really healthy? To be honest I don’t know. When in charge of my own meals, my lack of interest in cooking meant I had nachos with cheese, sour cream, and salsa for dinner—sometimes two regular plate sizes in one night because they tasted so good. Then, when I was living with a friend, though he was a chef and once in a while made fresh healthy food. We got into a habit of getting taco bell every night, which was really not a good idea, but after eleven hours of being away from home, I didn’t care. So it’s definitely not a surprise to me that I’ve gained weight over the years. There might be something wrong with me if I hadn’t. But now I want to get rid of the excess fat and slim down, regardless of what anyone says.

Lately, I’ve been into watching “what I eat in a day” videos, and so far, what most of them have in common is smoothies and avocado on toast, plus Instagram-worthy food design. I watch these partly so maybe I’ll get ideas for healthier food. One video had the woman explaining what worked for her to lose weight, and it included eating full, healthy meals every five hours, and maybe a snack in there. But her biggest point was that she has worked herself into not craving sugary drinks and snacks. And at the time of making the video, she found grapefruit to be incredibly sweet and said, if you want to lose weight, “take all the temptations out of the house.”

Now that does make sense in a lot of ways. If it’s not there, you can’t eat it, right? True. But if you’re like me, then not having these things in the house is worse because you want something you don’t have available. For the past five-ish days, I’ve had a full size Crunch bar, a double KitKat bar, and an almost full bag of Monaco chocolate cookie things in my pantry. Plus a single bottle of sprite, coke, and a small bag of Sun Chips. Now how is it five-ish days later and I have only finished the sprite bottle and one cookie? To be honest, I wish I knew for sure, haha. What I know I’ve done differently is drink a lot more water. Basically every time I look at my favourite green water bottle, I take a drink. And if it’s been a while since my last drink, I take a few gulps. The downside to this is I go to the bathroom a lot more, but it’s not a bad price to pay. That and, to be fully honest, the chocolate bars, pop, and chips were a “gift” from a person I’m not exactly on good terms with. So, not having any of those items is like my personal way of saying “eff you,” and yes, he would deserve an “eff you.” But the delicious cookies are not from him, so those I’m proud of my not eating of them. But here’s the thing: if you’re like me, not having treats in the house doesn’t actually help you eat better, it just makes you think of the things you want to eat but don’t have in the kitchen/pantry. So, try buying whatever your temptation would be, know that you have it in the house if you have a bad craving for it, but make meals that you enjoy and are healthy, which sometimes takes a bit of trial and error, but that’s like most things in life, anyway.

Anyway, this post was not meant to be “tips on eating better” or anything. But if that does help you, then fantastic, and if not, I hope you enjoyed reading anyway. Thanks.