Hey ya’ll!
So those of you who have joined me on the Pomroy eating plan – how’s it goin’? Those of you who said that you didn’t want to start when I started (because it was part of a holiday week) – did you start? How’s it goin’?
I haven’t been writing much, because I’ve been travelling. If you missed it, I was interviewed on the Girls Gone WOD Podcast when I was in Denver, then I went to visit my hanai family in the Salt Lake City area. I returned to finally get the appointment with the specialist on my hip/back issue – turns out to be “mainly tied to” arthritis in my S.I. joint pulling on the surrounding muscles, plus a poor core, plus “too much weight” in the abdominal area. Harrumph.
I mentioned the weight thing to my Mom, who’s response was “Well, you’re not THAT overweight…” (sigh) THAAAAANKS…
I wasn’t totally able to stay on the eating plan while I was staying with other people. I’m not going to lie here. It’s not that hard if you’re in your own home – or even in control of your food while traveling. But when in Denver, I didn’t want to make a fuss while staying with my friend, so did what I could. (Mainly, as that was a Friday-Saturday-Sunday or in other words the easiest days, I did okay – it was more in the timing of eating that I fell down. Oh, and the wine ;-) ) Then, when visiting my family, it was somewhat similar – the “tougher” Wednesday/Thursday days in particular. I did what I could, and figured that a little cheese here and there wasn’t going to completely throw me off the wagon, especially as I plan to keep this up longer than the “prescribed” 30 days. I do the cooking when I’m there, so I was able to take charge over my grandboys’ breakfasts, lunches and snacks, plus the family dinner.
I returned home, and, even though I wasn’t 100% “good,” I was pleasantly surprised today to weigh myself and find myself 6 pounds down. Yippee! I know, I know, scales don’t accurately portray what’s happening, blah blah, but this puts me down into the next “decade” of weight, towards my goal of losing 30 pounds (“3 decades”).
As I type this, I’m having my morning smoothie of watermelon (SO glad a friend told me that watermelon freezes like a champ!), pineapple, and mango with a few mint leaves (also frozen in a bunch), plus the added uncooked oats. I showed my oldest grandboy how to make this “smoothie” for himself when I was in Salt Lake. The oats remind you that you need to “chew anything that is food to your body.” My eldest grandboy is overweight, and eats his food fast. (Me too! I have been practicing the “putting the fork down between bites” mindfulness.) I had read at one point that if you “drink” your calories, your body doesn’t really know how to deal with it as food….because “in the wild,” the only thing you’d really drink would be non-caloric (water). This article mentioned that if you are going to be doing any sort of eating regime wherein you drink calories, you need to pay attention to “chewing” each mouthful “as if” it’s “food” to “let your body know” that calories are coming down your gullet.
I’m not sure whether this is true or false, but it definitely slows you down! The uncooked steel cut gluten-free oats are a great addition to help with this, even if it’s just a reminder. My grandboy paired this smoothie with an egg and ham burrito I showed him how to make. He was out of school on break, so we spent a lot of time together, and he said that this combination “kept him going” until well into when it was time for lunch.
Last night, I watched the movie Fed Up on Netflix. It made me so sad watching the three kids that they follow in this documentary. As always, their families think they are eating “right.” One of the kids goes in for a DEXA scan, which can not only tell you your bone density, but also what your body is “made up of,” both in total and in its various regions. Fat in the abdomen is the worst – a DEXA will tell you your total fat percentage as well as where that fat lies. My eldest grandboy actually has a DEXA coming up because he has had bone issues (his father has low bone density, and he might have inherited it). I hope that they get the fat percentage as well.
One thing the movie goes into is “skinny fat people.” In the documentary, the kid who undergoes the DEXA scan looks quite a bit heavier than his parents or his 3 brothers. However, all of them weigh out with obese fat numbers – even the super skinny youngest is right up against the obese range.
I have a feeling I might have been one of these. I have always (well, until recently/hormone changes) been quite slim, even skinny. All through my 20s I was around 140 (remember, I started Pomroy at 185). I was up in my 150s at my “heaviest” in my 30s, but back down to 140 in 2006 (I have it in my diary). I didn’t work out that much – certainly not much cardio – though I did lift weights regularly in 2006 because I wanted to look buff in my (backless/sleeveless) wedding dress ;-)
I could eat just about anything and still stay within a fairly narrow weight range. Now, not a chance. I am metabolically “broken” – and that’s what I’m trying to deal with and fix.
But I think a lot of this comes down to how you’re “programmed” to eat when you’re growing up. The movie goes into this – and how the “food industry” has FUCKED US UP (sorry for the swearing, but it’s worth it!) Books I have read recently, like Salt Sugar Fat
My hanai daughter and I were going through her pantry together, and we discussed “finding sugar” on a jar or can. In “Fed Up,” Katie Couric discusses how our purchasing would be radically altered if the “Sugar” had a Recommended Daily Allotment (RDA) percentage like all the vitamins do! Unfortunately, in the case of the pasta sauce we were discussing, though the Sugar was “under 6 grams” on the Carbs list, it was on the Ingredients list. This issue was discussed in the Salt Sugar Fat book – how we need to be careful, because words like “sugar and sugar” – and “fat and fat” – don’t mean the same thing. A pasta sauce can have 6 grams of sugar that occurs naturally from the tomatoes in the jar (e.g., in the Carbohydrates list, but not in the Ingredients list). Or, a pasta sauce can have 6 grams of sugar that are on the ingredients list, meaning sugar was actually added to the concoction (usually, because they’ve tried to take something else out, and it didn’t taste as good!)
Again, as pointed out in these books and in that movie, this is made “difficult” because the Food Industry wants it to be difficult. So people will throw up their hands, and buy Lunchables.
Another book I was recently reading talked about how baby formula is marketed in places like Laos – showing big, chubby babies on the label and stating that it’s far “better than” breast-feeding your child (more “First World”). And how these “big, chubby babies” all wind up with a host of diseases like anemia and malnutrition, though they are big and fat. Moreover, as the formula is not cheap and the same company makes things like coffee creamer with the same logo, some mothers purchase the coffee creamer to feed their babies. Yikes!
But I digress (how unusual)…
My plan is to get back to 155. I seem to think that’s do-able, though I haven’t approached it since I have had the hormone issues. That is also where my doctor says my BMI will be in the normal range.
Well, I meant for this to be a quick update, but as usual, I get typing, and I can’t stop. If you’re doing Pomroy, how are you doing??? If you didn’t start because you said you would but then you “forgot”…how about starting Monday???
Let’s do it!