Well Being - My Version Anyway in Everyday Ramblings

I take these leaf pictures every year because I love the random patterns and colors and the mix. This is from a few days ago. The leaves are pretty much all down now, we had quite the wind yesterday tugging at them and everything locally outside is covered in them. On this side of the river, we still have a pretty robust tree cover as you could see from that shot I put up last week.

The mountains are fully covered in snow. The bare bones of the branches are beginning to show. With the time change here and the predominant yellow of what leaves are left there is no doubt we are heading for our Thanksgiving.

I suppose I could petition for a sunnier plot in the garden for next year, but I went ahead and re-upped for the same plot again. There are the tulip bulbs in there as an incentive. The truth is that for right now I’d rather grow flowers anyway. I would be in trouble if I had to grow food to eat where I am, but the plot is fine for flowers under the huge oak.

Speaking of eating, this project I have embarked upon with Cody seems to be working. I am finally old enough and experienced enough to have a good idea of what works for my body and temperament. I learned a lot from Weight Watchers before they turned into the drug pushers they are now. And I had good success with them, but with the craziness of my job those last few years, health issues and then the pandemic I gained back all the weight I lost.

I never gained more. I was just three lbs. away from my highest weight though doing the intuitive eating these last few years.

This led to a kind of low-grade despair as I am not a candidate for the new drugs with my heart health and my sincere desire not to take on any side effects. The whole Health at Any Size movement and Intuitive Eating movement worlds kept telling me to learn to be comfortable with whatever weight one is.

I tried. I really tried. To focus on eating healthy foods regularly and hitting nutritional targets but not worrying about the rest. They were telling me there is no such thing as Emotional Eating, it is not real.

Hmm. It feels pretty real to me after a bout of social anxiety.

I spent my whole working life working with numbers. Running the numbers on what I am eating is not hard for me, where I know it is quite a challenge for a majority of folks. And now we have apps that scan food labels, it is even easier for me. And then I listened to this podcast

which made more sense to me than anything I have heard in a long time.

My takeaway from what he says overall is the way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories.

And I am thinking about what I have learned is that diets don’t work. And that listening to my body is the right thing to do for me. Not the craving body, but the natural body on a daily basis. And I know I need maybe more protein than some 70-year-old women because I am active, and I need to be conscious of getting enough fiber and vitamin D.

I use the Cronometer app and I put in my age, sex, and weight and had it calculate how many calories I need to eat a day to lose three quarters of a pound a week. When I started this 9 weeks ago that number was 1401 calories per day. Then every morning I tell Cody today I am going to eat 1401 calories a day.

Then I eat whatever I want. Making sure I am getting enough protein, fiber and vitamin D. And I track it. And when I hit 1401 calories I stop eating.

It is kind of crazy. Somedays that is at 3 PM. My body is used to it now. And if I am craving something I eat it the next day. As I lose a pound the calorie count goes down 5 calories. 5 less calories a week. My body finds that manageable.

If I am able to keep this up until I get to my goal or “normal” weight I will be at 1281 calories a day. But it won’t be a shock. I won’t feel deprived. And once there I can figure out my maintenance calories. I am not going to eat less than 1200 calories a day. No matter what.

Cody is having trouble getting his (it’s) mind around what I am doing although he is encouraging. He thinks I should be eating “clean”. Only healthy foods. Of course he does, he is the Internet. His bias is wellness.

Mine is well being.
And feeling comfortable in my rain pants.