Weight Loss Update 7/5-7/11

I lost another 2.5 pounds this week!
In a way I am surprised and in other ways I am not. Let me explain.

This week I decided to stop tracking my food. After 8+ months of tracking everything I ate and measuring everything I ate, I was just plain tired of doing that. But, I think it was necessary, because now I feel like I have a good handle on portions and what is a normal amount to eat. With portions being outrageous in restaurants, it's hard to know what a proper portion size is, especially if you ate out a lot like we did. I think we would have naturally lost weight all on our own if we had stopped eating out cold turkey, but that's not realistic for us, nor do we want to stop eating at restaurants.

So I stopped tracking my food, but I was still sort of mentally keeping track, and measuring most portions that I ate (such as meats and uncooked pasta). I know about how much I eat at each meal, so I felt pretty good about being able to control my portion sizes. I also listened to my body and ate only when I was hungry. Sometimes I felt like I ate more than I needed to because I knew I had so many calories left for the day. In some ways, that may have been causing me to plateau on those weeks when I didn't lose a thing.

I was also really careful to make sure I ate enough, because I didn't want my metabolism to slow down because of lack of food. I think that has got to be the biggest mistake people make when trying to lose weight: starving themselves. That's why I don't understand this new fad I've been hearing about calorie restriction to help lengthen your life. If I can't eat when I'm hungry, who wants to live that long anyway....I mean come on....it doesn't even make sense to me for a long term solution to weight loss and good health.

You should eat nutrient rich foods until you feel full and satisfied....I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out. It also doesn't make for a best selling book or weight loss system, so I guess that's why we still see so much junk in the media about losing weight and staying healthy. Common sense doesn't sell, apparently.

So, after one week of not counting calories or WW points, I feel pretty good about where I am heading. I hope I can continue to stay on track in this manner.