Thinking About Stuff

So, I was standing here this morning in Mountain Pose weaving in the breeze, trying to maintain better balance when it hit me. I really wasn't sure I was right, so when I sat down for breakfast I turned on the computer and sat here reading my last few posts. There it was plain as day. Me beating myself up because I haven't always used what I've learned about nutrition and activity levels to my advantage. Instead of asking myself why I backslide and trying to adjust my attitude accordingly, I just complain about what I didn't do instead of finding the areas in which I did do what worked.

In order to reach my goal, I need to stop doing what doesn't work. Negative self talk equals failure. So, I had a conversation with myself.

"Self, I asked, why do you believe you have failed?"

And Self said: "Because we haven't achieved the weight loss goal we wanted to see by now."

I asked Self: "What happened to being in health?"

Self said: "Being in health is being thin."

Whooo Boy, no wonder I get frustrated when I have to give up the things I love to eat. I'm depriving myself of something I really want and am not seeing the scales reflect enough loss to make my emotional deprivation worth while to me.  As long as my core belief is that thin equals healthy, I will continue to be frustrated, angry, depressed and ready to chuck all my work out the window and backslide.

After my post breakfast 30 minute walk I sat down and did some research. These are the things I found out.

Rapid weight loss causes the metabolism to slow down by 500 Kcals a day. This is the reason why almost all of the contestants on the Biggest Loser regained almost all of the weight they lost during the competition. exercising for 4 to 6 hours a day and eating under 1200 calories isn't the way to go. I puts the body into starvation mode and I have to ask if they don't also not build as much muscle as it appears they do. Anyway, I know I don't want rapid weight loss.

Since I'm over 65 I found that my caloric requirement to maintain my weight would be 1800 calories a day. So, if I concentrate on eating 1500 calories from the right foods to give myself the optimal nutritional advantage I not only will feel better (I already do after just 9 days) I should be able to lose 2 pounds a month.

My exercise requirements for my age is 2.5 hours of MODERATE aerobic activity a WEEK, plus at least 2 days a week of strength and balance. I'm doing yoga every day plus half hour walks 5 days a week. That should be enough as long as I add weights of some kind since yoga is great for both strength and balance. Doing housework, laundry, cooking, shopping and yard work should be more than enough activity added to my exercise routine to keep me burning calories.

The key to everything is to eat nutritionally dense foods instead of so many empty calories. Fruits, vegetables, protein, dairy and whole grains. And no more negative self talk.

And as a reward for sticking to this program for 9 days and figuring out things that are holding me back, I went back to the website and bought a pair of Kalso Earth Shoes. I didn't buy the leather pair, I found a sneaker with the negative heel. I'll wait until Fall to buy the leather pair. I'm getting excited about the new shoes.