Diet: The Only Thing Left To Try

In January my doctor suggested I try My Fitness Pal to help with my diet:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

At the time I said "no". One thing about OCD is obsessions rule your life. I already obsess over the budget and calorie counting just seemed like it would take the fun out of eating. I already did the extensive charting at the start of the diet. What I was looking for was how to manage my weight for the rest of my life. I won't be charting my diet and exercise for the rest of my life. That's no way to live. I needed something that fits my life without too many changes.

On a fluke I decided to add a fitness app to my facebook page. It didn't work but I discovered My Fitness Pal. It looked good so I am giving it a try. I keep track of my weight, eating, and exercise. I also am keeping track of my neck, waist, and hip sizes. I started on Tuesday but as of this morning here are the results:

Weight: Starting 135 now 134.5
Neck: Starting 12.5 inches now 12 inches
Waist: Starting 38 inches now 37.5 inches
Hips: Starting 41 inches now 40.5 inches

I also did what I always do with new obsessions, I started a spreadsheet. It has a feature. It tracks calories in and calories burned and says at the end of the day how much you are over or under your calories burned. Once you hit the "Complete This Entry" button it tells you how much you would weigh in five weeks if every day was like that day. Here is my sheet so far.

Extra Calories		5 wks
7/16/2013	15	129.8
7/17/2013	430	125.7
7/18/2013	108	128.9
7/19/2013
7/20/2013
7/21/2013
7/22/2013
135lbs	553

The weight on the bottom is my weight at the start of the week.  I have this chart for each week filling the page so the chart for 5 weeks from that day will be right next to it. It will be easy to see if they are right about what I will weight. It looks like the average will be somewhere in the high 120s.

It is working so far with my real weakness: portion control. I am learning that it's not that I even eat a whole serving of that many things, it's just that I eat a variety of things. I used to think Cheshire and Smoked Gouda cheeses were healthy. I now know they are like having a few chips. I used to have 5 chips with a burger, I didn't last night.

The main drawback is hunger. It's still new so my body is still adjusting to less food. I sense I'll be getting crankier. But that's how I lost weight with my eating disorder. I did two things back then that worked like a charm. I used to buy candy on my way home from school. I decided to supplement that by "buying something that will make me look pretty like make up or hair stuff instead of something that will make me ugly like candy". Those are the exact words I used then. I had to supplement rather then not go in the store or the diet wouldn't have worked. It's what fit my life then. Gardening now takes the place of the beauty products. It's so wonderful for so many reasons.

The second thing was based on an article I read in a Magazine. I think it was 17 Magazine. I can't cite it because it was sometime in the early '90s and I am not even sure that's the right Magazine. The diet tip it gave was to leave a little bit on your plate at each meal and in a month it adds up to a lot less being eaten. What I am doing with the help of Fitness Pal is the same thing. I am either taking less to begin with or not finishing things. Here's an example, I don't like the crust so I take the crust off the bread. What I actually eat is equal to one slice of bread even though it starts as two. I also don't drink the whole can of coke when I have some.

The problem I have now with exercise is the same I had in the Winter, weather. I can't stand more then 30 minutes at a time once it hits 85 degrees and it's been hitting 85 degrees early. I have still been able to get a reasonable amount of exercise in but that will change when Zach is home for all of August. To combat that I pulled out my exercise routines from this blog and narrowed it down to 6 that are doable even with my knees. One song each: Stretching, Stomach, Tao-Bo, 3lb Weights, Pilate's, and Yoga. That will combined burn 181 calories according to Fitness Pal. It might be the best solution for when I can't walk but need exercise. I like that I can include basic things too like gardening, cleaning, and cooking. For cleaning they have different intensity levels offered based of project size.

I recommend it.....so far. It's the only thing I haven't tried. I used to read all those diet success stories looking for new ideas but now they are just painful for me to read. I feel like I will never be one of them. Almost all of them include workouts my body can't handle anymore. They aren't giving me new ideas of things to try either. The biggest thing I am getting from Fitness Pal is the help with portion control. I obsess over what I'm eating and will eat compared to planned daily exercise. I modify as I go along throughout the day as well. It means I am mindful of what I really am eating. I hope this works. I'll do a post in 5 weeks with an update on the progress. It's the only thing left to try.