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Friday, February 26, 2010

Rules Shmules

If you have them, join the club. I've been insecure about my body/weight/self probably most of my life. I never really had them when I was a child. I think if you're a kid and you're already insecure about your body something is seriously wrong!
But when I was little, I would eat so much trash. Trash meaning, candy bars, chips, quiznos, hot cheetos (yum), McDonalds, ice cream..etc. The list can go on forever. But the one thing that I think that helped when I was little was exercise! I was in so many sports and then my freshman year of high school I joined the cross country and we ran a good 15-20 miles a week when we were training. However, when I stopped running due to asthma (grr) is when things went downhill. I didn't gain much weight in high school, but I didn't exercise and kept on eating trash. I would have pizza for lunch and then Burger King for a snack. However, I didn't gain much weight because I stopped when I was full! I definitely lost that ability entering college.
Oh college.
One night, when I was still at UC Davis, my friends and I wanted to see how many plates of food we could eat. We stacked our bowls and plates and ate 20 plates full of food. I remember eating a horrible dessert after every meal. I gained probably 10 pounds going up to 120. I lived in a suite that didn't exercise and also ate trash. But I don't blame my suitemates for my weight gain, but it definitely didn't help. The funny thing was that I turned vegetarian my first month of college. I thought "Hey! I won't gain the Freshman 15!" Wrong. My mindset was that if it didn't have meat I was in the clear.
Not.
Cheetos, Lays, and all things sinful were vegetarian. Meat is never in desserts! So something happened when I saw a picture of me and my then boyfriend.
That was my regular face but it looks like I got my wisdom teeth pulled. When I saw this I was shocked. I didn't realize what had happened to me and the first step of my "healthy plan" was to be honest to myself and to say hey, I really need to do something. Adam (the guy in the picture) had just come back from working in Australia so he was fit and skinny, unlike me. So this is when things changed. I incorporated salads into my diet (slowly), changed to brown rice, and ate 1 plate of food at the dining hall rather than 5.

Here are the key rules I followed to becoming healthier.

1. Get ready for a change in your lifestyle. The hardest part isn't actually exercising/eating right but is thinking about it and not doing it. Do it.
2. Eat real food. No not McDonalds but when I decide what to snack on and I have a choice between some chips and a piece of fruit, I think about "what will get me closer to the body I want?" I still eat chips a lot but fruits are more delicious and cheaper. Yess.
3. Have water on hand 24/7. I have a 32oz Nalgene bottle with me at all times. I used to eat when I showed the signs of dehydration. Bad bad bad news bears! Sometimes, you think you're hungry but you're really thirsty.
4. Benefiber/Prunes. This helped me along before I had enough fiber enough. Fiber is crucial to letting everything out people!
5. Sweat. Make exercise a routine. When it is stuck, you can't really get out of it, which is good!
6. Say "stupid scale!" I don't know how I weigh now. I don't really care. I fit into my clothes and I feel good! That's all that matters. Plus, scales cost money. Spend your money on a smoothie instead.
7. Brush your teeth after dinner. This is the only thing that prevents my nighttime munchies. Do it and I guarantee you will not want to eat. I'm so lazy and since I wear an Invisalign retainer, I don't want to take it out and rebrush my teeth. Ugh!
8. Try to eat serving of fruits/vegetables for each meal. Also, snack of fresh vegetables! I love carrots but they're not filling enough so I add some chipotle hummus to it. So good and spicy foods make me drink water which makes me feel fuller.
9. Get a dog! Haha or just walk. My dogs require two walks a day and when I'm home that's about 3 miles of walking. Or you could go to college, I walk too much I feel like. (I'm lazy, have you noticed?!)
10. EAT YOUR DESSERT. Treats make life worth living. I require one dessert a day. That's right. But that doesn't have to be fattening or sugar-laden. I eat fruit with cinnamon or a piece of dark chocolate. Yum.

Hope this helps :)

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