Saturday, March 29, 2008

Ch-ch-changes

One thing I've learned as I've been trying to lose weight is that it's never enough to do this halfway. You can't exercise like a fiend and eat garbage. You can't eat well all the time and not exercise.

If you want to be successful, truly successful, you need both.

So yes, while my Tuesdays and Thursday torture sessions with Ms. A have been challenging (and exciting to finish, I must add), it's the things we discuss in her office, the things I need to do away from the gym that have provided the biggest challenges.

At one of my sessions this week, I had to bring Ms. A my entire menu for the past week--everything I'd eaten. Thanks to my BodyBugg log, this wasn't hard. But one glance at it and the first thing she did was say, "We need to lower your calories...this is why you're stuck. 2,000 calories is perfect, for maintaining..." The aforementioned 2,000 calories were what BB recommended for me. Ms. A suggested 1,600 on non-exercise days, 1,700 on exercise days.

Okay. I can do that.

But then she asked me about the times of my meals...

I'm Cuban. For many of us, eating late is the norm. It doesn't help that Mr. CCC doesn't usually come home until after 9 p.m. and we like to eat dinner together. Or that I often work late myself. Eating late has been a way of life for us.



So my heart leapt into my throat when Ms. A said no more eating after 7 p.m...if I wanted to have dinner with Mr. CCC, my dinner would be a sugar-free cup of Jello. Point blank, she wants me cutting down on the late eating. And she wants me to cut down on the carbs. And the Diet Coke.

That's a lot to adjust. A lot to change, and I'll be honest--it's been harder than I imagined. But I'm trying. I've gone a whole week now without a Diet Coke. And while I still enjoy my carbs, I am trying really hard to cut down on them.

The eating late...well, that's a work in progress. I'm still eating past 7 most nights, but I'm shooting to cut it off at 8:30. Either way, it's better than the 10:30, 11 p.m. eating I was doing before.

They're challenges, but no one said this would be easy. So I'll just keep plugging away, and working to eat my dinner before the sun goes down.

4 comments:

Healthy Pear said...

You're right, late night eating is hard to quit but what you're doing sounds good. Making gradual changes will get you where you want to be. Change always takes time. I hope you can still find a way to eat dinner with Mr. CCC though. :)

Heather said...

very very true! I discovered that as well...I would exercise but eat like crap and then think that the exercise wasnt working. same thing now..I eat healthy but was struggling to get in the exercise and my loss was slowing as a result. both is really what it is all about. sounds like you are making small changes in the right direction. I know how you feel about eating late...some days I get home and dont eat until 8. thats just part of my life and nothing I can do to change that. and if you are going to do this for life, you will have to find a way to make it work so that you are ok with it.

Lynn said...

I'm never really sure about the whole "time of day matters".

A calorie is a calorie, and if you're getting enough sleep, then you're not starting your day as early as some people, therefore, your bodyclock is off...

Obviously, you have to pick and chose what's right for you, but... I don't know that everyone should get up at 5am, be to bed by 9:30. Life just doesn't work that way.

Lora said...

I have the same problem - eating late if I want to share the meal with my hubby. I don't think it's the TIME per say that does us in (it's the snacking until hubby gets home to "hold us over" that does the damage!)