Bad day. I left work with that crying feeling you get after a long day of confronting teenagers and "need-to-dos." I was essentially flipped the Word Bird at least 3 times via socially acceptable comments and passive aggressive techniques. My alarm clock went off late, I worked through lunch, and my hair looked bad. Normally, I would get home and stuff my belly full of food until the crying feeling went away. At the meeting that made my crappy day complete, I vocalized my problem to a friend. I decided to make a math problem to illustrate my conundrum:
Crappy day = pizza + chocolate
BUT food is no longer a variable
SO, crappy day = ?
I kept pointing to my stomach and saying, "I have that crying feeling right here and I can't eat it away. What do I do?!" Friend kept missing my meaning. Eventually it clicked and he pointed to his eyes - "I know what you mean, but I get it in my eyes." Hmm...I never knew that crying stomach wasn't the norm! I just figured everyone got crying stomach and ate enough food to push the feelings deep down inside until happiness returned. Weird.
Still, I kept badgering Friend about what to do. He suggested crying, but that's the thing with crying stomach - it's not caused by something important enough to make you actually cry, just something disturbing enough to eat away at your insides. Finally, I blurted out sarcastically, "I know, you're going to say 'Go for a run.' " He nodded, but was smart enough to keep quiet.
I called my husband on the way home and vented; he was not quiet and suggested I go for a walk. It was actually still light out, it wasn't a night to work at my 2nd job (yes, I have two jobs: teacher + cop = need 2 jobs), and I had time before I had to start my nightly cooking/cleaning up/grading/planning routine - no reason to not go. I allowed myself a snack since I hadn't eaten lunch, and I am not so far into my journey that I can handle a crying stomach without some sort of food salve. However, I whipped on my man-shoes and went for a walk.
At first, crying stomach intensified because all I had to think about while walking was my crappy day and how my white shoes look clownish. I felt even worse when I started thinking that everyone driving by me would immediately think to themselves, "Oh! A walker with the man-feet!" But around the time "Oh Sheila" came on my Ipod, I felt a little better.
Overall, I counted 3 condoms (Valentine's Day?), 5 barking dogs, 1 freaky just-standing-there dog, 2 beer cans, 1 house with the back door wide open and no screen, 2 men who looked like they might kill someone on the walking trail and dump them in the watery ditch, and 1 struggling weight loss blogger who actually didn't eat away feeling bad. I also didn't wear sunscreen...just wanted to give all the Negative Nellies something to focus on.
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15 comments:
This is one of the hardest things to do and you did it. Replacing that 'I'm going to eat the day away,' is difficult. I think it's burned into our brains. Well, it was for me, because everyday after school, I crammed down all kinds of snacks. Now even as an adult, it's hard to break that habit. Good start Melis!
Oh, and wear sunscreen.
Great job, Melissa! It's so hard to exercise when all you want to do is eat. One thing that has been a lifesaver for me is the Walk Away the Pounds workout DVDs. They have one that has a 1, 2, 3 & 4 mile workout, and the 1 mile literally only takes 15 minutes to complete and is perfect for when you promised youself you would work out, but you don't have time or are too hungry or tired to do a full workout. Or if it's raining, or if there are too many scary people on the walking trail! Keep up the good work, you are doing great!
That's awesome that you went for a walk instead of indulging in food. However, you shouldn't skip meals. It throws off your entire metabolism and causes it to slow. Keep some snacks at your desk so you can at least have something in your system or the weight loss will continue to be hard. Good job with the walking. If you start doing it more often, it's going to start feeling good and paying off on the scale.
Way to power through it!! Yes, I agree with the above commentary: skipping meals is never a good thing.
A - it's good you actually did some exercise.
B - you have to get your nutrition plan under control. Skipping meals causes your body to react like it is starving which totally offsets most of the caloric benefits of exercise. You must get serious about how and when you eat for you to have any hope of success. You mentioned in your first entry you were going to see a nutritionist. Please update us on that visit.
WOOHOO!! Great job Melissa!! I really love reading your blogs. I find that meal planning is something I'm not very good at, but I just had to break that cycle. Not only does planning help with your new life habits, it helps with spending less money too because I'm not always running to grab lunch out. Keep on walking!!! :)
Melissa - you are a wonderful writer and I know exactly what a crying stomach feels like. What a perfect description. A snarky, bad feeling that isn't worth crying over or sometimes even talking about - but it is there and causes a reaction. Brilliant. I have a crying stomach right now so I am going for a walk. Thank you for the suggestion and keep up the good work.
Melissa, I think you are doing great! I know you have some critics, but I truly believe everyone has to find the right approach and balance for them when it comes to healthy living. Some people bite off an aggressive diet and exercise routine and burn out after a couple of weeks. I think you are exploring different things that work and/or don't work for you and you are getting your feet wet. Your writing is holding you accountable to this process and you WILL find what works for you, I am sure of it! Keep up the fantastic writing, by the way! When are you planning to write a book? :)
Melissa: Great Job! Walking away a "crying stomach" sounds like a great thing to do. It seems like you are really focusing on not eating and getting more exercise and that's a great thing. You've inspired me to cure my crying stomach by walking it away. Thanks
Gina
Hey Miss, congrats on making it over that hurdle!! I love reading your posts because you are very real with what you tell everyone. Really proud of you!! Now I'm going to say I agree that skipping meals is not good, and I'm the first one to do it!! I didn't eat breakfast for like 20 years of my life and I'm 29 lol. For the first few weeks I had to force myself to eat breakfast, now I can't get going unless I do. It has become my coffee, my energy is just so low if I don't eat it. It has proven to me without a doubt that you have to eat in order to boost your metabolism. So couple of suggestions, keep some healthy snacks in your desk at school!! Another you might want to consider is that instead of going home everyday and having to cook, think about making a few big healthy meals over the weekend and then freezing them into dinner portions. Then you have your very own home made frozen dinners that all you have to do it throw in the oven or pop in the microwave. I have a lot of healthy recipes that some of us have been exchanging and I'll email them to you!! Again congrats!!
I totally disagree with this notion of keeping snacks handy. If you eat healthy and appropriate meals there is absolutely no need for snacks. Snacks are often uncounted calories and really serve no purpose for nutrition. Time your workouts to be between meals or before a meal. Do not snack between meals. If you find that you can't make it to the next meal that is because you have either not eaten correctly at your last meal or have yet to break the snack cycle.
Snacks are evil, avoid them. The most avid hard core athletes do not snack. Discipline is key.
Oh my God Missy, how perfect to describe that nagging urge to eat everything in sight as crying stomach. I gave in to mine and ate a cheese steak, with cheese fries no less! Guess its time to put on my white shoes and hit the trail. You are an inspiration.
Actually both my doctor and my nutritionist said that you should eat 5 times a day to keep your metabolism up. Three balanced healthy meals and two healthy snacks. I agree discipline is key, but I've known many "hard core athletes" who do eat snacks. Whether it's having an apple or something else equally healthy. This is about Melissa's journey to figure out what is going to work out best for her, and what is going to make her the healthiest her she can be. Just because she hasn't detailed trips to nutritionists, doctors, gyms etc. doesn't mean she's not doing it. She instead she tells about her struggles in a humerus way with an honesty that is refreshing. She allows for people like herself to relate, and gain inspiration. She's not perfect in her quest, and let's face it no one is perfect in any quest that they start. I agree she needs to figure out how to get in more workouts and plan healthier ways to get in her nutrition, but cut her some slack allow her some learning curve room. Most people who have a lot of weight to lose have a lifetime of bad habits to overcome, it's not going to happen right away and it WILL be a process. Miss all I have to say is keep fighting, don't lose your courage and eventually it will work out just as long as you never give up.
I posted that snacks are evil but I will concur if you eat some fruit or something equally benign that snacks are fine. The problem is that many people who don't understand exercise or nutrition hear the word snack and head for a high fat high calorie snack thinking it is ok, which clearly it isn't.
I do not agree that the blogger needs to find what works for her. That's the problem many people make with weight loss. You have to go with what is proven to work, which is strict diet and exercise. Once you get a grip on the tried and true methods you can tweak for yourself. However, the blogger's cavalier attitude towards her massive undertaking ignores the very basic tenets of weight loss. Unless she gets serious about it, this is simply a fat person's blog about not losing weight, while claiming to try.
She needs to exercise 5X a week, minimum for 30-45 minutes, vigorously. She needs to reduce her caloric intake, modify and improve her meals. We are 6-8 weeks into her odyssey and she is showing no signs of making any permanent changes.
Snacks are only unhealthy if you choose unhealthy snacks. It's better to eat five times a day (small meals and nutritious snacks) than 3 large meals a day. It keeps your blood sugar and metabolism stabilzied. There are plenty of great "snacks" out there like apples, celery with peanut butter, and carrots and hummus. The peanut butter and hummus especially are great because of the protein that gives you a natural boost of energy.
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