Moderation vs. Deprivation

Over the years I have read so many articles and posts about overweight people trying to figure out exactly WHY they are overweight. Many have found they overeat as a coping mechanism, as a reaction to stress, as a result of some sort of childhood abuse....my problem was that I simply enjoyed eating! And unfortunately, the things I enjoyed eating were the horrible things that caused me to one day wake up and find that I was knocking on the door of 300 pounds. I was a major pasta lover...and bread...and don't even get me started on sweets. I have a sweet tooth that could tempt me to eat a chocolate fence post. lol Notice I say that I HAVE a sweet tooth, not HAD. This is something that I still have to watch daily and know I will continue to have to do so for life. When I started my weight loss journey, I quickly knew that I wanted no part of a diet that said what I could and could not eat. To me, that was just a recipe for disaster. Figured if I couldn't eat something, that would just make me want it even more. I'm still a 3 year old stuck in a 34 year olds body I suppose. And the idea of low carb and induction and all those other words that gave me a headache trying to figure out was just more than I wanted to handle. Though about Weight Watchers as I had a friend in high school who did great on it, but honestly, as my husband says, I'm cheap and didn't want to have to pay someone to help me lose weight if I could in any way do it on my own. Thus began my plan to eat whatever I wanted, just in moderation. I decided to try to limit my calories to 1300 each day and see how that went. My plan was easy, after all I can read labels and add numbers like the best of them. For me, the calorie watching worked well...I quickly realized that I was able to eat MORE if I went with lower calorie options and if I wanted a high calorie meal or a high calorie dessert...I could have it but I knew I'd have to eat like a starving rabbit the rest of the day. Needless to say, that wasn't a tempting idea and therefore, I would steer away from the stuff I shouldn't have been eating in the first place. I think that education about food is our best defense against being overweight. The internet has given us the tools to shape our bodies....literally! I began checking out restaurant websites before I went in order to decide the best meal I could order (great idea because what we often THINK is a good choice, actually is not). I also invested in a book called Eat This, Not That which is an amazing tool. It has tons of restaurants and gives you 3 or 4 good choices and then 3 or 4 to stay away from. It also breaks down Mexican, Italian, Indian, Chinese, etc. menus and gives you good ideas to order. One hint I loved was when I go to eat Mexican and I always order fajitas. The book said to ask for corn tortillas instead of the typical flour ones that come with the fajitas...you save about 100 calories per tortilla. Wow! Now this is my routine. I also realized how important being educated was when I read about the Ruby Tuesday menu. Many people who go in wanting a "healthy" burger would go for the Turkey Burger....you think its a good choice for your diet. Well, this turkey burger is over 1000 calories!!!! Can you believe that? I don't know what the heck they do to a darn turkey burger to make it that many calories but as a dieter I'd be in shock if I ate that thing and THEN realized the damage I'd done! So educate yourself and understand that the seemingly healthy choice isn't always the healthy choice! I also used to love fried shrimp, until I realized they may have about 4 times the calories of boiled or grilled shrimp. Now, I may occasionally eat a couple of fried shrimp, but in general, all of my seafood is now ordered grilled, the extra calories just aren't worth it to me. I think one of the things that has many my lifestyle change something that I know I can do forever is the fact that I still allow myself to have dessert when I want it. I just make sure I account for it in my calories for the day. When I go to a buffet, I focus on a huge salad with fat free dressing, some sort of grilled or baked meat, lots of veggies, and I stay away from anything with sauces or pastas and potatoes, knowing at the end of my meal I'll enjoy a reasonable serving of carrot cake or a little ice cream and one cookie. I do not deprive myself and that makes it easier for me to eat healthy the majority of the time. Take care and have a wonderful day!