Do I Disappoint You

 

Well, I can just say that plateaus suck. I grant you, I have not been perfect. I ate out all week-end and I was not reasonable. I realized that what I wanted to believe was the “old me” is still there inside, looking for the opportunity to come out. First, it was on Saturday night. I was having dinner with friends and the place they picked was a buffet. Tons of food, from different cuisine styles (but mostly unhealthy), all you can eat. I never took the “all you can eat” as a challenge, but in my mind, overeating at buffets has to do with the fact that no matter what or how much you eat, you’ll end up paying the same price. And at that place, the price was more than I would have paid if we had gone to a regular restaurant and eaten an appetizer as an entrée or a salad. So my old self kicked in: “If I’m going to pay for a lot of food and not be able to take any home, I might as well eat as much as possible here to make my money’s worth.” And so I did. I couldn’t even really count the calories accurately. The worst part is I deluded myself into thinking it was okay because my friends (normal weight) were doing the same.

It makes me wonder why - and how - society got to this point, where quantity of food is perceived at least as important as quality. I mean, the restaurant was huge and PACKED. For the whole time we were there, there was a line to get in. For the same price, one could eat better quality food in a nicer setting. Sure, you can’t refill your plate for free, but do you really need to? It’s not a question one asks when there is more food to sample and that it’s not going to cost more. To be able to offer such a big variety and quantity, the restaurant has to cut somewhere, and I’m willing to bet it’s on the quality. Sure it tasted fine. But good taste doesn’t mean quality. Fatty, salty or sweet food tastes good but it is not quality food.

And don’t get me started on chain restaurants like Pizza Hut or the like. If you live in a place where you can access small, local restaurants (and I don’t mean the local greasy spoon), I believe you’re better off eating out there. It’s likely the food is better; you can develop a relationship with the owner and get a good knowledge of how they make the food, the provenance of ingredients, etc. Plus, you’d be encouraging a local business and contributing more directly to your community. And it’s not really going to cost you more (man, I paid almost 25 CAD for crappy buffet food!)

So the plateau, yeah. It might very well be my own making.

I Eat Dinner

I'm struggling to find balance in my eating habits. My plan was to stick to a 1300 cals diet (which is already very low from what I understand) but if I find that at the end of the day, I almost always wind up at about 1100. I do not plan on eating so little, I'm just not that hungry until like 4 pm. But when I get home from work, I'm starving. I guess I should eat snacks but I've never had the habit of it. So I usually eat a big meal when I get home, after working out. I need to work on that.
In other news, my Nike+ worked tonight!
See? Pretty graph! Me likey!

Stick With the Plan

Well, this week-end was a small disaster, diet-wise. First, Saturday started off good enough. I was playing the semi-finals in rugby so I had a good breakfast. Things got awry after the match. I had not planned for a post-game snack and since the game was out of town, by the time I got home it was dinner time and I had not eaten much (a banana and three or four carrot sticks) so I was starving. I went straight for the A&W by the house on wolfed down a crispy chicken burger and onion rings. Calorie-budget wise, I was still within limits because I hadn’t eaten much else all day and since I had played 80 minutes of rugby. Not very healthy, I grant you that.

Then, on Sunday, I was spending the day with my parents. And you know, I don’t really want to tell the people around me that I’m trying actively to shed the pounds. I don’t really know why. I think it has something to do with my fear of failing in front of other people. And I feel like telling people I want to loose weight is like telling them I don’t like who I am. This is not false but not something I want to advertise. I want to convey the image of a strong and confidant woman and being desperate to loose weight is not in accordance with that. So any way, on Sunday, I ate way more than I should have. Restaurant for lunch AND dinner. Plus an ice cream cone in the afternoon and I couldn’t squeeze in any exercise since we were spending most of the day with my grandma and she’s not as mobile as she used to be. So I ended up at 1,700 calories. Bad, I know but today is Monday, and I’m getting back on track! I have to have a plan, and stick to it!

Oh, and my mom noticed I had lost weight so that’s nice, it means it’s starting to show a little (I don’t see it, but hey, if others do, I won’t complain!)