Six Steps to MIZFIT eating.

by

This is part three in a three part HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET TO THE AFTER?! series.  You may feel free to commence celebrating the series is over or hit me up with “I had hoped you were going to answer XXX” questions in the comments.

We all know how easy it is to pull the “starting Monday I shall” or “on the first of the month I will…” & yet we all are painfully aware (in our hearts. where it counts.) this whole journey really is all about starting right.this.moment.

And look at that.

How fortuitous is IS a Monday to boot.

In that spirit I give you what I did.

What I still do today.

When I finally decided the time had come to shed my freshwoman forty I followed six steps & they’re pretty much the same kind of thing I still do on a daily basis.

When I finally decided the time had come to shed my freshwoman forty I had no acronym with which to remember it all.

I give you an acronym (good lord I love me some acronyms).

To use.

STARTING TODAY.

Mini-meals. Im a believer in spreading the calories through out the day. For the most part none of my meals are bigger than any other ( I do often eat more at breakfast out of hunger. Intuitively.)  Beyond the fact I think this helps me stay lean—-it definitely helps my blood sugar levels stay even, I have far more energy, & Im overall less bitchy more cheerful.

Intuitive eating.  I know we’ve talked a lot about this here as of late–but it bears repeating.  Start this one today. Slowly. Listen to what your body is saying. Pay attention to how you feel after eating certain foods.  JOURNAL.  For me this isnt journaling *caloric intake* but feelings.  Noting how, when I crave sweets, it’s mainly AFTER Ive had a high processed carbohydrate meal.

That sort of thing.  Perhaps you begin by not even CHANGING your foods—just logging your body’s reaction to them.

Zero HARD & FAST RULES.    Again, this is just what has always work for me. Im a rebel. Make a rule that I can not have or do something & it is immediately the ONLY THING I THINK ABOUT.

Fiber, Fiber, Fiber. At this point I think we all know why (want more info? still unclear? desire a list of fibery foodstuffs? please to let me know in the comments.)—be sure you both KNOW and are acting on it.

Invest in YOU.  For me this takes the form of spending lots of money on quality foods & less money on (quality) clothing.  I love me some sushi grade tuna. Im happy with clothing from Goodwill-type places.

For some this may be an investment in a personal trainer.  For others in a gym membership. I have more than a few non-wealthy friends who invested in cooking lessons in their homes so that they could learn a handful of easy healthy meals.

Which leads me to…

Tried & trues. Always have a few meals which you know you enjoy, which are healthy, &  which are easily prepared in your arsenal. I tend to have the T & T’s already prepared and waiting in the fridge for those moments Im too tired to cook. Other people prefer just to have ingredients on hand.

Whatever *you* decide Im a firm believer in the fact that these T & T’s help to set us up for food success.

That’s me, People.

What I did starting out and what I do today.

When Im feeling completely scattered, out of my element and CRAZED I know if I can stick to these six things Ill re-find my groove in no time.

(yada yada yada DIZCLAIMER HERE. This is what works for me. Finds MY groove. Please to find what works best for you through old fashioned trial & error)

Now you.

What would you tell my myriad emailers who ask:

What’s the one thing I can do, starting today, to clean up/change my eating habits?

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Comments

  1. I tell all my friends to do one less “bad” thing than they did yesterday and replace it with something “good.”

    I found you through Yahoo!

    Cool blog.

  3. I’m totally gonna print this out Miz.

    Do you have a list somewhere of your tried and true foods?

    Thanks.

  6. I would say journal everything!!!

    And then at the end of each day reread and see where you went wrong.

    It works for me quite well.

  7. Since you said we could ask anything:

    I am curous if you lost your weight all at once or if you ever had periods where you re-gained.

    Thank you.

    Laurie

  8. Tell them to start taking their health into their own hands because we only have this one life and we did to make the most of it. To start making small changes in how they look at things and do things when it comes to diet and exercise. And keeping a positive attitude is key!!

  13. Listening to the body. I’m going to try to take a break from counting calories for a while and just listen to my body. Intuitive eating.

    Like right now. I made myself a blueberry cobbler for breakfast and I feel satisfied after eating half of it. I can eat the other half tomorrow!

  14. Another gem!!! Intuitive eating was hard but getting easier for me. Too many years on starvation and crash diets and my body forgot what it was like to be hungry. I jounal and count calories but no to limit- to make sure I’m getting enough using as much real unprocessed food as possible. I don’t deprive myself though… If I want chocolate, I have it… If I want ice cream, I’ll get a small amount. Moderation and self love instead of guilt are the key I think!

  15. I really want to say “Listen to your body” but I fear it might be one of those things that only makes sense if you already know its meaning. So I’ll go with this: Eat as many veggies as you can per meal. If you can eat more–say, a side of fries, go for it. But stop when you’re hungry. And eat the veggies first.

  17. Thanks for sharing this. One thing…hmmm… maybe I would say add more veggies. Because for a lot of “dieters” it seems less painful to think about adding than taking away. But eating more veggies serves multiple purposes: adds that fiber of which you speak, and fills you up in the place of what you might eat instead, and has tons of good for you nutrients. For me, I discovered that roasting them made them much more palatable. And I had to think outside the box – like how I know will often have a pan of roasted green beans mid-afternoon for a snack.

  20. Love your tips!

    I’d say give up sugar. I know it was the one thing I did on day one and though I eat some sugar now on occasion it is what got me down the road to losing weight initially.

  21. Another awesome post Miz – love your tips!

    I could write a long long comment about what I’d suggest for the one thing to do to get started, but honestly, for me, it was coming clean about what I did actually eat everyday and getting a handle on what I liked and how I wanted to eat.

    So I’d say, change nothing but write it down or something that makes you acknowledge what you eat. Find out what you like. Find out what you’d like to like. And start from there.

  22. I think I would tell someone to start by putting themselves first. So many times women in particular do not put themselves first. Without taking good care of yourself, you cannot take good care of others. That’s always a good starting point.

  23. My system is totally messed up. I started out already with IBS, and now that I’m on low-carb, it’s really messed up. I have to take fiber choice tablets daily. I try to eat my flax-bread (flaxseed meal and water, and sometimes egg or flavoring) daily, and try to get veggies daily. Still, I’m totally messed up. Ideas? Vee at http://veegettinghealthy.blogspot.com

  24. My number one piece of advice: approach this (healthier, cleaner eating) from a perspective of love for yourself. If you think you’re broken and in need of fixing, it won’t come easily…and we all know that easier is…well…easier and nicer. So remind yourself every day that you are worth this…look yourself in the eye and send yourself some love. It only takes a few seconds.

  26. “Invest in YOU. For me this takes the form of spending lots of money on quality foods & less money on (quality) clothing.” love this….I’ve worn the same Nike flip flops for three years (and I mean year around). I’m extremely picky about the quality of food I put in my body but could care less about clothes. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who probably has had the same LL Bean sling bag for a purse for about 4 years and counting. I’m going to take your advice on the mini meals. I used to do that and then go away from it. I think I was more successful by eating 5 meals a day rather than 3. Less munching at night time.

  29. YIKES on that question… I guess I would say to get rid of the stuff in the house that you just can’t say no to.. those trigger foods. We all have them & better off if they are not there tempting you, especially when you first start out. Also, I hate to say & doing a post on this.. stop lying to yourself.. you know what you are eating so fess up to yourself.

    As for your points, I am all with you… mini meals, fiber etc. I am not an IE in the true sense of the word but I do listen to my bod & pay attention to how I feel when I eat. I am one for portion control & although I don’t log & count calories anymore, I have a goon feel for what I am eating.

    As for rules, I make my own & go by them but I am not great at abiding others rules like it is this way or the highway as we all find what is best for us.

    Thx for sharing!

  32. I always tell people to eat consciously, too. Eat slowly, enjoy your food, and listen to your body. It’s amazing how much faster you’ll get full, and how you’ll realize that your body really does react negatively when you eat junk.

  33. AWESOME post … as I eat Halloween OREO cookies I bought for my kids. Shhh. Seriously, I love it. You’re such an inspiration!

    Winks & Smiles,
    Wifey

  34. My one thing was always, “drink more water.” I always started my weight loss like that.

    BUT… this last time, step 2 was, “eat more produce.” All I had to do was focus on what I SHOULD eat (fresh fruit/veggies) and I started losing big weight. It is a great, easy way to get started to better health!

  35. Love your post…such great ideas to follow.

    My advice that I have implemented after a brief summer hiatus of really caring about FIT, BALANCED meals…for every meal. Those 3 meals we eat between our healthy snacks, make sure they’re balanced. Protein, fat, carb @ every meal (though I do start my day with cereal…I always end with barely any carbs!) will help to keep you full and from crashing.

    When you’re craving that before-bed snack…take a bite (1/2 tsp) of all natural/organic peanut butter- gives you the sugar you crave but with minimal cals, and good nutrition.

    THANKS MIZ!

  36. This is so cute! I think I’m going to try to do something like this. Give myself 6 general rules that I can follow for the rest of my life, type of thing.

    And I’m so glad that you popped out of the lurking closet to leave a comment on my blog! Realizing all of that was one of my really, really happy moments in life!

    🙂

  37. This is great. I love the part about no hard and fast rules. I also love that you aim to exercise every day – I know I feel so much better when I am doing this!

  38. I lost my baby weight after finding my best matching fitness program at a site called fitness program selector. 2 month after i bought the program i had a flat stomach 🙂 , Good luck to all of you.

    /Janet

  39. Probably one of the biggest things I did in the beginning was stop drinking soda. Lots of sugar + lots of empty calories = bad stuff. Now pretty much the only 2 things I drink are water and coffee in the morning.

    One other thing that’s made a world of difference is preparing the majority of our meals from scratch – from whole, real foods. We had done this some in the past, but there were also lots of meals that came out of a package.

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