Day 11

So I had sort of a cool thing happen today. A while back a friend of mine suggested to me to try on everything I had in my closet and separate the clothes by what fits perfect, what is too big, and what is too small. I thought that was a great idea. So, I did that. I then picked out a pair of jeans and a shirt from the "too small" section and put them on a separate rack as a "Goal" to fit into. The idea is that this outfit is my standard for comparison since I knew both pieces were too small.

Well I tried it on today for kicks to see how close I was and I fit into both! What a nice surprise! The jeans were a touch too tight in the legs, and the shirt--though it fit well and didn't look bad at all--could have been a little bit looser in terms of comfort. However,three months ago I couldn't button the shirt or the pants!

The last time I seriously went on a diet, I lost about 45 pounds in 6 months. Seems like a whole lot, yeah? I was eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, etc. I gained about 25 of it back over the course of the next year. NOT good. Luckily, I never got back to my old weight, but I still was not where I wanted to be. The problem was, even after I had lost the 45 pounds, I didn't really feel like I had gotten 45 pounds "smaller" in terms of my stomach, waist, etc. That was confusing to me. Sure, pants and shirts fit better but it seemed like I had only lost maybe 20 pounds.

One thing that is different about my diet now is that I'm focusing a lot more on eating the RIGHT foods. On the diet before, I pretty much just minimized sweets and snacks, cut out soda, and ate less of what I was already eating. Calorie counting in a nutshell. However, on this no processed food diet, I've lost 9 pounds and I feel like I can already tell. It may just be in my head, but regardless, I feel better, I fit into clothes better, and I think part of that old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is really really true.

It's not just about cutting calories. By that logic, you could eat a bowl full of ice cream every day that met up to only 1600 calories and be totally fine. Obviously that doesn't work. Certain foods add straight up fat to your body that is not easy to work off. I read an article online that said "Banish Belly Fat by Adding these 10 Foods to your diet". And guess what they were?

1. Walnuts
2. Plain Oatmeal
3. Salmon
4. Apples
5. Egg Whites
6. Casien Protein Powder
7. Brocolli
8. Blackberries
9. Flaxseeds
10. Natural Peanut Butter

Well, I can tell you for a fact that other than Brocolli and Casien Protein Powder, I've eating LOT of the foods on this list naturally! Especially apples, blackberries, peanut butter, walnuts, oatmeal, and egg whites. Wow! Seems like a coincidence - but it's not. These foods are healthy, make you feel great, and coincidentally are NOT PROCESSED FOODS. I am going to start adding these other things to my diet (less the protein powder) to help increase bodily function, support health, and of course, help the pounds come off.

If there's another area I struggle with it's the waist / lovehandle area. Most men in my family struggle with that, too. I learned also that a good rule of thumb for getting rid if love handles is for you to cut "white foods." This includes things like sugar, salt, potatoes, high fructose corn syrup (already cut due to my no processed food diet), white rice, pasta, white bread, and dairy products. I've been eating a lot of wheat bread, and as we all know, sweet potatoes are SO much better for you than regular russets. It's very interesting - these things all aid in love handle fat because of their higher sugar content, their disruption of normal digestion, and their aid in accumulating waste that stays in the body. They have little fiber and are more likely to be processed.

INTERESTING STUFF.