Archive for the Category »Challenges «

Live and Learn

19 Jul 2010 | By Jaime

Last week I decided I would take pictures of all the food I ate in order to see how it influenced me. Would I eat less? Would I eat healthier foods? So on and so forth.

While things didn’t go as planned when my binge demons came out to play, I did learn a lot from this project…

What I Learned:

*I do a lot more mindless eating than I thought. I need to stop multitasking and focusing on my food when I eat.
*Starting the day off with a smoothie? Awesomeness.
*When I was taking pictures, I cared what my food looked like. When I cared what my food looked like, I found it more pleasing aesthetically as well as found it tasted better. I need to care about my food no matter who is or isn’t watching.
*Giving up addictions (like sugar) takes time. You can’t go from all to zero suddenly or you will binge. Not to mention experience other physical unpleasantness.
*Spinach leaves are incredibly versatile.

*Finally, I learned that the most impressive thing for me with this project is what I didn’t eat:

*Glass of orange juice x2
*Piece of bread w/hommus
*Chai latte
*Cottage cheese spoonfull (number of occasions)
*Doughnut (had a bad day and wanted sugar)
*Kahlua and milk
*Alcoholic cider
*Chips (french fries)
*Crisps (potato chips)

*and probably a few other things I didn’t list but they passed through my mind and then quickly out when I saw my camera.

And…

*I didn’t overeat when I easily could have.

All in all, I think every person trying to live a healthier lifestyle should try doing this. Has it cured my binge eating? No. For the moment, but I’m no dummy. I have emotional issues to work out. But it has gotten me to think about food – and portions differently. It’s gotten me to think about how much I not only hide from other people but from myself. It has gotten me to realise that, while I thought I was ‘doing okay’ diet-wise, I actually have a lot of room to improve with healthy eating.

I do hope that everyone who reads this has tried it, is trying it or will try it. I may have had a crash and burn moment, but I’m going to keep on taking pictures (though not loading them too the site because I just don’t have time for that).

Category: Body, Challenges, Food, Mental Health, Pictures  3 Comments

Checking In – Visual Food Diary Day Two

13 Jul 2010 | By Jaime

I couldn’t find my memory card reader for a bit, so this one is going up late. I figure this will work as a check-in, too.

Well, day two didn’t go at all as planned, to be sure. It was one of those days where you make a tiny decision, and then it just keeps adding on…

The day started off with my usual smoothie. I love smoothies, even in winter. Oh, wait, I think I said that yesterday…

Okay, so this is the one where you find out I was never one of those people who couldn’t have the foods touching each other. This may not look the greatest, but it tasted of pure awesome. Five bean mix (just beans, not baked beans or packed with crap), the other half of the snack can of tuna, a spoon of cottage cheese and some spinach leaves in there for some greens. Yum-o!

Meet my kryptonite – and we’re not even talking coffee. For a while, I was having a large chai latte every day. Of course that’s no good, so I cut way back. Recently, I would have one large chai once every fortnight (if that). Now, I’ve cut back again and only drink regular size every once in a while for a treat.

This is where the story starts, though. I had a rough day and wanted a glass of wine. Just one. Alcohol is something I’m cutting back as well. So we agree, we’ll go to the pub for once glass of wine for me and one something of The Bloke’s choice. Then we head back home.

Well, as it turns out, one of our favourite barmen is going to be leaving soon, and we were having such a good conversation…

…we stayed for dinner.

Pub food again, but this time I was a bit better. I got a smaller parma and asked for a ‘double salad’ instead of salad and chips. That was all fine and well, it was about eight, we were about to go home…

Then some old friends we hadn’t seen for a while showed up.

I had one of these and then had water for the rest of the night, which is pretty good in my book because we didn’t leave until eleven!

The night was completely unexpected, but a lot of fun. I hate to have gone out two nights in a row, but some days you just can’t beat a good conversation with friends.

I got some comments on taking pictures of all my food, and then I explained the project. Everyone was quite impressed and we talked for at least an hour about food habits (I’m a half-way grazer, one friend was a total grazer, my husband is more one big brekkie and he’s set for the day and the other guy is more like me). I’m still quite excited about the visual food diary, even though I know difficult times are ahead as far as temptation goes…

Category: Challenges, Checking In, Food  Leave a Comment

Exposing My Privates: My Secret World of Eating

11 Jul 2010 | By Jaime

I’m an emotional eater if there ever was one, and a binge eater as well. The last thing I ever want to do is let people in to every little thing I’m eating.

But then I read Foodie’s blog.

First Foodie asked if you (general public ‘you’) would ever be willing to put what you eat on display. Keep a photo diary of your eats and show them to the world. Not feeling so great about everything I had been eating lately, I found the idea intriguing. Could I really let people in?

One of Foodie’s friends remarked that what you eat is private, and Foodie wondered if exposing what you eat is like exposing your privates (hence the title of this post).

Personally, I think what you eat is as private as you make it. Hanlie mentioned in the comments on the blog that she has been a sneaky eater in the past – so have I. I’ve felt the need to hide much of my eating, thus my eating has always been private. And usually unhealthy.

Foodie has stuck by her word and created What Foodie Eats, full of lovely fotos of food. (Was that clever letter stuff or just silly?)

I’ve decided to follow the lead and expose myself to the world for a while. I think it will help me, though in what ways I don’t yet know. Will it stop me from making bad choices? Will it help me with portion control? Will I get some oysters and disgust some people who don’t appreciate oysters’ deliciousness?

Who knows. No matter what, I knew this wouldn’t feel real to me unless I made a promise right here on the blog to myself and to you, the readers. Here goes…

I solemnly swear to you and myself that, from 12.01am Monday July 12th (+10 Time Zone) to 11.59pm Friday July 16th, I will take photographs of everything I put in my mouth. (The pictures will be taken before I put the stuff in my mouth, I promise.) Every food I consume will be captured on my digital camera.

I promise to try to put up the pictures of the day’s food intake every night before I go to bed. If I am unable to do so, I will put up the pictures as soon as I am able.

There will be no sneaking, cheating or otherwise tricking the camera. I acknowledge that to do so would be lying and would take away any benefits I hope to achieve from this project.

The challenge is a short one because not only will it be easier for me to stick to, it encompasses the times when I have the most problems (when I’m alone during the day). While I realize that just taking the photos will be enough to show some benefit, I want to put them up here as well. It’s an added layer of accountability that will give me more benefit, I think.

You’ll have to excuse all the photos that go up this week. If they start slowing down the loading time for the site, let me know and I’ll put them after the ‘read more’ tags. I’ll still have my usual posts up, so there will be more content than usual this week.

Here goes nothing…

Category: Announcements, Challenges, Food, Getting Started  4 Comments

21 Day Challenge

05 May 2010 | By Jaime

I know, I know. Another challenge. But I’m set on winning this one!

As I mentioned yesterday, the Bloke and I have been talking about the possibility of getting a Wii. We both want to get fit, but we’re computer nerd introverts and it’s nearing winter in Australia. (Cold autumn already…) I think Wii is a good possibility as an addition to our home fitness stuff.

So, anyway. The Bloke has said that if I can stick to an exercise program for 21 days (the time it is said that it takes to make a habit), then we can get a Wii (with Wii Fit, EA Sports, etc).

To be honest, I’m not 100% sure that I actually want a Wii. It’s still a lot of money (though they have come down in price quite a bit) to spend on something. It’s a massive reward for 21 days work.

But, as it stands, I don’t have the option of getting one until I complete the challenge.

I’ll be starting on Monday, as is my habit. I’ll be doing yoga in the morning and cardio in the afternoon. I was hoping the Bloke would join me in exercising, but he doesn’t seem to keen on the idea. So it goes.

So, any opinions on Wii and Wii Fit?

Category: Challenges  2 Comments

Checking In – The Challenge of Challenges

01 Feb 2010 | By Jaime

Start: 264
Last Week: 218
Today: 222

The problem I have with challenges is that I often challenges myself to do things when it’s not the right time. A few days ago, I figured this would be a good idea:

1. Workout every morning.
2. Drink 1.5 litres (at least) of water every day.
3. Replace dinner with a meal replacement shake.

So, because of number one, I decided to give my new dance DVD a go.

Mistake.

Ow, ow, ow, ow. I tried out the DVD, and I have had annoying stabby pains around my abdomen since. Sleeping is even hard because I move around at night which hurts mah belleh.

The good news is that I said ‘workout’ for the challenge, not ‘do dance DVD’. So I have decided to cut out the tough woman act and obey doctor’s orders, and ‘workout’ will be translated to getting out of the house for a walk.

…At least my weight seems to have finally balanced out after the surgery. I had a twelve pound drop after, and now I’ve gained most of that back. While I wish I could have stayed at 214, I’m not berating myself. I had surgery, my body needed time to adjust.

And that’s that.

At least it has showed me that I can get down to 214. My next goal is 211 (20% body weight lost), so now I know I can get there. I just have to start taking care of myself properly.

Besides that, I have decided to track calories on SparkPeople for a while. This isn’t a challenge so much as just curiosity on my part. I’ve never been one for counting calories, but I can definitely check in at the end of the day to see how I’m going.

How is everyone else going?

Category: Challenges, Checking In  Leave a Comment
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