Naturally Curvy

Jenera has done me the favour of writing a guest post for me. Please welcome her to Naturally Curvy. Enjoy!

Counting calories sucks. There is no doubt about that no matter how you work at losing weight or what type of success you’ve had. When making a lifestyle change in regards to eating, counting calories is a good first step.

In my many attempts at losing weight, I have always used calorie counting at one point. And I have had success with it. You would think that if I was successful I would keep at it. Nope, I’m not built that way. I like to walk away, thinking I can do this all by myself.

Here are some pros for calorie counting:
-You will know exactly the number of calories consumed in a day. No duh, I know, but it is essential when trying to lose weight.
-You will learn proper serving sizes.
-You will begin to read and understand labels.
-You will become more conscious of your eating habits.

On the flip side, there are some cons to calorie counting:
-There is the possibility that you’ll become obsessed with food.
-You will be discouraged after the first few days of knowing how many calories you really consume.

Don’t get me wrong, calorie counting is a great tool for weight loss, especially for beginners. In my experience, it works. In fact, I’m currently counting calories as a way to curb my overeating.

I have a few tips that will help with counting calories:
-ALWAYS read the labels. Even if you are going to eat cookies and pork out, read the label. Know what is in your food.
-Measure everything. Sometimes ‘eyeballing’ a measurement doesn’t work and you end up eating more than you think.
-Write everything down. Keeping a journal, using a phone application, or online tool is essential to counting calories and keeping track efficiently. Keeping a running total in your head can lead to over consumption.
-While the goal is to stay within a calorie range, there will be times when you go over. Do not obsess!
-If you DO go over your limit, simply add in some extra activity the next day. Calories burned and consumed are cumulative over a time period.

Losing weight isn’t always easy and neither is healing our relationships with food. Counting calories should be an easy tool and not something to add to our stress. Using these tips will help curb those freak-outs while dieting.

It began not as a decision but as a single acknowledgment.

I’m eating because I’m emotional.

The thought didn’t stop me. I still ate. But it did give me pause.

The next time it happened, I thought: I’m eating because I’m bored.

That time, it did stop me. I acknowledged that I wasn’t hungry, just bored. So I didn’t eat. Again, I didn’t think about it much past the acknowledgment and action.

What started out as such a small event has now snowballed into something I think about nearly every time I consider putting something in my mouth. Sometimes the thought stops me from eating, sometimes it doesn’t. The thoughts vary.

I’m eating because I want comfort.
I’m eating to punish myself. (I really dislike feeling full.)
I’m eating because it tears me up when The Bloke is feeling down and I can’t make him feel better.

I’m eating because I’m afraid.

More often than not lately, all of these thoughts have come together in a jelly mass of:

I’m eating because something is missing.

I live in a new country where I am safe, have a home, have enough to eat, have an amazing husband I love with every ounce of me, get to work doing what I love even though I don’t always make much…

What could possibly be missing?

That’s the question I am stuck with as I try to get past all the triggers that make me want to eat. It’s something I’ve had on my mind nearly constantly, sometimes depressing me and sometimes inspiring to get ‘out there’ and ‘do more’.

The more I have been thinking about it, the more I know that fear is what is keeping me from discovering what it is that I need to do to shake my dependence on food to try to fill that gap.

Perhaps I need to get out in the world and take some classes to meet new people.

Perhaps I need to join a club, day-travel more, get lost or do other things that make me nervous.

Or perhaps I need to stop worrying about whether people will believe me or whether I’ll cause trouble and finally do what I have been aching to do ever since I moved to Australia:

Stand on the rooftops and scream, “I left because I was being abused!”

Perhaps.

All I have at the moment is the knowledge that I eat because something is missing – and that missing part is clouded by a whole lotta fear.

Lately I have been thinking about my body, where I’ve come from on my journey to health and where I am going.

In all my thinking, I have come to hypothesize that there are two kinds of fats:

1. Idle fats
2. Work fats

Idle fats are the fats you lose by eating less. No, I’m not talking about fasting or anything like that. I’m talking if you count calories and stay in a healthier range or if you go on meal replacement like I did. These are the fats that leave you when you have less calorie consumption and little to no additional exercise or movement.

Sure, when I was on meal replacements, I did exercise. But, it wasn’t all that strenuous, nor was anything I did kept up for very long. But I still lost idle fat.

Now I have come to a new place in my journey to health. I’ve done meal replacements, lost weight and now that has stalled. Why? Well, there could be many reasons. My thought? I have now hit the work fat.

Work fat is like its name; you have to work it off. You can’t lead your usual life with the usual motions and expect for this stuff to drop off. This is the stuff that requires exercise and hard work. This is the true fat, not sugar fat, that is the essence of burning fat to be able to work and survive.

I have lost 46 pounds so far, and I’m not ashamed to admit, that was pretty much all idle fat. I just plain didn’t do a lot of exercise.

Appropriately, I’m now halfway to my goal weight, and idle fat loss isn’t enough. Now it’s time to buck up the exercise and get to it.

This is going to be a heck of an interesting 45 pounds to lose.

I’ve been looking around the internet for a while now, and it is shocking how many people are sent home without any sort of dietary guidelines for post-surgery. ‘Eat anything you want’ is often said and the patient is left to figure out – often painfully – what foods work and what foods just don’t.

I am not an expert or even a doctor. Heck, I’m not even a week out of surgery. I’m working on instinct right now and trusting my intuition to tell me what my body needs right now. Add in a dose of common sense, and I might have a few things to say to help you calm down about what you eat.

Now for some tips:

*Don’t be afraid to eat. I know how it feels. You’re scared to put anything in your mouth. You don’t have a gallbladder! What that means is different for everyone, so it’s hard not to stress. But try not to because stress interrupts healing. Take a few breaths – deep ones if you can – and relax.

*Start slowly. It’s entirely possible that you’re going to have little to no appetite for a while. But that doesn’t mean stop eating. Your body still needs a lot of energy for healing. Try to eat a little something – even as small as a bit of bread – every few hours. Not only will you get used to smaller meals more often, this will help you avoid possible nausea.

*Avoid what caused attacks before. You know what put you into an attack, and it could be completely different than the next person. Putting/keeping those foods firmly on your don’t list is a good start to your new diet.

*Try a liquid or mostly liquid diet for a while. Take it easy on your digestive system by taking in liquids like fruit and veggies juices, soups and broths, etc. Every now and then I have a meal replacement shake just to make sure I’m getting good nutrition while my diet is more limited than it usually is.

*Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. As you read on my rant, there are people who have double cheesebugers less than a day after surgery and pepperoni pizzas with extra cheese just days after without any problems. Congratulations to them (I guess), but I don’t plan on abusing my confused and still healing body like that.

*Avoid (bad and high) fats, red meats, dairy and spicy things. Okay, so you’ve probably heard that one a million times before, but it bears repeating. Anything that would usually make your digestion work hard is going to be even more of a tough one now that you don’t have bile storage. Does this mean never? Not necessarily, but it would be a very good idea to give your digestive system at least a month of tame foods before going for the jalapenos.

*Test things slowly and one at a time. If you’re going to experiment, try little bits one at a time. Don’t have a steak with spicy barbecue sauce followed by yogurt for dessert. Not only are you likely to mess yourself up, you won’t know if it was the dairy or the barbecue sauce that really did you in.

And, just because I want to, here are some general tips I’ve learned from reading, talking to people and experience:

*Take it easy. You may feel like a million dollars a few weeks after surgery, but there is no heavy lifting or strenous activity for four to six weeks after for a reason. You will feel better before your body is done healing. Do it a favor and don’t stress it out before it is done.

*Listen to your body. Since having the procedure done, I am very thirsty nearly all the time. I don’t know why, but I’m not questioning it – I am drinking the water. Obviously my body needs it.

*Ask questions at check-ups. I was against surgery at first and asked the surgeons (and nurses, and people who have had the procedure, etc) every question I could think of until I was satisfied and calm. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel silly for asking questions. It’s your right.

The key thing to remember is that while you are healing and recovering, so is your body. Your digestive system has to start learning straightaway how things are going to work without your gallbladder.

I am one of those people who, when faced with a problem, will Google her heart out for information. Before my gallbladder surgery, I was looking for all sorts of alternatives.

The alternatives failed, but I am damn glad I at least gave them a go.

Now I am looking around for general info from people about living life after having your gallbladder removed. My diet was pretty low-fat before all this anyway, so I’m not worried about that side. I’m more curious about the long term.

If anything – anything – makes me angry in all my research before and after, it’s people.

Seriously, what the hell do you think you are doing eating the exact things that set you off before your surgery afterward?!

Getting your gallbladder removed is not some free pass to be a complete ass to your body. Eating crappy stuff is very likely what got you on the operating table in the first place!

Ugh! It’s disgusting! I read about people who, not even a week out of surgery, are eating Philly cheese steaks and greasy pepperoni pizzas.

(BTW, dairy, meat, and anything spicy are all no-nos before and after surgery if you have gallbladder problems.)

I’m not sure what it is that makes me so angry. Maybe it’s the obvious abuse of the body? Or maybe I’m just pissed off because I was working so hard to be healthy when this happened to me where other people have no regard for their bodies or what got them there in the first place.

Either way, it pisses me off.

Wake up! If your gallbladder going off wasn’t enough of a wakeup call for you, then what is it going to take? What’s going to be sacrificed next?

/rant