Because my brain is dead this morning, I'm going to fall back on a good old blog-fodder stand-by. You've got comments? I respond.
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VickieMay 13, 2013 at 1:36 PM
Wouldn't you know I have a question when you are gone for the day. If you happen to see this please respond when you can, we are making summer plans (can't book their rental car until they have white water reservations). Two of my kids (23 and 19) are going to be driving through WV (on way from Indiana to east coast) and want to go White Water Rafting somewhere along the way. Do you or your husband know the good companies/rivers?
Neither my husband (a West Virginia native) nor myself (a 16-year resident) have ever been whitewater rafting. I know, a travesty, right? Our travels yesterday took us right over the New River Gorge and quite near the Gauley River, which are THE rivers to raft here. If I were you I'd just Google and look for good reviews.
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MadAnneMay 13, 2013 at 9:06 AM
Do you count calories?
I do, using the LoseIt! app. Most folks following a paleo plan don't count calories, or at least I don't think they do, considering that none of the paleo recipes I've tried include nutritional information, meaning I have to enter each ingredient one by one (either in LoseIt's recipe creator or just as a meal component) to come up with the numbers. (Wow, that was a long sentence.)
LoseIt sends me a handy-dandy e-mail every week, giving me a rundown of the calorie deficit and the macronutrient percentages. If I'd been smart when I started I'd have downloaded them as spreadsheets – an option offered – but I wasn't smart, so I just now added everything up and averaged everything out and here's what I've come up with:
From December 26 to April 6:
- Average calorie deficit per week: -1791
- Average calorie output (exercise) per week: 1783
- Percentage of calories from fat: 33
- Percentage of calories from carbs: 51
Since April 6, here's what the numbers look like:
- Percentage of calories from protein: 16
- Average calorie deficit per week: -3314
- Average calorie output (exercise) per week: 2112
- Percentage of calories from fat: 46
- Percentage of calories from carbs: 28
I'm clearly creating a greater deficit on the paleo plan. Part of the reason is that I began working again in April, and thus the calories burned by activity are greater. Part of the reason is that I'm appropriately hungry when it's time to eat a meal, and I'm not eating between meals. I will sometimes eat a piece of fruit a couple hours after dinner, but that's the extent of my snacking. Usually.
- Percentage of calories from protein: 26
I am not eating when I'm bored or "just because" or when my emotions take over. Why? I have NO IDEA. Perhaps the additional fat and protein calories are squashing those impulses, because I surely do have a history of emotional eating. In fact, I would have offered myself up as the poster child for it.
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The great thing about maintenance is that I get to enjoy the result of all of my hard work. And, if my mindset is focused, I can go to any restaurant, buffet or party without any concern about the other food being served. I would never exert so much energy exercising and eating well if I still felt like I was trapped with a body or mind that missed out on joyful experiences because my brain was overly concerned with the food available to be eaten.
From a post in which I briefly mentioned maintenance (that's still a long way off), Wendy's comment was in response to Vickie's, who described how she navigated a carry-in dinner. I completely agree with Wendy, and will further add that we each have to find our own way. My maintenance isn't going to look like Vickie's or Wendy's or yours or anybody else's. That's part of the science experiment, right, G?
I've eaten a lot of restaurant meals lately, way more than are normal for me. In each restaurant I was able to find something that satisfied my hunger and fit in the plan. I have not ONCE felt deprived. I think part of that lack of deprivation is because this is still new, but part of it is because it's working so very well FOR ME. I'm no expert, and what works here might not work there.
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Are you thinking that when you get to the other end of the scale you are going to go back to your former eating/stop what you are doing now . . . ?
To which I respond: ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING? Hell to the no! I've been working on weight loss for more than 50 years, with only two periods where I was reasonably normal. As I said in the post, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
However … the theory (as I understand it) behind Whole30 is that you cut legumes, dairy, sugar and grains for 30 days and then reintroduce them, one at a time over a period of a few weeks, and reassess. For me, adding those foods back will happen later rather than sooner because I'm not quite willing to give up feeling this good for the possibility of feeling not-so-good. Do I want that right hip to start hurting again? Or those swollen ankles (especially the left one)? Do I really need that fat belly? (Seriously, the way my midsection has changed is quite remarkable.) No, I do not. I'm happy as I can be trying on clothes that didn't fit a month ago, walking four, five or six miles without pain and watching the number on the scale go down, down, down.
And there was. Hidden among the cheesy, saucy, entrées was a simple salmon filet with grilled zucchini and roasted SPAGHETTI SQUASH! How cool is it to find my favorite vegetable on a restaurant menu? I almost ordered two servings of the spagetti squash instead of the zucchini, but "they" say variety is the spice of life. Heh. The entire meal was cooked perfectly and I left the restaurant quite satisfied. So did my husband. And the friend we visited in the hospital was markedly improved.
All in all, a VERY good day. I even walked the perimeter of the hospital property a few times while the patient napped. Way off in the distance (probably in Pennsylvania), beyond a cattle farm in a little valley, I saw a wind farm. I took a picture but you can't see a darned thing except clouds and mountains.
I also took this picture:
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| How cool is that? |
For now.
