lavendersparkle | In which I buy into the patriarchal beauty standards

I think I might try to lose some weight. I don't know how much I weigh but I'm pretty sure that it's more than I weighed a year ago. I don't want to be stick thin, I love my little round belly, but lately I've noticed that it's getting less little and more round. I preferred it when it was a soft little curve rather than a greater expanse of flesh. I've definitely put on weight because I tried to put two things on this morning which I haven't worn in over six months and they didn't fit any more. Loosing a few pounds will probably be cheaper than replacing all of my clothes.

I've identified two main causes of the weight increase. Both are related to married life. I love baking and an oven of my own and a husband who likes cake have been great spurs to regular cake production. The problem with this is that this means that there is usually an inviting cake dome of cakes or biscuits about the place, which really needs eating up. So if I've made something I like I'll get the urge to snack on it throughout the day. I think I actually like making cake more than I like eating it, so I must try hard to get friends to come and eat my produce so I don't eat it all myself. I might make some batches of cakes today and take them down to the friends of Magen David Adom garden party.

The other issue is portion sizes. Alec and I tend to be scrupulously fair when portioning food between us. However, the nutritional needs of a 6"2 man and a 5"9 woman are not the same. If we were to eat exactly the same amount logically either I'd put on weight or he'd lose weight. On top of that, we both do the thing where you show affection by making lots of food and encouraging the other to eat. Before we got married I didn't usually have dessert, but Alec feels a bit guilty having dessert if I don't so he encourages me to and then even if I'm full I have some or I'll wait half an hour for a bit of space in my stomach and have some.

I'm aware that the best plan is to really stop the habits of eating when I'm not hungry, because it's a terrible habit to get into if your metabolism works properly. I think I'll also investigate getting a calories counter book. I don't think I'd aim for a particular number of calories a day, but I'm not sure exactly how different foods compare (obviously ice cream is more fattening than lettuce but I'm not sure how, for example, veggie chilli compares to veggie shepherds pie and broccli). I'm quite easy going about food, so if I'm trying to reduce my not-so-little-any-more round belly, I may as well pick lower calories meals.

Anyway, that's the plan.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hear hear!

Yes... married life will pile on the pounds, I know all that too well!

I'm trying to lose a little weight aswell because in my case I had a beautiful flat tummy which now has grown a little too curvaceous for my preference :) Not to mention The Hips & Thighs! ;)

Hubby and I *don't* have equal share portions. Like you identified, he needs more calories than I do. In the beginning, he was egalitarian on principle and served me the exact same amount as he served himself. And I simply won't eat it all. He has learnt to give me less and even if he gives me too much, I give my leftovers to him :)

I try to have sweets mainly on Shabbat. Sweets in our case, is mainly actually dark chocolate, which we both love. Desserts: only on Shabbat. And soda, only every now and then. I go by sparkling water and cut back on the suger in my tea quite drastically.

As for the calorie book: yes, I have *no idea* what calories things are, except from plain common sense. But I am also scared to buy such a resource because I don't want to get all obsessive about it. A friend of mine as a teen started counting calories over 15 years ago and now still suffers from Anorexia Nervosa. Truth to be told, that's not the way it has to go but it has put the fear of G-d in me a little. Let me know if you find a fair, even-handed, scientific calorie book :)

And yes, well... exercise. I stayed indoors all week (working on exam and paper) and I think the combination of PMS and not-moving (and a few chocolates too many to 'comfort' my hard studying ;)) made me regain some. It's hard for me to face, but I am losing my Miracle Metabolism that I had for so many years now that I am 31. Ugh.

Yeah... beauty industry 'n all. Horrid, truly. But we also want to look pretty on our own accord, right? :)

Oh, I'm so glad it's not just me!

I'm trying to change the stuff it's easy to change (so breakfast and lunch) and then have smaller portions at the evening meal. Low fat yogurt and fruit is a nice low-cal breakfast (although somehow it doesn't give me quite the same kick as a chocolate croissant!) and gin and sugar free tonic is about a quarter of the calories of a large glass of wine. Sometimes swapping to keep the number of calories the same, but having food that digests slower and keeps you full for longer (so brown rice instead of white rice) seems a good idea, but at other times I think it's just a myth I'm buying into.

So far the only things I've learnt are vegetables great, hard cheese very bad :-( But my friend at the desk next to me is doing weight watchers properly, which seems a really sane diet plan, so I keep having a nosey at her literature.

Weight watchers seems like a really useful easy to use system. My main issues with it would be that I don't want to shell out cash or go to meetings. From what I've read, weight watchers is basically just calories counting simplified. The inventors found that people found it easier if it easier to count numbers less than 10 then numbers in the hundreds, so Weight Watchers points are basically just calories divided by a particular number. I might just get a generic calorie counting book and work out the calories in my meals. I think the thing with slow digest foods is two fold. It gives you less of a sugar high so you get hungry less quickly. I think the other reason is that the calories in food is measured by burning it. However, some chemicals are flammable but not very digestible, so a high fibre food with the same number of calories will actually release less energy during digestion.

One thing I worry about is that I think my diet is relatively low calorie at the moment. I think the big things are going to be fewer puds and cakes and smaller portions of starchy food.

Weight watchers is roughly calories divided by 100, but there are slight biases - more points than n/100 for picking very high fat stuff and fewer points for vegetables. It's very neat. I think you can buy their books without joining (if you can't borrow them conveniently from the woman who sits next to you at work) and both their 'shop' and their 'eating out' book are really handy. But then it sounds like you had more of a clue before you started than I did...

I do that thing too - when I'm at B's house we somehow cook enough for two of him, so I eat a bit more than is comfortable so as not to waste it and then give the rest to him, so we are both getting quite large. When I have handed in the thesis I will be attempting to get more exercise (my current attitude to being slightly fatter is to not care and continue eating lots of chocolate biscuits in order not to kill everybody) so will probably be wandering around the countryside a bit more, we could wander together. In terms of food I figure that when I'm less stressed I will eat less crap, and when I live somewhere I have more control over I will size portions more appropriately.

On top of that, we both do the thing where you show affection by making lots of food and encouraging the other to eat.

Yeah, that's a good description. Hopefully, if the difference is articulated, you can show affection by encouraging the other to have whatever portion you decided you wanted to be normal. Or so I'd like to imagine.

Alec has started to get me to serve myself so that I can decide portion size.

In which I buy into the patriarchal beauty standards

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject