Over the last few days I have been looking at the ingredients of many of the foods that people mention on 43Things in pursuit of their goal of losing weight.
I have tried several of these processed foods and wonder why anybody would chose them instead of fresh natural foods if they really wanted to lose excess body fat.
Even though the manufacturers of these processed foods claim their food is healthy and great for people who want to lose weight, it seems to me that fresh natural foods are much healthier and more suitable for easily and safely losing excess fat.
These processed foods confuse my understanding of my own body’s real needs. The refined sugars, the artificial sweeteners, the artificial flavourings, preservatives and colourings cause my body to respond in a way that is very different from what the manufacturer seems to be telling me to expect.
No I don’t have more energy, I don’t feel great and that body fat remains instead of melting away like the images of skinny people in their advertising and on the packets would suggest.
My local greengrocer makes no misleading claims about their fresh crisp crunchy juicy refreshing products. I have lots of energy when I enjoy vegetables raw or lightly steamed with grilled fish, skinless chicken breast fillet, game meat or tuna.
Peter Pullar has written 13 entries about this goal
I really enjoy losing excess body fat when I want to.
Regardless of what numbers the scales indicate, I enjoy the steady decrease that my Accu-Measure skin fold test calipers indicate in my body fat percentage as a result of me eating fresh natural foods, avoiding processed foods and refined sugars, working out at the gym and also getting plenty of aerobic exercise.
I have lots of energy and feel free to snack on fresh crisp crunchy juicy delicious green vegetables whenever I want. I have five or six small meals each day and usually have fresh vegetables raw or lightly steamed with grilled fish, skinless chicken breast fillets, tuna or game meat.
Often I start my day eating delicious fresh fruit first thing in the morning. About an hour later I enjoy breakfast.
Maybe I can lose excess body fat because I enjoy losing it, and also I take care to give my body what it needs instead of neglecting its needs so much that I feel hungry.
As I read and hear about the way many people are attempting to lose weight, I think about the way various foods increase our waist measurements.
I have been trying some of those foods, diets and exercise programs and have discovered how easy it is to pack on a few extra pounds of body fat using those methods.
Exercise stimulates my appetite. Restricting my eating makes me feel hungry. I feel tempted to eat, and the more I restrict my eating the more likely I am to grab the most fattening foods and munch on lots of them, especially late in the evening when I feel tired and hungry.
Using a certain amount of restraint, I do not overeat enough to upset my digestion so my body very effectively converts those foods into body fat overnight.
When I was asked “what weight you aiming for?” I realized that I did not have an answer to the question.
I am aiming for getting down to 10% body fat and am not in a hurry to get there as I want to retain my health and strength.
I like the way my clothes fit me better, the way my body looks and feels, and I have lots of energy.
However the way the numbers on the scale vary from day to day does not matter to me at all.
Today carrots were on special at the supermarket. So were broccoli and tomatoes. I have not had many carrots for several weeks and found that I was munching what I consider to be too many of them.
It did not make me feel as great as the other vegetables that I usually have as snacks or with meals.
I love eating the juicy tangy tasty tomatoes even though they are nowhere near as delicious as the one I get at the organic fruit and vegetable store.
I think I will now only take a limited number of carrots to eat during the day!
I seem to require more protein on the days I do a heavy workout at the gym so often have an extra piece of skinless chicken breast fillet on those days.
I am feeling fitter and healthier as I lose more of my excess body fat.
It was costing me my health. I ended up not eating enough for my body to recover from injury and intense exercise. I am now quickly losing excess body fat as I enjoy taking on new goals including gaining health, becoming healthy and eating more healthy foods.
Andrea is the author of Andreas Answer – how to lose weight by feeding and nourishing your spirit. She recommends that we focus on GETTING HEALTHY instead of focusing on losing weight.
I think it is probably more than co-incidence that I received that recommendation in an e-mail from her less than 2 days after I began focusing on my new goal of “Gain health” instead of focusing on losing weight.
As I focus on losing weight, I tend to not eat so much.
For me that has become a problem as I love healthy foods.
Fresh crisp crunchy delicious raw vegetables,grilled fish, kangaroo mince (a game meat that has almost no fat and is Au$7 per kilo in Australia), rolled oats and fruit.
It would be hard to eat too much of most of these foods if I was not eating much else. (It is not hard to eat too much delicious juicy fresh ripe fruit.)
So from now on I will focus on my goal of gaining health rather than losing weight when I am choosing what to eat.
That way I will not be so tempted to eat insufficient food for optimum health and fat loss.
Maybe I will still focus on losing weight when I am exercising.
I have not kept a food diary so thought it would be interesting to write down what I remember about what I ate yesterday, a typical day for me.
An apple and a banana when I woke
About an hour later 2 ounces of rolled oats with hot water. Very filling.
Ate some some raw carrot later. That full feeling did not last.
During the day I munched through about 6 ounces of fresh crunchy raw carrot, 6 ounces of delicious raw broccoli and about 8 ounces of raw cabbage. Some at main meals and some as snacks during the day.
Before going to work ate 9 ounces of grilled fish.
I cooked up a pound of kangaroo mince for lunch and evening meal. Kangaroo is a game meat and has almost no fat, so I cook it with a teaspoon of olive oil. It is Au$7 per kilogram in Australia.
For supper I had some more delicious grilled fish
Maybe I do not have as much carbohydrate as I need however I do feel great.
I feel free to have more normal meals on days when I eat with other people though I usually have more salad, no chips and less dessert than my friends.
Recently I have not been recovering as quickly as usual from the heavy workout sessions at the gym so I asked the instructor to give me a new routine.
He asked me if I had been eating less, and I said yes. He asked me why and I said that I wanted to shed the extra fat that I had gained. He reminded me that it takes time to get rid of excess body fat, and that it is important that I eat enough to remain fit and healthy.
Having remained on 89 kg for a week I was getting impatient even though I knew that I looked fitter at the end than at the beginning of the week.
