fit into my old jeans again

I gave away most of my old jeans when I moved. There was just not room to pack clothing I “might” fit into again someday.

The jeans I’m trying to fit into are size 10. That’s what the label says.

I just bought a new (well, new to me) pair of khakis, size 10. They fit fine (a bit snug, but sleek not obscene, and completely comfortable). What is with this huge variation in sizes?

Anyhow, I’m actively working on this again. Made a good food choice last night, although I had a little too much chocolate for dessert.

I’m running into the difficulty of trying to determine how many calories I should be eating, in total, for this to happen. I’ve found widely ranging estimates, and I am not sure which is correct. I suspect, being estimates, none of them.

I also don’t want to get into the habit of obsessively counting calories, because this is only one facet of nutrition. Yet, I don’t want my developing exercise plan to be for naught, and I’m realizing that I need guidelines of some kind. I eat relatively well when it comes to mealtime, but I’m also of the habit to eat whatever tasty morsel comes my way, if I feel like it.

So anyway, this is to say that I feel I should be watching what I eat in order to achieve this goal, but I have no idea how closely nor what I should watch FOR. We’re not talking about a huge amount of weight – just a titch extra padding. I’m not WeightWatchers material (not heavy enough), but I sort of long for that type of outside regimentation. Of course, if I had it, I’m sure I would rail against. It’s just how I am.

...I’m doing fairly well with the carb:protein:fat ratio. At least, it’s close. I think I need to eat a bit more protein and a bit less fat. Perhaps that has something to do with my recent, fleeting feelings of deprivation. Not so fleeting that they haven’t caused me to give into temptation – I’ve gone farther than I should have, but not to old extremes so far.

Not doing all that well on the mindful eating thing. Probably would help the deprived feelings if I would.

Got a weight baseline reading at the dr.’s yesterday: it’s 142. A bit lower than I thought, actually. A loss of 7 to 12 pounds would probably put me in jeans territory again. Not impossible by any means.

I’m going to do the bhangra workout in the mornings at least 3x this week. Next step will be to add walks to the days when I don’t do bhangra or hike. Final step will be bhangra 5x a week, walks 3x (i.e. 1 hour cardio 3x a week).

1. Sticking to my exercise program. I think that’s the most important.

2. Keeping my carbs, fat, and protein at roughly a 55:30:15 ratio. Thankfully, FitDay does this automatically. I’m not going to be a fanatic about recording my food choices, but I’ll try to do it regularly or semi-regularly, just to make sure I’m in roughly the right spot, diet-wise.

3. Eating more mindfully. For me personally, this means NOT eating while I’m doing other things. Eating while reading or watching television leads to mindless chomping. I feel full, and yet could just continue eating.

Also, I need to keep my fat intake relatively low (or at least not eat half a loaf of bread slathered with butter in one sitting any more…:). In order to do this, I’ve got to allow myself to have SOME fat – but when I have it, I need to be absolutely sure to revel in it, otherwise I will feel deprieved and eat an entire stick of butter (gross, but when it’s good butter, almost understandable).

4. Laying off the pot. ‘nuff said.

I’m going to try this plan for a month and then try on the jeans again. They probably won’t fit at that point, but I’ll have some idea as to whether I am progressing.

...it’s about the fact that I really like those jeans, don’t want to give them away, and don’t want to try to find new ones. I hate that they are just taking up space in my drawer – they are so cute on me (or were, once).

This will be my measurement – not weight (I want “muskles”, you know, and they weigh more than fat), not “size” (I can wear anything from a 10 to a 14, depending on the clothing company) – I just want those jeans back in rotation, stat!