Making changes to what one eats and drinks for health reasons and to feel better is awesome. Doing so exclusively for weight loss can be fraught though.

Sometimes it's just a matter of figuring out what your body needs and giving that to it. Easier said than done, though. I don't really know for mine, so much, yet. Unless the answer is "burritos."

My approach is... basically to eat what I want, when I want. I'd like to move towards mindful eating, but I'm not there. I try and buy local veggies. I probably eat too much carbs and dairy and not enough fruits and veggies. I am a protein WHORE, because otherwise my blood sugar drops and it's not pretty. I don't worry about salt, because a) I do manual labor 10 hrs/day in the fucking tropics and b) I tend towards low blood pressure. I don't believe in sugar substitutes or low fat anything - 1 tsp of sugar is what, 15 calories? And fat makes you feel satisfied.

I wish I could afford local grassfed meats, but I really can't right now. I don't buy meat all that often, except for bacon. I don't eat canned soups or cereal or frozen dinners. I don't drink soda, never have. I don't drink juice, either. I drink tea or coffee in the morning and water otherwise, unless I need Gatorade. I try not to eat out for financial reasons, and now I don't have a boyfriend to buy me dinner, so that's going to drop off even more.

::shrugs:: Rugby and bellydance got me pretty damn comfy with my body. I certainly like it much more than I did at 115 lbs in high school. I'm not gonna lie, I gained back the 12 lbs I lost when I was sick last year and I wish I hadn't. I enjoyed briefly being an 8/10 instead of a 12/14. And yes, I know many people would love to be a 12/14, I don't mean to imply that a 12/14 is fat, whatever "fat" means.

Hey look, it's Bitches conversation #13!

Mostly, I wish everyone peace with with their bodies and their food consumption, and to find what works for them.

And now I need to get off my lovely ass and go to work for a few hours, to make up a bit for staying home two days this week. I don't wanna, because it's raining and I'll be by myself and in a hot, humid plastic bubble... but I oughta. I need ta.

Making changes to what one eats and drinks for health reasons and to feel better is awesome. Doing so exclusively for weight loss can be fraught though.

Absolutely. My MIL can't quite get that one. She is forever pointing out someone she thinks looks great that is just unhealthy. Her examples include a relative that has alligator skin from years of sun abuse and is way too skinny. I want to lose weight because my size keeps me from doing stuff I enjoy, but having energy and feeling better is way more important.

I have So Much Energy.

I want to be Laura!

It had gotten so bad for me lately that simply scurrying off to an appointment 11 blocks away felt undoable.

For a person living without a car, that just can't stand.

Absolutely. My MIL can't quite get that one. She is forever pointing out someone she thinks looks great that is just unhealthy. Her examples include a relative that has alligator skin from years of sun abuse and is way too skinny. I want to lose weight because my size keeps me from doing stuff I enjoy, but having energy and feeling better is way more important.

Oy. Tell me about it. I'm about to give an update in Apocalypse on Step Mom but I'll probably leave this part out... My Dad keeps going on and on about "but she takes such good care of herself..." and its true that she's skinny as a rail and works out 3+ times a week -- but she lives on carbs largely in vodka form.

Which feels petty at the moment, but, hey, we all have feels.

Laura, what's the name of your program? I'm sure you've mentioned it but I can't remember. I've gotten into some bad habits and I think jump-starting myself out of them is worth considering. That and you are (or sometimes are) pescetarian too so that's a plus.

I would definitely like to have more energy. And also to be as active as I used to be, back in the day. That feels like a daunting goal a lot of the time, though. I need to have "every little bit helps" tattooed on my arm.

I think I just talked myself out of going to work. Because I have lots of volunteer stuff to do.

Thanks for the validation, guys.

Making changes to what one eats and drinks for health reasons and to feel better is awesome. Doing so exclusively for weight loss can be fraught though.

Exactly this. I know what "diet" - as in, way of eating, not restricting eating - makes me FEEL best, and I think I'll soon start to move back towards that. But I think I needed an undefined period of unrestricted eating to sort-of hit a reset button.

But I think I needed an undefined period of unrestricted eating to sort-of hit a reset button.

This is totally me. Grief, loss, illness, disappointment...the emotions most likely to send me to the cupcake store were just _rife_ for a couple of years in my life.

I decided, without really having a conversation with myself about it to pretty much do my worst eating-wise. I think it actually helped me both through distraction and dopamine surges.

Since I can't bring myself to drink or do drugs...areas where my control issues are incontrovertible...food just seemed the best choice.

I guess I should be grateful that I didn't have to work very hard to do it. Temptation is just a few doors down.

Trudy, I'm so glad to hear your stepmother is awake. I hope they can figure out what happened and prevent it from happening again.

I really could use to both eat differently and lose some weight for health reasons, but knowing that has not helped me make any significant, lasting changes

In more meme news, I just had a very difficult therapy session, and I'm in my car trying to pull myself together before going anywhere.