No Counting, No Worries

I have been maintaining my weight the same way I lost it: strict food measuring/logging/calorie counting and lots of exercise. But lately the food logging feels less and less sustainable, as does my old habit of eating micro-meals through the day. That worked great when I pre-portioned and packed all my food for the day every morning, but my new job feeds me free breakfast and lunch and snacks every day. There are lots and lots of healthy options, which I do eat, but I also find myself eating the dessert every day at lunch and just eating less real food to make the total calories add up right. I haven't gained weight, but I have started to build up a "sugar belly." With all this triathlon training I had to increase my caloric intake but I was just eating more sugars and not more good food (big salad, grilled chicken, fresh vegetables, two big chocolate chip cookies. Hmmm...). I began to realize that we're socialized to eat 3 big meals a day, not 5 or 6 small ones, and that I should make my maintenance plan work with that. And, let's face it; I'm tired of mentally cataloging the contents and portion sizes of everything I eat every meal so that I can go back to fitday.com and enter it all in every single day. It's draining. :(

Then I came across No-S, mulled it over for a few days, and realized that here was a very simple, intuitive set of rules I could make work for me as a long-haul solution. Snacking was my downfall, of course! In my old job I'd have a tiny breakfast and tiny lunch with snacks a few hours after each. But at the new free-food job where I'm eating three normal-sized meals a day I can't also save another few slices of toast for midmorning and another half sandwich for the afternoon, as had become my habit.

Amazingly, after a few days, I didn't miss the snacking at all. I really couldn't believe it. Not only did I not miss the snacking, but since eating between meals was now off limits I wasn't constantly thinking about all the food available to me in the break rooms. I'm actually hungry before lunch, so I enjoy lunch more. I don't go grab an extra scoop of this or slice of that after I've finished a meal but before my fullness meter has kicked in. And I can eat socially on the weekends guilt-free. I've binged once, but for the most part I listen to what my stomach is telling me.

Now, three weeks into this new pattern, my weight is still totally stable. (You didn't think I had stopped weighing myself every day, did you? :) All those lessons I taught my body about portion sizes, craving healthy food, and wanting to be physically active are certainly playing a role as well. But not counting, not logging, not obsessing: beautiful. Freeing. I feel like a normal person, almost.