Losing Weight #6

Simple Mistakes I made with food

We all have an idea what healthy food looks like. Unfortunately, there are so many different sources, and schools of thinking, that it becomes difficult to figure out what is right for our bodies. There's the Plate or Pyramid, Keto, Paleo, Vegan, Mediterranean, Gluten free, Low Carb, Low Fat, Heart Healthy, Intermittent Fasting, the list goes on.

It is my very firm belief that while we are all very similar, we are all distinctly different. This is proven by the food sensitivities, body shapes, activity levels, likes, and dislikes we all have. Then there's the calories, macros, organic, natural, and everything else invloved.

Anyone feeling overwhelmed and confused yet? I have a degree that required nutrition courses, and I still feel very lost in what decisions to make. So, I want to talk about 5 simple mistakes I made early in my weight loss journey. They aren't things that are unhealthy, or bad for you. They are just not going to help in weight loss. I did not figure these problems out on my own, and I say simple because they seem so little at first and have very concise solutions.

The first simple mistake I made was thinking that "light" foods were the answer. The fewer calories you eat at one time, the better. Right? Eat lots of low calorie foods and you'll burn them off before they can get turned to fat. No? Calories-in being less than calories-out means you should lose weight. This has to be right, doesn't it? Not even close to the truth. The truth is that the chemistry behind burning calories is a lot more complex than just weight-loss = food-in < food-out.

Sugar does burn quickly, but it's also the easiest to store. If you don't use it immediately (go sit on the couch after dinner), it gets stored. Then there's good calories that are packed with nutrition and break down well. And, bad calories that have little nutrition and don't break down like your body wants. All of this impacts what your brain tells your body to do with the energy.

It also lets you get hungry sooner. Because protein and fat take longer to digest, they keep you full longer. When your body burns all the "light" foods very quickly, it starts sending hunger signals to your brain. Your brain in turn, tells your body that it isn't getting enough food. Sometimes this means your body stores energy in the form of fat in anticipation for not having enough food in the future. Other times this means you struggle to keep from snacking.

My second simple mistake goes hand in hand with the last one. I thought if I eat fewer calories than my body needs, I will lose weight and be healthier. They say my body needs about 2K calories a day, so if I eat 1K, my body will use it's fat for energy. The trouble is, this only works to a point. At some point, and it is slightly different for each person, your brain starts telling your body: "We are regularly not getting enough food! We will be out of energy stores (fat) soon. So instead of buring fat for energy, we need to start storing some of what we are eating. Take from other areas like skeletal muscle and organs for now if you have to." This is a terrifying thought, but very true. Your body will actually start storing fat in anticipation for starvation if you don't get enough calorie intake. Not only that, it starts breaking down other parts of your body for energy so it can store your food as fat. It seems absurd, but this is truly how the body chemistry works. Our bodies need a minimum number of calories, usually 14-1500 to avoid this problem.

My third simple mistake was thinking veggie replacements were sufficient. Using lentil and zucchini pasta in place of wheat pasta, or the store bought cauliflower crust instead of regular pizza crust. Now I'm not saying it's a bad idea to trade a low nutrient grain for a higher nutrient and lower sugar vegetable. My mistake was thinking this substitution would be sufficient for significant weight loss and glucose control. Birdseye brand makes pasta substitutes that are quite yummy. They are still high in carb, and relatively low nutrient. I thought I was being healthier by limiting my high carb foods, but I wasn't actually limiting them as much as I thought. Thus, finding myself back at mistake number 1.

My fourth simple mistake was thinking I had to have a bunch of different kinds of food each meal to be healthy. We go out to eat and we expect a main food, usually with some kind of sauce or cheese or breading, and at least 2 sides. When I made food at home, I felt like I needed to have squash, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, onion and bell pepper in every single dish. It blew my mind how wrong I was. It turns out that when your body has too many different things to break down, sometimes it acts like you just ate a feast and then collapsed on the couch. It thinks you had way more than you needed and stores it...even if your number of calories was less than you needed. MIND BLOWN!!! It's such a simple thing. I needed SIMPLE meals. Now we have 1 protein, and 1 veggie per meal.

My last simple mistake was misunderstanding sauces. You might know how the store bought sauces work. If it says "light" or "low fat", it probably has extra sugar. If it doesn't say either of those, it probably has higher fat than you want and extra salt. Because of these "dietary villains", I thought I'd be clever and make my own sauces. I took hours of meal prep on what could have been a family day, to make the sauces for our meals that week. I'd make a beurre blanc, marinara, marsala, enchilada, and various other sauces thinking I was saving myself from having to balance the extra sugar, fat, or salt from the store bought sauces. I found out though, I was digging my hole faster. Not only was I still making the wrong food choice, I was wasting time making this mistake. The same rule as mistake 4 applies to sauces. Simple is better when trying to lose weight! Now we do our best to avoid and limit sauces. They are a treat and a luxury, not a regular occurence.

All in all it took me far longer to correct these mistakes than I like to admit. I was stubborn and refused to give in to the truth's Mike was telling me. Little by little though, I made the changes he was encouraging, and now, the weight just melts off. I have 2 eggs, 4 strawberries and 6 black berries for breakfast. Lunch is usually leftovers from dinners that week. Dinner is a protein and a veggie, sometimes 2 or 3 veggies. We season with herbs, peppers, and other spices, and limit our salt as much as we can. We grill, saute, sear, and bake, and we try to limit our butter and animal fat though these fats do still have their uses in our bodies. I have 1 "treat" meal a week where I allow myself something that isn't going to help my weight loss. This isn't a cheat because I'm not eating food that has a negative impact on my body. It's something like a nice pasta meal, dressing on a salad, a yummy sandwich, or a bun on my burger.