Wishful Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

"I wish..."

I had the willpower to stay on one particular diet, & it would be _____!

Well, I very nearly almost didn't do this week's Wishful Wednesday post, & that is why you are only just now seeing it. I legitimately started this post on Wednesday, but

I went back&forth with it,

& I would almost hit publish,

& then I would change my mind,

etc.

The thing is, I don't really have a good answer for this topic. But it is a good topic that should be discussed. Especially amongst a group of mostly twenty-something bloggers that participate in Wishful Wednesday. We are, after all, probably one of the most impacted groups for

dieting,

pressure to fit into a wedding dress,

pressure to lose baby weight,

pressure to stay thin,

etc.

I know I feel it.

I am 5'1.

So the minute I gain one single pound,

I notice it.

If I gain five pounds,

you'll notice it.

& if I were to gain nine pounds,

even the most unobservant of heterosexual males will notice it.

But I am an unhealthy eater. I wish this weren't true. This is why I hesitated to publish this post. But we're all about being honest with one another out here in the anonymous blogosphere, right? & the truth is that I am not a very nutritious eater.

I have a sweet tooth. A very serious, very terrible sweet tooth. The bread basket doesn't tempt me one bit, but the dessert cart gets me every time. I cannot stay on a diet that asks me to give up sweets. I can, however, stay on a diet that allows me little sweets daily, & big splurges weekly.

But honestly, I don't stay on a diet at all. I used to count Weight Watchers points, & I suppose I still do, subconsciously. I can give you a pretty accurate guess as to what amount of Weight Watchers points something has in it, without looking any of it up.

& I have long kept the "tradition" that some Weight Watchers leaders have of "cheat night." That is, rather than using those mysterious "allowance points" (which will only keep you from losing weight, in my experience) - having one good splurge after your weigh-in (assuming you actually go & weigh in).

So let's say your weigh-in day is Wednesday.

You've been pretty good over the weekend,

very good on Monday&Tuesday,

& you've practically starved all day Wednesday

(because you're getting on the scale that evening).

After the weigh-in, you eat what you've been craving (whether it's a junky pizza, or a semi-healthy lean steak, or in my case, ice cream!). The next morning you get back to the mindful eating & points-counting.

(Of course, what I just described is in no way affiliated with the Weight Watchers program at all. But I do know of Weight Watchers leaders who encourage it, especially for smaller people that can't seem to lose weight if they eat all of their allowance points each week.)

So I still use some of those "tricks." & I do still eat Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals fairly often, especially for busy weekday lunches.

I also try to remember some of the tips from Bethenny Frankel's books, Naturally Thin, & the Skinnygirl Dish. The main one I always remember is,

"Taste everything; eat nothing."

Of course that sounds awful out of context, but it's useful for me to remember when I'm faced with an array of yummy party foods, or a buffet-style setting. A few bites of each thing that looks good, & I'm full without having overdone it.

So I do have some vague diet principles that linger in my subconscious, but the real, whole truth is that...I just don't eat very much.

I almost always skip breakfast (unhealthy).

I drink loads of caffeine (unhealthy).

I usually eat one of those little Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals for lunch (a bit healthier).

I'm usually pretty decent at suppers.

(I try a lot of recipes, & I try to cook healthy for my family, which means I eat healthy with them...& if it's not a very healthy dish, I only eat a tiny portion.)

But I also sometimes eat Pop-Tarts instead of lunch (bad).

Or a big, fat sundae instead of supper (horrible).

& I eat complete junk every Wednesday night for "cheat night." (Bad.)

But...I also run regularly (good!).

& I try to get in extra exercise wherever possible. I burn a lot of calories chasing a toddler around.

(Sure, those celebrities sound like they're full of it when they repeat this over&over, but I really do - I'm sure it helps that I don't consume all that many calories to begin with, though!)

I take stairs

(partly because I have a bit of a fear of elevators).

I take walks around our neighborhood with my family.

I have dance&yoga DVDs that I do sometimes.

& a Wii!

So there it is. I'm a size zero. But I'm not the healthiest size zero in the world. I don't like diets, or lifestyle changes that come with rules. I "eat like a bird," just like my tiny granny always did. I run & work out because it makes me feel better, & it helps balance out those bad eating habits I can't break.

I suppose the only things I really wish for in this area...are a faster metabolism (not gonna happen), & more time to go running (probably not gonna happen anytime soon!).