When You Stop Caring About What You Eat

 

Recently I told you that I have really let go of caring about what I eat which maybe you remember me saying. Or maybe you can just tell over the last year or so that I just don’t follow any type of meal prep, meal planning or regular food pattern anymore? Aside from breakfast of course!

It’s not like I don’t have my moments when I suddenly say, WOAH.

Am I eating a lot more than I used to eat?

Does it matter that I NEVER measure my food? I mean, I haven’t done that in years but is my hand too heavy with the peanut butter?

You know, I eat out a whole lot. There’s a lot of dessert and even wine that happens fairly often. I think there are people who choose wine OR dessert. Am I supposed to pick wine or dessert? I always choose both.

And since I haven’t been on a scale in years, these thoughts appear sometimes too.

What do I even weigh these days? What if it’s significantly higher than it was a few years ago? Wait. What did I even weigh a few years ago?

Is what I’m eating going to add up at some point? Is it adding up now? Do I not even notice that it’s adding up? 

Then there are times when I catch an old weekly workout recap post and notice I used to run a lot more miles on a regular basis than I am running now.

How did that happen? Why am I okay with running less now? Am I supposed to care about calories in terms of burning them or not burning them? Why don’t I ever think about calories burned while running?

Most of the time, none of this bothers me. I live my life and don’t think twice. If these thoughts happen, it’s during my PMS week.  PMS alters my brain to think about things that it normally wouldn’t care to explore and also has the ability to put me on an irrational course. I have realized this though and try not to take myself too seriously during this time.

No matter what pops into my mind or when, I always follow the thoughts with what I will NEVER do. That’s the thing with me – it’s never about what I will do if have thoughts like this, it’s what I know I will never do again!

What I will never do:

I have no intention of EVER owning a scale again. Living my life by a fluctuating number on a scale is a miserable way to live. Since I will never give up running or a workout routine and know how to eat nutrient dense foods and cake on a balanced basis, there’s really no true reason to worry about gaining weight to the point where it will ever need to be monitored. A scale might be good for some but I can’t see it ever being good for me.

I will never go hungry. Was there a time when I used to wait for lunch or dinner time to hit so that I could satisfy my appetite? Like, did I ever let myself walk around hungry because it wasn’t a meal time yet? I can’t even imagine that feeling now. If I am hungry, I don’t really care if I just ate or it’s not lunch time. I am going to find my way to food.

I will never measure my food. I do not like to feel limited and I certainly don’t understand paying attention to the serving sizes for most of what I eat anyway. Who measures out vegetables? Why? Measuring reminds me of restriction. I do not do restriction.

I will never use calorie tracker apps. In all honesty, the time when I tried using My Fitness Pal back when it first came out is also the time I didn’t get my period for several months. Clearly tracking my calories is not a good idea for me and I really can’t imagine every counting a calorie again.

Let’s talk a little bit more about using a scale.

When I stopped using a scale many years ago, I relied on my clothing as my weight/size monitoring system. For the longest time, the mindset was, if things stayed the same (or got big), I was doing well.

We are so trained to think that the only way we know we are doing well is to see the number on the scale go down and for our clothing to get big.

But that’s not really an accurate way of thinking.

For example, I have a cute pair of jean shorts (with rhinestones on the pockets 🙂 ).

I’ve had them for five years and recently decided that maybe they were fitting a little different.

Different would usually mean something changed. I don’t like change.

Yet this time, I noticed that my cute pair of jean shorts had a different fit that was a good different. Not in the falling off different but in the wow these shorts fit me better than ever in all of the right spots different.

This different fit was symbolic for the good balance between eating, living, running and Pure Barre I have going on, without needing to know what I weigh or monitor what I eat every second.

I really do believe that our bodies have a happy, set point range and it doesn’t need me to constantly try to control it.

Maybe for a little while we can monitor every morsel and expend every calorie possible to be under our set point but that is not the way to live. It’s not healthy and definitely not carefree.

Life should have a certain level of carefree, don’t you think?

Posts Of Interest:

So I feel like I talk about this stuff fairly often and probably repeat myself in the process. However, these conversations are important for so many reasons! Sometimes we need to hear things over and over as reassurance and reminders and sometimes, people miss a post on the subject so it’s worth sharing again. Feel free to also check out my Amenorrhea section and as always, contact me if you have any questions!

Quirky Eating Habits or Disordered Eating?

Amenorrhea Talk

Disordered Eating Chat

Achieving A Balanced Attitude Towards Your Weight

Finding Balance Between Our Diets & Our Workouts

Do You Really Need To Lose 5 Pounds?

Clothes Should Make You Feel Good

[bctt tweet=”What happens when you stop caring about what you eat #bodyimage #disorderedeating #health” username=”cookiechrunicle”]

Are you someone that steps on a scale every day?

Do you plan out your meals or wing it most of the time?

 

Finding Balance Between Our Diets & Workouts Part Two

 

Before we get started with part two of finding balance between our diets and our workouts, I realize that this post may contain information that many of you already know.

But sometimes, just because we know something, doesn’t mean we apply it.

It can often take repeated exposure to hearing the same information over and over to make us finally wake up and do something with it.

You may know you need to eat more, you may know it’s important to refuel after a workout, you may know you still need to eat on a rest day yet your brain fights it in a quest to not gain weight.

I understand, really I do, but denying your body food especially when it needs it the most, is not the way to lose weight! In fact, eating too little can and will, eventually, slow your metabolism and cause you to gain weight, along with bring you a whole other host of problems.

So, just like last week’s post, I spoke with Laura (thanks Laura!) about some of the questions I often receive regarding balancing our food with our running and workouts.

I have interjected some of my own thoughts in conjunction with her advice along with a few links of interest as they relate to each topic.

 

The first question today discusses what we should eat before and after our workouts. I know that not everyone likes to eat before a run. Please make sure you aren’t lying to yourself about this. Are you skipping the fuel in favor of consuming fewer calories or does the food really not sit well in your stomach?

Do you really want to test out glycogen depletion training or are you trying to run off last night’s dinner instead of eating additional calories?

Pre and Post Run Fuel – Why and What?

It’s important to eat a source of easily digestible carbohydrates before your workout. You want to select a carbohydrate that will give you a sustained source of energy rather than a carbohydrate crash, but you also want to avoid anything that will have you running for the bathroom.

You don’t need to eat a huge meal before a run; a small 100-300 calorie snack will work well.

Popular pre-run options:

• Bananas
• Oatmeal
• Potatoes
• Dates
• Applesauce
• Toast
• Whole-Grain Waffles
• Cereal

The amount of time needed between what you eat and when you run varies by person. Some need more than an hour to digest, others can run within 20 minutes.

After a run, you want to eat a balanced combination of complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats. To replenish your glycogen stores and start the recovery process for your muscles, be sure to eat within 60 minutes of finishing your run.

-> Although the 6o minute time frame is the benchmark, I do much better when I eat my post run meal within 30 minutes following my run, especially my long run. The sooner I eat, the better I recover and the less hungry I am for the rest of the day. If I miss the window, especially if I go longer than an hour, I get headaches, stiff muscles and remain ravenous all day long!

I shared this post-run meal ideas post a little while ago and Laura recently posted this post-run breakfast recipe round-up too. It’s great to see the variety of options! 

How much more should we eat if we are training for a race?

The harder you train, the more calories your body needs! Listen to your body’s hunger cues and respond accordingly.

-> Check out this post Michele recently shared which shows her day of food as she trains for the Boston Marathon. Even if you don’t follow a Paleo diet (which I don’t), it will demonstrate for you that all you need to do is eat when you are hungry and have your meals include extra of what you normally eat in order to fuel your workouts. 

How much more should we be eating on the days we exercise versus the days we rest?

You may be tempted to cut your calories on rest days, but eating enough is vital on those days to support recovery.

Listen to your hunger. Your body doesn’t lie to you and food plays a vital role in the recovery process. Your running is more likely to suffer if you restrict foods than if you eat according to hunger and athletic needs.

-> My rest days typically fall after hard workout days which usually means I wake up super hungry. Just because I am not running does not mean I don’t eat a lot. If I am hungry, I keep eating until satisfied. If I am not as hungry, I don’t keep eating. It’s fairly simple.

How do we know we are fueling enough to maintain a healthy weight while running and increasing mileage/intensity?

Signs you are not eating enough for your body and your workouts:

• Your weight is dropping (when you are trying to maintain)
• Absence of period/suddenly irregular cycles
• Increased fatigue
• Performance suffering
• Cravings increasing, especially for sweets

We have talked A TON about amenorrhea and what it means when you aren’t getting your period. For most females, it’s a true sign of a lack of energy flowing throughout the body which is often a direct result of not eating enough to support our daily functions and workouts.

Your body is real good at letting you know what’s up – appetite, cravings, performance, strength – all indicators of your balance. If you pay attention, you will notice that things can change from one week to the next. It’s totally normal! We are not machines. The trick here though is to listen and make the adjustments necessary as you notice certain symptoms. If you ignore the cues, your workouts will suffer, you run the risk for injury, medical issues (including Female Athlete Triad) and, well, you will be a really cranky person because you are tired and hungry.

Posts of interest:

Finding Balance Between Our Diets & Workouts < – In case you missed last week!

Healthy Carb Loading Recipe Round Up

Amenorrhea Talk

I Do Not Run So That I Can Eat

[bctt tweet=”Finding Balance Between Our Diets & Workouts @thisrunnersrecipes #diet #balance #running #workouts #fitfluential”]

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Any questions you want us to address specifically in another post?

Do you find your appetite is more intense the day of a long run/race or the day after? 

What do you like to eat before you run? What doesn’t work for you that you know of? I get hungry during my run if I eat toast with peanut butter so I really stick to oatmeal and/or banana. Oh, and apples do not work for me. I cannot dice apples into my oatmeal before I run!