Shaping UP in 2014

ETA: I started this post without seeing the one you did about water LOL.

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Jablea I feel you. I was where you are. I would say to take the negatives out of it completely. Start with one thing right away like drinking more water. Believe it or not for most of my life I didn't drink water by itself hardly at all. If I drank a full glass it sat in my stomach like a rock. The way I trained my self to drink water was to start the morning with a water bottle and just drink a few swallows at a time during the day. I still had my morning coffee but didn't drink anything else until I had finished the bottle. Then the rest of the day I drank whatever I wanted. When I first started it took me until afternoon to finish that bottle of water. It took a good while but once I got to the point of finishing that first bottle of water during my hour long commute I added a second bottle before any other drinks. It probably took me about 3-4 years to get all the way up to 3 24oz bottles of water a day. Now I drink 4-5.

I would also recommend some kind of activity tracker. I have the fitbit but there are a lot of different ones out there. After you wear it for a while you will have a good estimation of what you are burning. I also found that just having the tracker actually did motivate me to just move more because seeing the steps rack up I would look at it and just add a little walking here or there just to get to the next 50 or 100 or whatever.

For diet I didn't restrict anything in particular just looked for healthier alternatives to add and tried to add more whole foods and snacks. I started with the food tracking just to see where I was so I didn't even set any calorie goals in the beginning just honestly recorded what I was eating so that I could see where I was. I found that just the act of honestly keeping that food diary started me making better choices. Rather than focus on restricting things I focused only on finding and adding healthy foods that tasted good. With time it became easier and easier to choose healthy alternatives when I had increased the range of healthy choices I had.

I don't think about calorie counting as a restriction because I approached it as simply a data point. I was months into things before I even started setting any kind of goal on what to shoot for calorie wise and I still pay more attention to the weekly or monthly average figures than anything else.

There are really only 3 hard commitments I have made and kept for this year and they are:
1. Wear my fitbit 24/7 (Only take it off to shower or swim)
2. Drink 12-15 cups of water per day
3. Honestly record all of the food I eat on Myfitnesspal.com

Everything else is flexible and builds off of that. I don't make myself go hungry. If I feel hungry I eat. I just try to look for healthy choices. I try not to keep food by my computer but when I feel the need to snack on something I have found that I can choose things like cherry tomatoes or grapes, etc. During the course of the year I actually found it easier to drop things like fast food french fries because it got to the point where I didn't find them as satisfying as I used to. My roommates are both diabetic and have blood pressure issues so the home meals are usually pretty low salt. I got to the point where often fast food is now so salty to my taste that it can be like eating brine. Makes it easier not to want it. I do like those Burger King Satisfries though.

This has been kind of long winded but my main point is to approach things more from the positive side of just adding more healthy choices and finding truly tasty healthy food. Don't beat yourself up over the negatives even binges because the more you punish yourself about it the more you compound the problem. I didn't clean out my cabinets of junk food but I did just try to make sure the healthier options were as easy to access as the junk.

Good luck and feel free to pm me if you want more info. Everybody has to find what works for them and so it is better to design an eating plan that works for you rather than trying to find some supposed "right" way to do things. This is what worked for me and my give you some suggestions of things to try but ultimately what will work for you is what you can keep up with on a regular basis. Not a diet for losing weight but a plan for a healthy lifestyle that you will stick with.

Actually measuring portions sizes is a really good way to control eating because if you start with single serving portions of everything in your meal then only go back for seconds if you are truly still hungry you will find it easier to eat less. Eat just to the point of not hungry and not to the point of being stuffed.

Eating slower also helps with that as the faster you eat the more you tend to eat. A lot of us also tend to have "clean your plate" syndrome so if you over serve initial portions you tend to fell obligated to finish. When I first started measuring my portions I found my guestimates by eye to be so far off it was ridiculous. I think my first measure of a typical mashed potato serving for me which I thought was about a cup turned out to be almost 2 cups. I usually start with a 1/2 cup serving now.

Tips for eating slower include things like putting down silverware between each bite and taking a sip of your drink or chewing each bite for at least a minute (I found this interminable). The chewing longer is also good for your digestion because it help break down the food better. I started keeping only measured portions of snacks near my computer but even with that I would find that they disappeared with me having almost no memory of eating them. I decided that if I can't even remember having tasted it then it was pretty much a waste. Now if I snack on something I make sure to give it my attention and actually enjoy it. LOL

I am doing decently on walking and other exercise, but feel very out of shape at the moment. :( I am thinking I might sign up for yoga. I think it would be fun and would be something additional I could do as we move into the hot weather. I still plan to keep up my walking when it's hot but being really vigorous is difficult. I feel a bit frustrated but realize that doesn't do any good. 

The best news is that the farm baskets are starting up again!!! I get my first basket today and I can't wait to see what I get! I have missed this way to get great fresh veggies so much and know that it has affected my eating habits.