From my personal tumblr:
I dreamed that I ordered a pizza from a Pizza Hut but I woke up before I got my pizza. Do you know how awful that is? It’s terrible. I don’t let myself eat pizza normally and now even my psyche won’t let me eat pizza. I can’t even enjoy the delicious, cheesy taste when I’m dreaming.
My first year at college, I went from 150 to 178 lbs. I’m a tall girl (71.5”), so gaining 30 lbs didn’t make me look like a whale, but I was definitely unhappy with myself and my appearance. I think part of the weight came from my hips deciding to appear, but a lot of it was just flab around my stomach and thighs from ordering a large pizza every week and watching 5 episodes of LOST a day.
Since then, I’ve changed my diet and I actually exercise now, so normal for me is around 163 lbs. I’d like to lose some weight because I hate seeing “size 10” on my jeans, but I’m well within the healthy weight for my height.
I think the reason I’m able to maintain my weight so well now is that I don’t let myself eat a lot of junk food. I wouldn’t say I’m on a diet, but when I go to the grocery store, I don’t buy chips, cookies, candy, ice cream, or other fattening snack foods. When I get a craving for something sweet or sugary, I don’t have anything in the house and therefore I don’t end up eating something terrible. I’ve also found that I don’t crave those foods after I’ve gone without them for a few weeks. Yes, I still pig out on brownies and cookies when I visit my parents, but for the most part, I don’t eat junk.
I’m a vegetarian, so the only fast food I ever eat is Subway or Firehouse. I know I don’t have the healthiest diet because I don’t cook and I tend to eat throughout the day when I get hungry instead of eating 3 meals, but it works for me. I take a multi-vitamin everyday, and my diet consists of cottage cheese, hummus, rice cakes, peanut butter, bananas, cheese, greek yogurt, applesauce, granola bars, smartfood popcorn, tomato soup, and other similar foods. When I eat on campus, I usually get a salad. I probably need to eat more vegetables, but the same could be said of most college students.
I guess the overall point of this post is that if you’re unhappy with your weight, don’t go on a diet. You need to change your lifestyle. Dieting is a temporary measure, and as soon as you stop dieting, you’ll gain the weight back. If you change your eating habits all together, you’ll be more successful. That doesn’t mean you should always deprive yourself of junk food… it just means you should make junk something you eat occasionally instead of every day.
Disclaimer: I’m not claiming to be an expert at anything. I’m just sharing what works for me.
As an added note, I do not own a scale. I think scales can be useful, but it’s far healthier to base your weight based on how your body feels and how your clothes fit. Numbers on a scale cannot tell you if you’re too fat or too skinny. Yes, 163 lbs sounds like a huge number, but when you take into account my body type and height, it’s a good weight. Freaking out over a number don’t accomplish anything… basing your weight on what feels good for your body is so much better.
