Such an excellent and important reminder--thank you, Jeff!Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsonblack
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Such an excellent and important reminder--thank you, Jeff!Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsonblack
This is my aim--to be done with steak days at least until my next wild pms phase strikes, LOL.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leez
And thank you for the important reminder and redirect about hunger. Sometimes I think I throw myself off with my own IF training--either eating too little or too much with my own (faulty) justifications. For me to give myself permission to relax, breathe, eat when hungry, stop when no longer hungry, and eat again whenever I am hungry again might be exactly the radical anti-diet approach I most need. And I needed to hear that good advice again, so thank you, Leez.
All of this is SO TRUE, Dubbles! And yet I really want to do this thing in a spirit that eschews anxiety about regain. When I get into fear, nothing good ever comes of it. Acceptance, ease, enjoyment, listening and responding in kind, feeling and sensing rather than overthinking. . . . these are the things I want to guide the rest of my P3. Writing this down here so I can come back and read it when I'm losing my cool, because it's bound to happen, unfortunately. . . .Quote:
Originally Posted by Dubbles
I think week 1 P3... is the diet monster reincarnate
Everything bad happens and after 3 days you just want to give up trying
I am sure that is why I cannot remember previous P3s.... I font think I gave up ... but it was soul destroying at times... I am really happy to have shared these past two rounds with you and some other special friends who were in this the same Way I was/ still smm
LOL to the diet monster incarnate. It is like all of our worst fears and patterns are brought to the surface! Or at least that's how it's been for me over the past week.Quote:
Originally Posted by FlirtyFlo
So i, too, am extra grateful for your support and that of everyone on the forum. P3 is when I personally need it most. It can be SO frustrating, indeed; however, I can't imagine throwing in the towel. I've worked too hard and paid too much in every possible way. We're going to find our way, my friend!!
ABSOLUTELY, Miss M! No way should any of us just give up! We have worked too hard, and now know so much more, we’ll figure it out. Sometimes you learn a lot more from mistakes than smooth sailing!Quote:
Originally Posted by DivineMissM
After yesterday's steak day my weight is back to 130, exactly my LIW. That's a 4.6 lb drop. God bless the (appropriately utilized) steak day. As I've said before, I actually enjoy them. Likely in part because of their infrequency, how well they've worked historically for me, and the relief of having a clear plan if just for one day.
So, the scale drop buoys me tremendously, and I'd like to think that my body is magnetized to my LIW and that maybe I haven't screwed things up royally these first few days of P3. Tomorrow will be one week down. There's definitely been some good learning so far.
In fact, I'd like to take a moment to express gratitude for these challenges and obstacles and complications, for in doing everything I can to get through them with as much grace as possible, I've definitely built my capacity to understand myself, my mind, my body, my relationship with food and dieting and this whole process for me. It's been, and will continue to be, invaluable for moving forward in the ways I most desire--and that is with that spirit of calm, benign acceptance. I started to get sucked down the filthy drain of obsessive overthinking and fear and trying to control what was feeling uncontrollable, ironically, by doing the opposite of controlling my eating.
So last night I took the opportunity to get really introspective. I felt guided to pull a dusty book off my shelf entitled "The Yoga of Discipline" and lo and behold it contained exactly the words I needed to pull me back to center:
"Discipline in eating should be a joyous act; it should be a celebration. It should not be fraught with fear, anxiety, and nervousness. . . . Do not let discipline in eating become a malady, an obsession rather than a practice of yoga. So relax, and allow yourself to follow the instincts that arise in the pure space of your own heart."
There was much, much more, largely about the importance of exercising both restraint and reverence when it comes to food as well as important notes about hunger and satiety and some good guidance about how to turn meals into an opportunity for ceremony and praise--and an important reminder to me that this radical revolution I'm aiming for with my relationship to food and patterns around eating is absolutely part of my spiritual evolution.
As I've said before, it starts with food, but it's about so much more. And the time has come for me to connect this process to something much larger.
So, I've added some elements of ritual to my meals, including a short walk--about 15-20 minutes--after each meal. It's a nice point of completion, a kind of punctuation to signal to myself the meal has ended while also helping digest and positively influence my body's hormonal response.
Two meals down so far today and it's going quite well. And yes, i did opt to eat breakfast, even though I taught a barre class a little over an hour later. It occurred to me that I absolutely could eat an appropriately-sized meal so that teaching would be possible. The fact that my immediate response was that I couldn't eat before teaching showed me just how much I think I need to eat at meals. And now I'm beginning to question that and explore the possibility that perhaps less is more. Or that finding my sweet spot for amount of food to create satiety is still underway.
It dawned on me that part of me enjoys the intensity of getting overly hungry through the practice of intermittent fasting and then eating past satiety to fullness. And I want to question that as well as explore the possibility that another part of me might actually prefer the sensation of eating when hungry (but not waiting until I'm ravenous) and of eating to satisfaction. For me that's keeping to the hunger and satiety scale at a level 3 for both--whereas for the past week or so my journal has reflected a tendency to veer more toward a 4 or 4.5. Overmuch.
Thanks infinitely to all of you for your gentle suggestions over the past week. I really have considered and taken them to heart. I'm feeling much more stable with my weight and mind/spirit not to mention appetite right now. So, I'm going to do my best to set aside intermittent fasting and some of the less-than-healthy ways of thinking that came from the practice, largely getting over hungry and overstuffed as a matter of course--and genuinely, truly pay attention to my hunger and satiety cues, bolstered by some additional yogic and mindfulness practices. (I'm recommitting to my morning meditation for one. It really does change the course of my day and is not to be compromised.)
The experiment continues!
Wow Missy! That was an amazing mouthful, and then some... there is a lot i can and probably still will...
But the one thing that sprung to mind is your relationship with IF... is it not just another safety net? Something that worked in your old diet ways? Is P3 not about turning your old normal upside down?I know
I am struggling at the moment not because I want to embrace my old normal, but rather to fix the mistakes that my old normal had on my body....
From a spiritual side i also know you appreciate the Ayuveric (sp) ways and that includes IF... which makes me wonder... are we scared to let go of what was once our safety net? I seriously now listen to my stomach all day long.. probably living in fear of that discomfort... but one day at a time.. to eventually just to live life without boundaries we set up go jail ourselves
Just a small spanner in the works... are you making P3 work for you, or are you working at Fitting P3 and 4 into your new normal?... maybe we are making it very hard on ourselves
Pretty interesting questions and observations, Yvonne. I think sometimes we make it more difficult than needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by FlirtyFlo
Miss M, I have no doubt you will figure this out, happy with your drop after steak day. I agree with your yoga quotes and observations. I don't know if i agree entirely with some of the writings we have been reading about food basically being only a fuel. It is a celebration to me, I enjoy the tastes, the textures aND the circumstances of sitting and eating a great meal (like I know you do). My mother always said, A good meal, good food is a blessing that the richest person on earth enjoys, as well as the poorest. I think that is true. Finding a balance in our lives, that is what we are all looking for.
I don't know what's "old normal" or "new normal" or mistakes or whatnot, honestly. It's an evolution, and I'm open to exploring, pivoting when needed, trying new things. I think there's room for all of it, in the right quantities, at the right time. The trick for me, I think, is to stay open to true discernment--and keep my overthinking, obsessive mind from taking the reins for too long. . . .
Weight bounced up 2.8 today. Argh.
But I'm not doing another steak day. I can't get into the habit of doing one every other day, can I? Would that not keep me on the flipping roller coaster I'm trying to step off? Or is it something I *should* do, just for the three weeks of P3 as needed?
Le sigh.
I don't want to do another steak day. I want to ride it out and see what happens. Stick to my guns about listening to my body, continuing with my increased exercise--because it makes me happy, and keep tweaking my new magnesium tabs. I haven't mentioned that I cannot find a supplier for the magnesium I've taken for years, so I switched supplements and there's a period of adjustment to find how much I need to head off constipation.
In sum: I didn't eat overmuch or anything wacky yesterday. I did increase my exercise significantly, I had a longer eating window (8-5 rather than 12-5), and I'm a tad constipated. So, I am choosing not to stress out or try to correct at this point. I'm just going to go about my day, doing my thing, and see what happens on the scale tomorrow. Taking a cue from Jeff as I try out playing it cool for once. ;)
Dubbles, your P3 begins today, yes? Three cheers to smooth and enjoyable sailing for you, my friend. You got this!
Miss M...
Crazy day here
I agree, just ride it out.... You are doing great!
will catch up with you
Dubbles good luck with P3!!