Not you, actual skinny girl, me and my inner skinny girl who is dying (dieting?) to make an appearance. Why is the world out to get me and sabotage my skinny girl-ness? And for that matter, how is this state of affairs remotely acceptable?
Being on a weight loss plan (i.e. calorie-loss plan), I have slowly but concretely lost 27 pounds and counting. We are about half way to the goal and the road is tedious and treacherous. But thinking about my dinner tonight and my overall management of this project, I was thinking about the entrees that I avoided. We ate out tonight and I chose what I like to call one of the chubby girl menu selections. Just face it, if you're getting the "reduced carb", "healthy option" or "calorie conscious" option, you must be trying to lose weight. It's ok, I'm right there with you.
When I think about normal meals though, I'm considering getting certain things and only eating half of it at a time. Although part of my struggle is portion control, the other reason to constantly half your entree is because there may be about half of your entire daily recommendation on that one plate. Now I'm willing to do this as I am a lady who likes normal food, but it begs the question(s): How do restaurants even get away with serving single dishes with more than 1,000 calories, with high fat and carbs? How did it become acceptable to even try to feed people so much at one time? Even if people want the psychological satisfaction of eating a large meal, why hasn't the food industry just become healthier in general? And in a world that promotes the skinniest "you" possible, why are other industries completely opposed to supporting this concept? Being skinny was supposed to mean never eating in nice and "normal" restaurants? Come on!
So because my world revolves around me (yes, I just type what you're thinking), why is there a war on my skinny-girl?? It seems like part of the reason that people even have to go on diets is due to their relatively normal eating habits being injected with ridiculous amounts of fat and calories. For instance, salad dressing--how did regular salad dressings get to be so fatty that diet folk have to avoid them or actually have single tablespoon? They were created for salads for goodness sake! The food industry created something to fatten up salads?
Have you seen that commercial about the Buttertons?
It's a black and white imagery of a Leave it to Beaver -looking family at the dinner table being served baked potatoes with two bright yellow sticks of butter coming out of the top. I will concede that back in the day, yester-year, whatever you want to call "a long time ago", people cooked and served for the taste with little regard for total health of the person. Not to say that this research didn't exist but let's just give them a pass to say that all the parameters were not in place. Taking a look back though should not be confused with looking around today. We know better. They know better. And the messages are inconsistent.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the revenue generation associated with most of my previous post. Remember the Oprah-Red Meat Industry battle? Take a look at the origins of the dairy industry, their political connections and how many servings you were told to have per day. But this is research for you to absorb in your own time. The work has already been done so get yourself educated. But I digress...
This is my formal registration of outrage that my quest to lose weight is literally a war against the food industry. The espionage is lethal--the supposition of seemingly safe items only remain so with ridiculously minuscule portion sides. I'm spying every time I review a nutritional label to determine the possibly and frequently of intake. The daily surveillance maneuvers accumulate in calorie tracking and monitoring. I perform counterintelligence attacks with regulated use of a elliptical machine and massive fluid consumption (water only, drinks with calories are costing me food!).
It's serious. I'm joking, but really I'm not. Think about it, if you've ever had to consider your weight. My inner skinny girl rages against the machine. The battle continues...
Being on a weight loss plan (i.e. calorie-loss plan), I have slowly but concretely lost 27 pounds and counting. We are about half way to the goal and the road is tedious and treacherous. But thinking about my dinner tonight and my overall management of this project, I was thinking about the entrees that I avoided. We ate out tonight and I chose what I like to call one of the chubby girl menu selections. Just face it, if you're getting the "reduced carb", "healthy option" or "calorie conscious" option, you must be trying to lose weight. It's ok, I'm right there with you.
When I think about normal meals though, I'm considering getting certain things and only eating half of it at a time. Although part of my struggle is portion control, the other reason to constantly half your entree is because there may be about half of your entire daily recommendation on that one plate. Now I'm willing to do this as I am a lady who likes normal food, but it begs the question(s): How do restaurants even get away with serving single dishes with more than 1,000 calories, with high fat and carbs? How did it become acceptable to even try to feed people so much at one time? Even if people want the psychological satisfaction of eating a large meal, why hasn't the food industry just become healthier in general? And in a world that promotes the skinniest "you" possible, why are other industries completely opposed to supporting this concept? Being skinny was supposed to mean never eating in nice and "normal" restaurants? Come on!
So because my world revolves around me (yes, I just type what you're thinking), why is there a war on my skinny-girl?? It seems like part of the reason that people even have to go on diets is due to their relatively normal eating habits being injected with ridiculous amounts of fat and calories. For instance, salad dressing--how did regular salad dressings get to be so fatty that diet folk have to avoid them or actually have single tablespoon? They were created for salads for goodness sake! The food industry created something to fatten up salads?
Have you seen that commercial about the Buttertons?
It's a black and white imagery of a Leave it to Beaver -looking family at the dinner table being served baked potatoes with two bright yellow sticks of butter coming out of the top. I will concede that back in the day, yester-year, whatever you want to call "a long time ago", people cooked and served for the taste with little regard for total health of the person. Not to say that this research didn't exist but let's just give them a pass to say that all the parameters were not in place. Taking a look back though should not be confused with looking around today. We know better. They know better. And the messages are inconsistent.I would be remiss if I failed to mention the revenue generation associated with most of my previous post. Remember the Oprah-Red Meat Industry battle? Take a look at the origins of the dairy industry, their political connections and how many servings you were told to have per day. But this is research for you to absorb in your own time. The work has already been done so get yourself educated. But I digress...
This is my formal registration of outrage that my quest to lose weight is literally a war against the food industry. The espionage is lethal--the supposition of seemingly safe items only remain so with ridiculously minuscule portion sides. I'm spying every time I review a nutritional label to determine the possibly and frequently of intake. The daily surveillance maneuvers accumulate in calorie tracking and monitoring. I perform counterintelligence attacks with regulated use of a elliptical machine and massive fluid consumption (water only, drinks with calories are costing me food!).
It's serious. I'm joking, but really I'm not. Think about it, if you've ever had to consider your weight. My inner skinny girl rages against the machine. The battle continues...
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I suffer this same battle between my decadent size 14 self and my slender size 10 deprived self. I am not a girl that enjoys eating vegetables or fish or steamed anything so a diet for me is full of foods I loathe (except turkey chili, the only diet food I can stand and am therefore "over" since I've made a pot every other week since july.) Ordering the weight management salad at Cheesecake Factory when I REALLY want lots of their wheat bread with butter, Navajo Chicken Sandwich (on fry bread, YUM-O) and a slice of red velvet cheesecake washed down with two glasses of sauvignon blanc is just SAD. So I am giving myself reprieve for the rest of the year and preparing myself to buckle down and eat lots of veggies and chicken breast in the new year. Maybe I can unlock my skinny self by my 31st birthday in May... Good luck to you, chica. I am impressed with your 27 pound weight loss. :)
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