This morning I had a Fitness Assessment at my gym. I was supposed to have one when I first joined in December, but they never contacted me about it. Anyways, I had my weight, arm/hip/waist measurements, body fat, flexibility and heart rate (after a step test) measured.
Seeing all these number made me see my strengths and weaknesses and what exactly I would like to improve. Even though I’m not obsessed with the scale at all, it is very frustrating that it’s not budging. I feel like I’m doing great with Intuitive Eating, but I have not lost any weight since tracking it in the beginning of the year (ouch).
Intuitive Eating is helping me maintain (which is good, and will be the long term plan once I get where I want), but not lose (which is my goal). I am not going to ditch IE and join Weight Watchers/Jenny Craig/Nutrisystem tomorrow, but I have decided to focus on weight loss for the next 30 days with a challenge. Also, I’m going to track my body fat and measurements in addition to my weight for updates.
I believe the phrase, “You get Fit in the Gym and Lose Weight in the Kitchen”. Since my fitness assessment showed that my fitness levels are good/excellent (except for flexibility!) I need to work on the kitchen part.
RER’s 30 Day Lose Weight in the Kitchen Challenge:
1. Close the kitchen and brush teeth at 8pm every day (I already set my cell alarm to go off at that time).
2. Plan my afternoon snack in the morning (to prevent random grazing through the kitchen all day).
3. Stop eating mayonnaise by the spoonful. (Don’t tell me I’m the only one who does this.)
www.nataliedee.com
Lunch! I busted out a frozen meal today, mostly because it was taking up precious space that I’d rather fill with ice cream frozen bananas 
I threw this Indian lunch on top of a bed of lettuce and onions…
Since the meal is only 200 calories I paired it with some cereal so I wouldn’t need another food break for a few hours. 
Vegas is back to feeling like his old self and wanted to say “go away” “Hello!”.
I have my first running group meeting tonight! Wish me luck
Thanks so much Monica for keeping it real with us. I love your blog and have been an avid reader for a long time. Good luck with your running group and your 30 day challenge.
I didn’t like Mayo for the first 25 years of my life, and then all of the sudden I found out I actually did like it.. and it all went down hill from there. Although I actually like the “light” kind better than the regular!
Good luck on your challenge!
bwahaha i love love nat D. and i also LOVE that quote “You get Fit in the Gym and Lose Weight in the Kitchen”. never heard it before! good luck on the challenge!
Planning my meals ahead of time really helps me. But that’s because tracking my food on Sparkpeople helped me lose and keep off over 90 pounds 😉
But oh my gosh, mayo freaks me out! I have always thought it tasted so weird. I’m so glad to replace it in recipes with Greek yogurt. Mmmm
I’ve been going through similar frustrations the last little while. I did IE for about 4 months last fall and was able to maintain but didn’t lose anything. I started tracking again in Jan and lost a couple but stopped again. Now I’m doing part IE part tracking (basically writing it down for accountability but not counting cals).
I had a fitness assessment a couple of weeks ago and heard that I’m in great cardio shape but can barely touch my toes :S
I guess we both have to put focus elsewhere for a bit.
Best of luck! Can’t wait to read about your journey!
Love that saying, about the gym and the kitchen.
I feel your pain, on the weight maintaining rather than losing. I’m doing WW (again) since independent attempts at weight loss don’t work for me. After some initial losses, the program has allowed me to maintain for about six weeks now but the short time I took off from running has let the scale creep up.
Reading this blog, and the comments is great motivation for me. Thanks Monica et al.
i used to be EXCELLENT at not eating after 8pm. Now some days i don’t get home from work until 830! and i haven’t had dinner yet 🙁
I think I am going to join you in this challenge and find ways to work it OUT.. however I may need to make my cut off time 9 pm for the LONG work day.
I have such a mental thing about having a snack after dinner that sometimes i snack close to midnight! NOT COOL
I will have to start making snacking early a routine as well!
I LOVE that little cartoon. What are you eating? Mayo. hahahah. Love your blog. I just found it and your writing style is fantastic.
My go-to meal at uni was a huge bowl of pasta with lots of vegan mayo. Quick, easy, and comforting. It was brilliant comfort food but definitely not good for my figure (especially when you factor in that the rest of my diet was mainly made up of oat porridge + chocolate chips, potato waffles, with the occassional vegetable-heavy soup). Hmm… thinking about it, my diet at uni wasn’t great.
I like the idea of getting measured – I keep meaning to do that, just out of interest to see how my body changes with increased strength training and cardo.
grazing is a huge issues for most people.
oooohh the indian looks tasty.
Yeah, I totally thought you were serious about the mayo. I can’t say I have a problem eating spoonfuls of mayo but I do have that problem with peanut butter. Especially because I have 4 different kinds: regular, nuttzo, dark chocolate dreams, cinnamon raisin, and honey. ah 5. 🙂
That’s EXACTLY how I stopped my 4:00 bingeing…I started to really plan and create my snacks ahead of time, or keep a huge stash of granola bars handy. Another thing that helped me stop mindless snacking was loading up on fats in my meals. Lots of fat = better satiety.
I’ve fallen into the whole “you can eat what you want because you’re training” mentality lately and have put on 3 or 4 pounds. I’m sure no one else can tell, but I can! Thanks for the tips and I love your motto, “You get Fit in the Gym and Lose Weight in the Kitchen.”
Can I ask how you got your body fat % tested? Did they do skinfold calipers or did you hold onto a BIA? The BIA is highly variable due to your hydration levels so just something to keep in mind when getting re-checked..not every gym tells you that. If you can get your skinfolds done..that is the most accurate “field” measurement way of testing body fat. Good luck at your running group!
Yeah they used a BIA, and I’ve had it done that way before. I realize that hydration and the fact that I already ran 3 miles today might have thrown it off. Either way, I’m pretty sure it has to go down though 🙂
Why is it that running 10 miles a day becomes “easy” but loosing a pound is the hardest thing in the world. Something is backwards.
I know, right?!
love the quote: “You get Fit in the Gym and Lose Weight in the Kitchen”. So true!
sit-and-reach was always the worst for me, even back in the presidential fitness test days.
Planning your meals/snacks is SUCH a good idea. I plan all my meals and snacks 99% of time ahead of time. I also measure a lot of my foods like cereal/pasta. I’m always amazed at how much more I use when I don’t measure!
I have never in my life eaten mayo by the spoonful, but I can definitely attest that peanut butter and coconut butter are both AMAZING eaten straight up! And great goalsand good job for achieving them too! The 8 oclock rule is a goodone…I try to tell mi madre that!
Good luck with your 30 day challenge AND your running group tonight! And I hate to say it, but I’ve never heard of someone eating mayonnaise by the spoonful!! yuck! hehe
I like #1. I need that challenge too. I tend to eat treats after dinner. I need to just brush my teeth and close the kitchen!
I’m still in the “lose weight” frame of mind, and having set meal times really helps me with this. Having set meals and when I’m going to have them has almost made me an intuitive eater. If I eat breakfast and it’s within my set calorie range, I am ALWAYS hungry 4.5 hours later. Having my snacks planned out helps, too! I think I got that tip from you actually…
Good luck with everything! I envy your fitness levels. I’m afraid to do the body fat test at my gym but I’m definitely getting curious. I think it really helps stay on track if you know the facts. I should just bite the bullet and do it.
I hate mayo. Can’t even look at it. I refuse to put it on my husband’s sandwiches when I make them as well (and then he pouts, it’s funny really). I also hate butter. I know, what is wrong with me? My brother is the same way. But I would say my downfall is ice cream. I could eat ice cream day and night. In fact, I did until I hit puberty and gained like twenty pounds overnight. After that I decided ice cream for breakfast was just not a good idea.
Wait – we’re not supposed to eat ice cream for breakfast?!
I was a stubborn child and the pediatrician told my mom that it was better than a) not eating or b) feeding your children doughnuts. I guess the feeling was that at least there was calcium and protein in it!
Great strategy I love that you have it all planned out. I need to stop grazing when I cook worst habit ever.
Love this post and I really love your mantra!
I think that IE is def the way to go because it is healthy and sustainable. Also you will stay happy while doing it. I have to say I’ve never eaten mayo by the spoonful! but definitely PB 🙂
Are you sure you’re not Natalie Dee?
I would like to think I am 😉
But sadly, no.
I love you, and your blog, but I am totally judging you right now for eating mayo by the spoonful! lol Blech. I love mayo as much as the next girl but, ew. That’s a little to far for my taste. But to eat her own.
I really like that you have defined specific things for yourself to imporve on your eating habits instead of just saying, “eat better,” or “eat less.” I think it is good to set very specific goals for yourself so that they are measurable, and there is no gray area (for the most part)! Good for you, and I hope the results reflects the effort!
I was totally joking about the mayo 🙂
I am totally not judging you anymore. 🙂
Great post! I think those are all good strategies for helping to cut back on mindless eating…good for you for maintaining your weight, that itself is awesome and often difficult for women who struggle with emotional eating. As always, love your blog!
Thanks 🙂
If I wasn’t so emotionally attached to food, my life would be a whole lot easier. Exercise is easy; not eating away my boredom, frustration, sadness is not.
I really like the idea of planning your snack in advanced. Maybe even having it all prepared, set out, etc. before snack time would be helpful. That way you’re not tempted to grab handfuls or spoonfuls of extra snack ingredients as you’re preparing it. I think I might have to try this myself.
Good luck at your running group!
Yeah, I’m totally going to “set up” my snack before hand because once I’m in the kitchen all bets are off!