I'm doing double-duty with this post. I'm way behind schedule updating my weekly weight management goals. Happily, that's in part because last week's goals are going swimmingly. I've been getting in my 3 liters of water, getting to bed reasonably early most nights, practicing my deep breathing, working out on the Gazelle regularly, squeezing in a few runs, and doing lots of dancing (in preparation for a performance next week -- yay!). So, this week's goals are to keep it up. I'll re-evaluate next week, as I have company coming in to town soon, and my routine will be topsy-turvy for a while. But for now, all's well.
Since it's Wednesday already, I'm also going to post an intriguing article I ran across a few weeks ago:
"Stress hormone rises as dieters restrict calories"
This fascinating study considered the effect of a 1,200 calorie diet on a woman's stress level, and found that the act of reducing calories to 1,200 -- a very typical recommendation -- acted as a stressor. In other words, cutting back on calories could be counterproductive, and make it harder to lose weight.
What's a dieter to do? This strikes me as yet another reason to focus on developing the skill of appetite awareness. If you make healthy food choices most of the time (90% of the time to lose weight, 80% of the time to maintain weight), and you eat when hungry and stop when satisfied, you won't need to cut calories. Making good food choices will ensure you get your nutrition needs met, and eating when you're hungry and stopping when satisfied means you'll be eating to meet your weight management goals.
So, how are you doing with eating awareness? And how are you doing with making healthy food choices?
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