Lesson learned

I learned a valuable lesson this week.  During the last week I was really busy.  Too busy to worry about my diet.  Instead I just eat in a way that I knew would keep me healthy and feeling good (protein, veggies, some fruit, with the occasional fun food thrown in).  I exercised when I could and ate intelligently but I didn't think about dieting.  Instead I ran between doctor's appointments and worked on my jewelry (this time of year I bring in some extra money by making handmade jewelry and selling it at church holiday bizarres).

This morning I finally realized that I hadn't thought about my weight in a long time and jumped on the scale in a total panic.  I was down 6lbs.

Here is the lesson -I can't diet.  I know a lot of people do great on a formal diet.  If you are one of those people that is great!!  But, it doesn't work for me.  I grew up with a mother and grandmother who were ragging anorexics.  They filled my head with a million food rules-most of them totally wrong.  To this day I still kinda think the calories in pastry doesn't count as food as long as you don't eat anything else all day (yeah, my mom believed that and lived that).  She would get on me for eating protein but cookies didn't count as food with calories in it).  To counter all the crazy food rules I grew up with I have tried to educate myself about nutrition by reading every diet book that has been published since 1990.  If you have ever read a few diet books or tried at least three different diets,  you know that each diet has its own set of food rules and they all conflict with every other diet out there. So, after 20 years of reading diet books I have about a million conflicting rules in my head at given moment.  That is enough to drive you nuts.  But, when you just know makes you feel healthy and only eat when hungry and stop when full......well, that seems to be enough.

As for exercise, well I have the same problem.  While my mother and grandmother never exercised I have been researching that for 20 years as well.  All I did last week was kata.  Frankly, I really believe that kata is enough.  It is both a cardio exercise and weight bearing.  For now, kata is enough.

The moral of this story is listen to yourself and just do your best. Most of the time that is more than enough.

On a side note-
Gi are karate uniforms.  Tough to get one larger than a size 7 (that means about a size 20-22 in girl world)  But, there is one martial arts store in America that is making them up to a size 12 (not certain but maybe that is like a size 32 in woman's sizes).  The store is called Oddessy Martial Arts Supply.  Hope this helps someone somewhere :)