Thursday, March 14, 2013

Children are an excellent diet mechanism

I’ve lost 15 pounds since I quit work in January. Part of it is due to the fact I no longer sit on my butt and each chocolate for a large portion of each day. (RIP, desk full of snacks.) Part of it is that I’ve started running during naptime a few days a week. But mostly, eating has become way more trouble than it’s worth. I cannot deal with the two little bottomless pits dancing around me and snatching food out of my hands, so I just…don’t eat.

I’ve never been a breakfast eater. It turns my stomach to eat so early during the day. When I was working I was pretty good at making myself eat breakfast, only because “making myself eat breakfast” was code for “putting off the point at which I’d actually start working.” (A hobby of mine.) Now I just can’t muster up the energy to make and defend food first thing in the morning. Also, it turns out eating just delays the skipped meal. Yesterday I forced a fiber bar down my throat at 8am while walking around with little people trailing me saying “I want some! Me! Mine!” Then I turned right around and didn’t eat lunch. Not even on purpose! I was just BUSY and not hungry!

I always thought being at home would make me fat what with the snacks all around, but it turns out in this house even uttering the word “snacks” is an invitation to be swarmed. I swear I feed these children! ALL THE TIME, I feed them. I've just stopped feeding myself. If I didn't have the nagging thought that skipping meals is a terrible way to lose weight, it would be a pretty ideal situation.

(It probably has more to do with portion sizes, anyway. I no longer eat for sport/pleasure which means no third helpings and very few second helpings.)

5 comments:

  1. I agree, I don't snack as much when the kids are home because they insist on snacking also and I don't want to share. Next year could be bad for me, both kids in school all day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally agree, especially with the part about the toddler pulling on your pant leg and begging to share. Good for you to exercise during nap time. There's no talking myself into that one!

    ReplyDelete
  3. 15 pounds! That's so awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy cow, that's a lot in that amount of time! I am impressed. (I say that as I sit here at my desk, dumping handfuls of Chex Mix into my mouth.)

    I totally get what you mean, though. All I have to do is open the fridge and my 6 year old bolts up the steps to ask "What are you having?" One night last week, my husband and I were actually walking circles around the kitchen peninsula/wall as our 2 year old trailed behind us... we were stuffing cookies into our mouths and trying to avoid him seeing it. My problem is that I hit the fridge after they're in bed, though. I'm starving by then!

    ReplyDelete