I was just thinking about how easy it is to get overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there about dieting, about losing weight, about what to do and what not to do. It can be really overwhelming when trying to figure out what to do. In addition to that, once you do decide on something, everyone’s got an opinion about what you SHOULD do or SHOULDNT do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also just amazes me how many people are on a ‘journey’ to weight loss (as I label my own posts as a fuckin Journey), but are not really taking it seriously. Changing your way of thinking is really hard. Unlearning years of bad habits isnt easy either. It makes me question why they’re doing it in the first place. I think a lot of the people that do this kind of shit online – where they’re just crashing and burning with whatever they’re doing and not making the healthier choices are just doing it for clout. Its about the likes, the views, and the attention. Shit like that irks me. At the same time, this is a good example of what NOT to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have significant obstacles to overcome – a major health situation, a significant amount of weight to lose – then a major shift in lifestyle is probably in order. That sounds pretty intense, and it is. I think part of that requires us to be honest with ourselves about where we’re at, where we’re going, and how do we really get there? Like many of us, its probably going to require a major shift in dietary habits – which means unlearning bad habits and coming to the realization that we just cant have the shit that we used to have – or at least not as often. Pizza, cake,ice cream, junk food – that shit is out for awhile. Here’s some honesty for you – cravings are gonna happen. I think its really unrealistic to think that they’re not. Having said that, I think being honest with ourselves about why we’re craving things – are we hungry? Are we bored? Are we trying to suppress some pain\/stress\/feelings that we’re not dealing with? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we make our meal plans, we really should consider what is going to happen when we’re hungry, when we’re stressed, when we’re craving. Cravings can often go away once we take our mind off of whatever it is and find something else to occupy our thoughts. If a craving does come on and you relaly feel like you have to deal with it (and I get this with pizza sometimes), then start by finding a way to have the flavors. For instance, I make these pizza wraps that usually curb my cravings. I use a low carb tortilla, and I put turkey pepperoni, a slice or two of cheese or some low fat shredded mozzarella cheese, I wrap that up and throw it in the oven for 10-15 min to melt the cheese and crisp up the tortilla. I might have two of those. Is it ideal? no. Because salt and prob more calories than I really need. But its still a lot less than the pizza. and I get the flavors Im looking for. If its a pizza thing, find a place or situation where you can have a single slice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you find yourself in a situation where you’ve just eaten a pizza or you’ve just fallen off the rails, just know that is ok. I mean, you cant really undo it. But when we’ve been on plan and then we fall off, there is a certain sense of guilt that comes with it. Thats understandable. But I would say give yourself some grace. Thats not to say you should eat pizza again. This process is not linear. Its more like a squiggly line thats all over the place, at times. Dust yourself off and get back on plan. When you do, think about what happened? How did you get to this particular place and how do you avoid it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a previous post I mentioned the 90\/10, 95\/5 methodology where you stay on plan most of the time, but have a meal every once in awhile thats not on plan. Some people cant really do this, and in the beginning,its probably better not to. ONly because you’re trying to undo bad habits. If you let yourself have a cheat meal or an off plan meal (however you want to label it – I dont really give a shit too much about what its called), the idea is that you’re going right back to the plan after thats over. If you think you’re going to fall off the rails because of it – then dont do it. When I started in 2025, if I was going to deviate, I would do the pizza burrito thing I mentioned above, instead of going completely off the rails. I find I do better this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being honest through this process does require quite a bit of accountability. Things happen. If the idea is that we want to change – be healthier, lose weight, whatever, then we have to be prepared for some realizations like, maybe im eating more calories and Im not really in a deficit. how do I hold myself accountable? Maybe I need to log my food for awhile to see what Im really eating? How many calories am I burning? maybe I need to wear that fitness strap for awhile so I have an idea. Maybe I need someone to slap the food out of my hand when I have no business eating it (Im kidding – but I think you get the point).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing I thought about in 2025 when I started this is how can I keep this as simple as possible and be effective. There are all sorts of diet plans around. Most of them revolve around eating cleaner food. Honestly, pick something. It should be something you can follow or are willing to follow. For me, it was staying lower carb (diabetes kinda made that choice for me), while also trying to keep the calories down. This can seem limiting, but there are all kinds of recipes online to make what seems limiting not so much. For instance, my next week’s meal plan is goign to be ground chicken burritos, chicken sausages, burger patties, and a veggie mix. if Im hungry in the mornings (which some mornings, Im just not), then I’ll have some scrambled eggs with some egg whites thrown in. The ground chicken will have some taco seasoning in it, and Ill prob use some reduced fat or fat free cheese and a little taco sauce. You can use a little light sour cream too, if you want. If I need a snack, lately ive been going for the no sugar added bread and butter pickles from Mt Olive. If you like pickles, they’re pretty bomb. Granted, there’s a lot of repetition in here. But this is the plan.Its simple. I generally know about how many calories Im going to have, and I have a plan if I need to snack. I always make sure I have stuff on hand for the pizza wraps, in case I feel the need. Thats usually a weekend deal. But its something I know I can do successfully. I can cook this food, and I will eat this food. This is a plan I know I can execute on. I also find putting pen to paper makes me a little more committed to whatever Im thinking. If it helps, write it down. But keep it simple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think its also important to realize – you didnt get here overnight. While we would all like the weight to just disappear and just not have to go through this shit, thats just not realistic. It’s going to take some time. There are all kinds of fad diets and quick ways to lose weight. For instance, while I think GLP-1’s have some promise for people who legitimately struggle to lose weight or for those who need to drop a lot of weight (hundreds of lbs), thats not necessarily for me. I feel like this is a situation where I havent done all that I can do in order to get the weight off. So I need to do that first. I also think that the GLP-1’s are not a magic pill. You still have to change habits. It just kind of forces you into that. There are all kinds of examples of people who have had bariatric surgery and have lost weight only to gain it back because they didnt change their habits or reverted back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether its a GLP1 or surgery or just diet and exercise, the one common denominator is that all of these rely on being in a calorie deficit in order to drop the weight. Its not going to be easy. These are just some things Ive learned for myself along the way. Personally,I feel like this is change that i needed to make in my life – that I needed to practice what I preach about respect and consideration and that it was time that i hold myself accountable for my own actions, face up to some consequences, and put in the effort to change the outcome. Its certainly not easy and it doesnt happen overnight, but it can happen. This is just the way Ive done it. if this helps you in any way get closer to meeting your own goals, then Im glad to pass on the information. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was just thinking about how easy it is to get overwhelmed by the amount of information that is out there about dieting, about losing weight, about what to do and what not to do. It can be really overwhelming when trying to figure out what to do. In addition to that, once you do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-fitness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/85"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/operationblight.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}