Jaded by carbs

[Bethany4]

My name is Bethany.. 29 years old, married for 5 1/2 years with an awesome little 2 yr old boy. My husband, Steve is a power lifter and I'm a runner. Before you start scoffing at my choice of fitness, I am fully aware of my phobia of the weights area in the gym, but I'm doing much better. My weight training is very cyclical. I've been taking TRX suspension classes (which I LOVE) for about 9 weeks now, and I've noticed a huge difference (improvement) in my core strength & definition. I'm also attempting to do one additional lifting session through the week as well. I don't do the "running to lose weight" thing, although I do use it as a tool when I need to drop a few lbs... I do the "running to run a half/full marathon" thing. My intentions in running go beyond just trying to lose weight.

My real issues come in with eating. I grew up as "the chubby girl", always remember my mom lamenting about her own weight, and therefore became very aware of my weight, and have been ever since. I grew up playing soccer, but that was the only activity I really did. I gained the typical weight in college and stayed steady at around 140ish (I'm 5'3-4") up until getting pregnant with my son. After having my son & losing the bulk of my pregnancy weight, I got stuck at around 150lbs. With the guidance of my husband, we found a body builder online who offers nutritional services for body builders and anyone looking to clean up their diet and/or increase their lifting stats. This was when I learned about carb cycling... High, low, medium, low, and repeat. My focus became about carbs... eating the right carbs, timing them properly, eating them with the appropriate other food, and eating the proper amount. This plan absolutely worked and while I didn't stick with the "cycling" part of the diet when it was all said and done, I had transformed my eating habits. When I discontinued my services with this bodybuilder, I was down to about 128. I slowly crept back up and maintained around 133-135, which I was happy with. But my views of food were still messed up. I'd eat in secret. I'd hyper-analyze every bit of food that went into my mouth. I was essentially afraid of all carbs... good, bad or otherwise, I felt like I needed to stay away from them. Period... Unless I was running long distance. Even in those cases, unless I was going out for 14-15 miles or further, I had accustomed myself to training runs without energy gels and saved them only for races.

Fast forward to several weeks ago and I read a blog about a "quick & dirty" diet... One that's not meant to be sustainable, but the layout creates a sustainable plan that allows for cheats (she calls them preemptive cheats). Anyway, her theory is to "eat 100% clean, 90% of the time". That's what I've been trying to adopt. Based on this plan, all of my meals consist of a lean protein plus a fibrous veggie/salad OR low sweet fruit. I only eat complex carbs after a workout, which is usually either 1/2 sweet potato or old fashioned oats (usually with unsweetened frozen berries mixed in). I've lowered the artificial sweeteners in my life (which I use in coffee, oats, sweet potato), and practically eliminated any processed food. That being said, we still go out to eat (maybe 1x per week), and I still have my junk food moments, mostly on the weekends. My usual trend on the weekends is to follow my normal regimen through the day and then dinner is more relaxed for me (along with a trip for ice cream or froyo or some form of cake/brownie/dessert). I don't overdo it. Its enough to keep me sane the rest of the week.

I still have my issues with food. My tendency is to analyze food, but since I found this blog a few weeks ago, I've been able to let go of some calorie counting and weighing (of food). I'm noticing myself weighing myself more frequently again and have started catching myself in more "pep talks" to keep myself from freaking out if my weight is "up" (and by "up", I mean up to 133 from 131, which is still 2 lbs below my most recent maintenance weight... if that makes sense). My body image and thought processes with food are both totally messed up. As much as the carb cycling diet helped me lose my baby weight (and more!), I feel like it jaded me with carbs. I'm slowly improving. I am afraid that my body image will always be out of whack. But I work extremely hard to get to where I'm at now. I workout (run/TRX/weights) approx 4-5 days per week (usually 5), and workout HARD. I eat right (with that 10% of the time exception). I avoid temptations at work, I rarely eat sugar through the week... But emotionally/mentally is where I struggle the most... I'm hoping that being a part of this community will help me slowly keep improving and learning more and more of what I need to be doing to maintain this lifestyle.

Thanks for reading!

[Good Row G]

Hi Bethany! Wow, do I not have the answers to over-analyzing food. But this is a good place to work on it.

One thing that's really changed the way I think about food (not act, but it's coming) was reading Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I listened to them on audio-book on my commute, and they are fascinating. He attacks food science as a long series of not quite getting the full picture. It's very into traditional diets and whole foods. Inspiring.

90/10 is a good balance. If you can stick with that, well done!

[tigersheart]

Why in the world would we scoff at your choice of fitness, there is absolutely nothing wrong with running...it is your life, your fitness....if it works for you then great!

Welcome and good luck in your journey,