This weird pandemic year helped me reset many things about my life. From clearing out pointless people and activities (good riddance social media) thus redirecting energy towards ones that matter, to replacing tobacco with vaping, starting to exercise regularly and replacing streaming/browsing hours with reading. But one thing persisted - messy and oscilating diet and weight. In a way it was the last resort of the inner monkey who reacts to events without thinking - resulting in binge eating of anything available and pretty much permanent loop of peaking weight gain, rapid guilt driven weight loss - then all over again.
I tried out diets while on the 'guilty fat fuck' slope down the mountain. Few years ago a pretty strict keto regime - and I would lose weight, but it was a chore, I felt miserable as the food is too uniformed. So once I'd open the floodgates - up we go again. Basically my relationship with food was broken, still is to a point but now I'm finally working on it. I'm 180cm tall and would end most winters at around 90-93 kg - which is well over 10+ kg of the official 'overweight' level. Not that I minded it too much. I'd drop down to say 86 easily and that's the perma-loop where I've been for ages. This time I went into the 'great reset' with one simple goal - find a relationship with food that works for me, is healthy, varied and sustainable in the long term. Essentially I'll work towards reforming my habits, taking hints from the body as I go along and adjust and tweak until I no longer even have to think about it - it comes naturally. I did not set any weight goals, calorie goals or meal count goals - but I am using a calorie tracking app and also aim to have a well balanced distribution of proteins, carbs and healthy fats. That's about it.
First thing that I implemented is a fasting regime. For as long as I remember - breakfast was the meal I cared little about, that made me feel sluggish, tired and if not proposed by someone else - I'd never even consider. So I just got rid of it as altogether. I normally feel hungry between 16-18h and that's when I'll sit down to eat. Afterwards I'm ok with few smaller snacks - so that's the meal schedule I follow and it felt so simple adopting. Like my proper rhythm - that I ignored. Food wise, I always had a shitty relationship with all sorts of breads, pastries, pasta and rice. Growing up relatively poor, bread, pasta and rice were cheap filler foods I had to eat all the time - so the habit stuck, but these days I feel like a truck parked in my guts if I eat bread - so I simply chalked these foods off my list. No more of that, they don't agree with me any loger if they ever have. Same went for any high processed shit, either sweet or savory, that contributes zero healthy nutrients and is just dead weight and repackaged guilt. It took me about two weeks to nail these simple rules and tweak them - that was six weeks ago.
After those two weeks I was sitting at 88kg, but felt ok and ready to make this work. My calorie intake was around 1700-2100 calories. I simply tracked it - determined never to go hungry and if I felt in a bingy mood - to find healthier alternatives and somehow reset that habit into something positive. In the six weeks since - I've established a pretty rock solid routine. On top of the other 'no more' foods listed above - I started consuming less and less milk and dairy products. Most commonly I'd eat yoghurts and put milk in my coffee. These days it's black coffee and yoghurts are replaced with fermented foods that take care of balanced gut health. So 'breakfast' is mostly two cups of black coffee. Main meal is usually after 16h and I cook every single day. No ifs and buts - cooking is half the joy of eating. The main meal always starts with a vegetable soup or broth and includes a bowl of salad, mostly lettuce, cherry tomatoes, radish, cucumber etc, some steamed vegetables (prioritising leafy greens) like kale, spinach, savoy cabbage and some either meat or fish. I'd sprinkle this with some fermented foods like sauerkraut, beetroots or gherkins. What is a three bowl+one plate feast bursting with colour and flavour - is mostly from 350-500 calories - pretty much depending on the amount and type of meat. This is much less than some shitty plain sandwich I'd usually buy at work. If I can breathe after this - I'll have some fresh berry fruits for desert. After that I'm set until early evening when I'll snack on various fruits (apples, nectarines or easy peelers) and in the evening what was usually the worst time for pointless binging - I'll drink lemon tea and possibly have more fruit or some nuts. This is now my established routine - I'm nailing the nutrient distribution perfectly most days and the calorie intake dropped organically to an average of 1000-1200 per day without ever feeling hungry, tired, weak. In actuality my energy levels are higher and I work out more (I do try and compensate with more proteins if working out very hard). But most of all - I actually enjoy what I eat, when I eat and am constantly finding new foods to introduce, prepare and experiment with.
At the moment I'm on 79kg and feeling like I'm just beginning to discover how to listen to my body properly and how to provide myself with actual food, not shit. I'll add that I almost never drink alcohol - so the whole process was likely easier for me than someone who enjoys a drink - not just because of calories in the booze, but because once drunk you'll eat anything put before you without blinking.
