Let me introduce myself. My name is Meredith McKown and I am a 41 year old single mother. I work full time in a professional occupation and I’m good at what I do. But like so many other women in America today, I am overweight. My BF is over 30%; I want it closer to 20%. I struggle with fitting workouts into my already busy day and I can’t afford a personal trainer or chef. It’s DIY fat loss for me.
So first, what should I eat? With so many different nutritional opinions out there, what is the healthiest, the fastest, the best diet for fat loss? There are SO MANY eating plans out there, but which ones work? I’ve been trying different diets since I was 10 years old, when I went on my first strawberry-flavored weight loss shake diet. I’ve struggled with disordered eating and with body dysmorphia at different times too, all of which make it harder to ascertain which eating approaches are the healthiest for body, mind and psyche.
At present, I have some foundational beliefs, which I will expand upon in the future, but I’m still just an ordinary person, not an expert. I’m learning my way through this maze of information, just like you are. Four things I’m confident about:
1) Strength training is vital.
2) Measurements matter more than the numbers on the scale.
3) What you eat matters and some foods are flat-out bad for you (specifically donuts, ice cream and any other fat-laden white-flour and sugar combination.)
4) Leafy green vegetables are good for you.
That’s all that I’m 100% certain about right now. Everything else has someone standing behind it, insisting that it is either good for you or bad for you. Here’s a quick overview of the dissent:
FOOD
|
PALEO
|
PRIMAL
|
LOW- FAT
|
LOW-CARB
|
VEGETARIAN
|
VEGAN
|
Vegetables
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Legumes
|
X
|
X
|
X
| |||
Grains
|
X
|
X
|
X
| |||
Nuts
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
| |
Meats (fatty)
|
X
|
X
| ||||
Meats (lean)
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
| ||
Dairy
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
| ||
Sugars
|
X
|
X
|
X
| |||
Artificial Sweeteners
|
X
|
X
|
(I included sugars v. artificial sweeteners because some of these groups are adamantly opposed to artificial sweeteners. I’m not personally bothered by them, but their opponents do have some good points.)
Do you see what I mean? The greatest consensus exists for vegetables. Everything else is debatable to one degree or another. And even within the vegetable group, there is dissent. Many people would lump legumes into the vegetable category (green beans, anyone), but the Paleo and Primal crowd abstain from them (and not because of their musical qualities either.) See the conundrum? It is so easy to question everything you eat! Who do you believe? How do you decide?
What is a fat girl supposed to do?
My purpose for this blog is to explore the many different ideas out there, to take the parts that work and incorporate them into my life and leave the marketing hype, the weird chemicals and junk science on the blog-room floor. Please join me as I do.
Hi Meredith!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you are making this change for yourself!
I follow a Paleo/Primal template. I have never been overweight, but have had some serious insulin regulation issues that were first diagnosed when I was a teen. I was ultimately diagnosed with ideopathic pancreatitis and reactive hypoglycemia. During that time frame, my mother and I theorized with the specialist that diet may be a cause of the pancreatitis - he agreed and made some recommendations (some on the right path and some on the wrong path in my current opinion). I spent years following a low fat diet of mostly whole grains, poultry, dairy and egg white protein and very little fat. It did not work for me. A few years ago my gall bladder failed, during which time a bowl of Kashi low-fat whole grain cereal or a veggie burger would send me into a painful attack. Eventually, my gall bladder was removed and I am fortunate not to experience some of the bad side effects of that removal.
Changes started for me when I started adding some fat back into my diet. Then I stumbled upon Paleo/Primal, which has drastically changed how I feel. I've experienced body fat loss, but that's the tip of the iceberg - the insulin/hypoglycemia problems are now managed, in addition to some other digestive issues I struggled with that ultimately tied back to the insulin issues. I didn't jump in with 2 feet to this diet. It was hard to give up my morning muesli (rolled oats, milk, protein powder and fruit), but now I can't imagine choosing oats over a sweet potato at breakfast. I want to add, I'm very athletic, so I do need a good amount of carbs to keep me fueled. I do know that I still eat a lower carb diet than I used to and am more active now (I do triathlons and Crossfit). Someone not as active will have different needs. You have to play with it a little to find what works for you.
No matter what you decide to do with your diet, getting the artificial junk out of the diet is a big positive step!
Regarding fitness - you are spot on with resistance training. The big key is to go pretty heavy on the weight you are lifting/pulling/pushing/etc. If you can super-set your weight training, that will give you a cardio bonus. High rep/light weight doesn't do much for you. I personally think that Swimming is the best endurance training exercise out there and is an excellent supplement to days off from resistance training.
Good luck to you!