“What to eat? When to eat?” These are the all too familiar words that I often find myself muttering now-a-days when planning meals. Prior to my participation on “The Biggest Loser” I never planned meals, I ate whenever and whatever. I was baffled by my weight; “It wasn’t like I was spending all my time eating. Why was I overweight?”
When with my “skinny” friends most of our conversations revolved around food; “When are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? Where are we going to eat? Who is going to make it? How are they going to prepare it? What ingredients will it contain?” the questions were never ending. It was frustrating; my friends were the ones talking about food, practically obsessing, and I was the one gaining weight, almost as if I was paying the price for each of their food-filled conversations.
What I realize now is, that what I thought to be a strange food obsession was actually their way of planning out their meals, only they were doing it subconsciously. I, however, am not that fortunate. I have to make the very conscious decision of planning each of my meals and snacks. Initially this was hard and extremely time consuming, but in the end it has been well worth the effort. I have not only been able to maintain my weight, but more surprisingly find that I am looking forward to the meals I have planned. I have been able to remove the guilt I previously associated with the food I ate, because I now know that the meals I am eating not only taste good, but also are good for me.
Now when I get together with friends I am able to contribute to the food discussion and actually offer suggestions instead of sitting back and waiting for a decision to be made, so that we could go eat. “What to eat? When to eat?” are important questions to ask not just to lose weight and maintain weight loss, but most importantly to provide you piece of mind come mealtime.