Wednesday, October 17, 2012

It all comes down to portion control…….


While eating healthier and more organic foods is a wonderful thing, you might need to remind yourself how much of it to eat.   Just because the pork is more flavorful and raised “better” than store bought, doesn’t mean you should eat twice as much!!    Oh, and by the way – when I say you I mean me!!  I am writing this blog during another one of my self-imposed Facebook boycotts and this also happens to coincide with my new diet plan.  I use diet loosely as there is no real diet foods included this time, however there IS a plan.  I have started increasing the amount of exercise I’m getting as well as exercising significant portion control.  I have to face the fact that I’ve always been a big eater.  I love 2nd’s (and 3rd’s are great too if we are having spaghetti or homemade wet burritos).  Until I quit smoking (and somewhere along the lines started getting OLD) this really wasn’t a problem.  My weight had remained quite constant at just about 10 - 15# over my high school weight.   I enjoyed implementing part of  my plan for the first time yesterday, beginning with a brisk two mile walk/jog with Reign (the Pyrenees) and ending with another brisk two mile walk/ride with Monte (the pony formally known as Monkey).   I did not however enjoy the implementation of the other half of my plan – the portion control!!  It did work out okay though, I just need some low calorie/high fill snacks to add in to alleviate the in between meal munchies.  I will be off to the store today to pick up baby carrots and some celery (next year’s garden MUST include more carrots and perhaps some celery).  I have at least 30# to loose, but 50# would be my ideal.   (But 50# is more of a pipedream as that would put me back at my high school weight.)  We have all the workout equipment (Total Gym, Bike, Treadmill, weights, Wii)  in our spacious basement, so although winter is approaching there will be NO EXCUSES.  Besides if my 80 year old neighbor can ride his bike daily all winter long (and rollerblade until the snow begins to fly), I certainly should be able to get my 40ish butt out to walk daily.   You may ask yourselves why I am airing this fairly private bit of information, after all women don’t generally say much about their weight or diet plans in public.  I’ll admit, I hesitated a bit but then thought it might be a bit like quitting smoking.  The more people you tell, the more embarrassing it will be if you give up!!  If people ask how is the quitting (smoking or eating LOL) is going it’s a much better feeling to say “It’s going good” than to have to say “I gave up”.  So to any of you actually reading this…..feel free to ask me how it’s going from time to time, just to keep me on my toes.

Portion control isn’t just for diets either.  If you ask my husband he’ll tell you, I need to learn better portion control when it comes to owning animals.  Our totals are currently at the following:  3 horses, 1 pony, 13 doe goats, 3 buck goats, 1 wether goat, 2 Pyrenees guard dogs, 2 breeding pigs, 2 freezer pigs, 2 guinea fowl, 2 bantam roosters, 1 bantam hen, 1 New Hampshire Red rooster, 8 assorted laying hens,  22 eggs incubating, 2 rabbits, 2 barn cats, 3 house cats and 2 house dogs!!   I think my plate is quite full, however I have allotted space to add 3 more goats, a honey bee hive, a litter of rabbits destined for the freezer/canner, a box of baby chickens to eventually be stew meat or flock replacements and I’d like our actual laying flock to stay around 15-20 birds.   However keep in mind my original goat limit I had set was 7 and rabbits were never even on the original list!  Exercising control is so HARD.  I still would like a cow someday (maybe) and a smaller pony and a llama or alpaca just for kicks…….

Another area of my life lacking in portion control?  Facebook.  Geez is that stuff addicting.  It is so easy to join more groups, add more “friends” and play more games.  I could literally spend a day just catching up on the games, reading new posts on my home page and reading posts in all the groups I belong to.  Here is what I have decided:  NO MORE shall I be part of these mindless masses.  I may need to pare down my friends list and most certainly will remove many game apps.  I will continue to use FB in the future, but if I’m not looking for horses, tack, livestock, pets, etc.  I will STAY OFF those groups, just because somebody posts something doesn’t mean I have to read it….why bother -  I’m NOT going to purchase anything!!  So basically don’t peruse the for sale groups unless there is something I need. This my friends, is my Final Answer…..

Here’s an area where I have reverse portion control issues - housework.  My barns might be organized and (sometimes) spotless – but my house usually has dishes to be done, laundry to be put away and more hay on the floor than my barn has!!  With all the time I cut out of FB I should have plenty of time to increase the housework portions of my day.  Or not…..I’d hate to be biting off more than I can chew.

Until next time…… 

 

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