Foodage

Foodage. Fuel. Eating. Nomnoms. Chow.

However I call it, it still means stuffing my face with food. That is my biggest struggle with my weight issues.

(A little background on me: I've always been on the chubby side. I weighed a humiliating 150 lbs in third grade. Other kids weighed like, 90. I've always been able to move, run, do my work. But then I joined the Marines, and they had a whole different idea for what my body should be. Ever since MCT, I've struggled with maintaining weight standards. Now, I'm looking at me in the mirror, and I have three days a week available to go to the beach a week. And I want to look like my former sergeant, who is actually pretty hot. So, aside from boot camp, where all I did was run to death and back, I struggle with what I eat to maintain a good weight.)

I've done a little research into diet and nutrition, and basically, no one agrees on anything. I tried the Atkins/low-carb direction, and it proved to be almost impossible to work with in my present situation. I'm a chow hall Marine, which means that three of the four large-pan options on the main line are nothing but refined carbs. Usually, the vegetables are peas, carrots, and corn. The first two are okay by me, but corn is a grain and a starch. I love me some good sweet corn, too!

So I went back to "normal" eating, which is for me a lot of sugar, chow hall food, pizza, eating out. I gained fifteen pounds, and I almost put myself in the hospital to pass the last weigh-in. That drew a line for me. I've decided that I don't want to have to cut weight again to pass the scale.

My friend Erica introduced me to the Paleo diet, which I was hesitant to try. I don't know yet how well it will work if I'm bound by the chow hall. In theory, those on shift work get comrats, which is Marine-speak for food money. Welcome to bureaucracy- they haven't come through yet. But I'm going to give it a shot. I've heard excellent reviews from people I know that eat Paleo, or mostly Paleo. I really like beans. Lima beans. We love each other. Beans are not good according to Paleo. So I'm going to shift into Paleo gear. It may take some time, and I'm sensing that the chocolate mousse cake will call to me.

First gear is some more research. I'm going to get a copy of the Paleo book that's floating around. Somehow, anyway. I'm going to go with what I do know: the best food is what you make yourself, from the ground. If it's in a box, it's probably not good.
Second gear is applying a few new changes in a reasonable amount of time. I'm going to worry about the rest of the speeds when I get to them.

Here's to eating, and trying to eat right!