Series: Law School and Weight Gain, Part 2

Since the last time I wrote about this topic, I've lost 3 pounds, so I'm down to 105.

I know it doesn't sound like much but for someone my size, it makes a big difference to me. I want to lose about 5 more pounds.

As for actually losing weight, here's what's worked for me so far (and when I lost my weight initially between 2007-2010):

• Sitting down at table and eating a legit dinner (i.e. a drink, all the proper utensils, place-mats, etc.). Crazy, right? But when we sit at a table, I see exactly how much I'm eating, which means I eat less and more gracefully and intentionally. When we eat out of bowls on the sofa, I lose track of what I'm eating and I eat faster, which makes it harder to tell whether or not I really want seconds. 
• Not eating slices of bread as a snack! Duhhh! 
• Having fresh fruit on hand, especially my fave summer fruits, like peaches, green grapes, and nectarines. 
• Going to bed a little hungry. Unless I've really gone crazy with food during the day, I won't gain weight if I'm just a little hungry when I go to bed. 
• Lifting weights regularly 
• Knowing that it's OK to be hungry sometimes, i.e. not snacking right before dinner. It really helps to have super quick meals on hand, like this chili,- takes even less time to make than brown basmati rice and beans! If I know it will it take me a while to make dinner, I'm way more inclined to snack. 

I want to use the rest of the summer to get comfortable with the bullet points above, since I haven't really practiced these habits much since Todd and I have been married/since I've been in law school.


I'm also going to experiment with avoiding bread, chips, and white floury things and see if that does anything...

Series: Law School and Weight Gain, Part 1

I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way professionally qualified to give advice about nutrition.  I created this space in an effort maintain a weight that is healthy and makes me feel great.

Height - 5'1"
Current Weight - 108 lbs
Goal Weight - 104 lbs

I used to be about 15 lbs overweight.  I attribute this to the fact that I have a tendency to overeat.  If there is anything, I wish that when I was growing up, I was told when was enough food.  It seems simple, but I really needed that and never learned the skill until I wanted to lose weight.  I started to lose weight when I transferred colleges and was no longer living in a dorm, giving me more control with respect to my food choices.  

Over the course of about two years, I went from 120 to 105/104 (on the day of my wedding I was 100lbs, and obviously felt amazing!).  Unfortunately,  since starting law school, I gained about 4 pounds.  On a little person like me, that really makes a difference.  Not only do I notice a change in my appearance, but it feels rotten.  

This is a huge distraction because instead of thinking about criminal procedure, for example, I think about how I need to get rid of those 4lbs.  My time is limited while in law school, but I keep active by swing dancing, weight lifting, and cardio (admittedly, these activities vary in frequency, depending on the time of the semester).  At any rate, I know it possible for me to achieve this goal by being more mindful of my food intake because I gained the weight by stress eating, anyway.  There is unquestionably a certain amount of stress in law school.

So, this is all to say that I am trying to get a handle on stress eating/snacking and overeating so that I can feel better about myself and divert my negative thoughts about weight to working on law school.  This is not about going on some radical diet.  Rather, I want to figure how I can maintain a weight that I like, and having been on the weight loss track for so long, this is not territory with which I am familiar.  If anyone out there has any tips on losing or maintaining their goal weight, I would be very interested to hear them!