Food as Fuel, redux

amy19355

The WOE that best suits my lifestyle defines the role of food as a fuel, where I view my body as an engine that requires the right blend of nutrients to run well for maximum life span. That’s my mantra, if you will, first and foremost, the thought that keeps me acting true to my plans. MFP brings in the calorie counting and the CICO law that works alongside macro distribution (like the octane + additives in the fuel)

Previous posts I’ve made on this point have triggered a range of valid observations about the other ways food has a role in the life of a human on this planet. The social and cultural interactions made possible with food are many and varied. That Anthony guy who traveled around the world sampling food showed us a lot of that. Food, like music, is able to cross the lines in the sand and bring us together for good.

In the MyFitness Pal world, and the in the context of my weight goals, like the gas I put into my turbo-charged compact sport car, I want to get the most mileage from the foods that nourish this bone-chassis with natural-skin-body that I only get one of in my lifetime.

I think I remember someone like Jack LaLane on the TV, me as a youngster on the couch reading while my mom jumped jacks and ran in place, hearing him exhort his audience on their responsibility to their physical selves. She battled weight issues her entire life and i went into adulthood believeing it was my destiny no matter that i didn’t want it to be so. (Believe and it will be so, especially if nothing is done to prevent it!).

I turned 62 in 2018, hit my highest weight ever (199lbs on a 5’4” frame) and that was my wake up call to get on the life-fitness train once and for all or prepare for an unpleasant aging experience.

MyFitnessPal logging tools, and the community forums have been a great resource to me, and the proof through experience that calories are king, and it is all about CICO, allows my Food is Fuel mantra to govern my choices without sacrificing flavor and fat, or by requiring faux sweeteners. I can eat all my calories in baklava, or green peas. Or some of each. Maybe put some meat on the plate, or not. I’m a meal prep gal, and eat like I dress, pretty much the same things over and over. Leave my mind free to think about more interesting things, like creating artful pretties, or , tackling a work project, or , whatever.

I weigh and log my self and my food every day (most every day), No sustained extreme loss patterns going on. Special occasion meals in restaurants are pretty easy with the mindset of doggie bagging most of the meal. Dinner parties and other social events with alcohol and calorie dense foods are always going to be risky events, but, forewarned is forearmed. I Mostly quit drinking because it is so hard for me to stop the hand grabbing food that the eyes saw, the nose smelled and both told the mouth to water up for. LOL

I don’t really have a good car/fuel analogy to follow that , but, in any case, I remember when this idea of Food as Fuel first entered my conciousness, probably 30years ago. Too bad I didn’t have the awareness of CICO logic; I might have had a different 62nd birthday awakening!

Now I”m going to go set a calendar appointment for this time next year, for a followup report on my success with this mantra as a long term guiding light for my weight goals.

Beyond calorie counting and accurate food logging, motivationally speaking there’s just no one answer fits all of us, but, I’m happy to share if any of my ways sound useful.

Good luck to us all!