I am not on any kind of diet. I have bad experiences with diets. Diets reduce calorie intake thus trigger your body into losing weight, that’s true. But then after I went off whatever diet, because I went right back to overeating and also because my body was in shock after getting too few calories for a while, I gained the weight right back and then some.

I also learned that on diets the weight that is lost tends to be muscle, not fat. However, when that weight is gained back, that muscle lost tends to be replaced by fat! So not only did I gain the excess weight I lost back, I also lost needed muscle and gained more fat. Eeeeeeegads.

So if I don’t diet, what do I do now that helps my body resolve to it’s optimal weight? I eat lots and lots of healthy, low-salt, naturally low-fat food. A typical example of my daily food:

Breakfast:
mint, blueberry, or other herbal tea with honey
2 boiled chicken eggs
1 toasted home-made bagel
1 sliced pink grapefruit
Roasted sliced 1/2 eggplant or 1 potato
homemade fruit juice or a small glass of commercial orange juice
a big glass of water

Morning Snack:
an apple/orange/peach/other fruit
air-popped popcorn or 2 rice cakes
baggie of carrots/sliced green pepper/some other raw veggie
mint, blueberry, or other herbal tea with honey
big glass water

Lunch:
Home-made veggie wrap (white or brown rice, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, roasted tofu strips, with teaspoon sour cream and taco sauce dressing which is only 3% sodium RDA, all rolled into large tortilla yum yum yum) or some other veggie-protein-carb combo
apple/orange/peach/whatever fruit (usually apple cause it’s free; our tree is in season now)
big salad with low-salt dressing
mint, blueberry, or other herbal tea with honey
big glass water

Afternoon Snack:
baggie of homemade trail mix (nuts, raisins, dates, etc)
air-popped popcorn or 2 rice cakes
baggie of carrots or some other raw fruit
mint, blueberry, or other herbal tea with honey
big glass water

Dinner:
big salad
baked potato
bean dish like black beans & rice, chili, etc
dessert raw fruit, usually cantaloupe, grapes, or some kind of berry like strawberries
3-4 times a week also 1 glass of wine or beer
big glass of water
big glass of juice

Late Night Snack:
I try not to eat after dinner but if I’m in the grip of it, a baggie of emergency carrots ™ or some other raw vegetable. and a glass of water.

Early Morning Snack:
see late night snack

In the Car Snack:
see late night snack

I don’t count calories (because for me, that way leads to madness ha ha) but I tend to stick to portion sizes. I have an extreme salt sensitivity (it makes me puff up like a blow fish & feel terrible) so I don’t eat anything that is over 5% sodium RDA per portion. I love to eat (who doesn’t love food??) and I eat until I get full. Then I stop and go do something else. Especially after dinner, dinner is my trigger-to-overeat meal. I generally get up and go for a walk right after eating dinner; that helps.

On building muscle: Because of my very curvy body shape (round behind, thick thighs) I always assumed I was muscular so didn’t pay attention to building/maintaining my muscle mass. But I always wondered why, if I’m so muscular, I’m so physically weak. It’s because I have less actual muscle than I thought. I’ve been meaning to get back into the gym regularly to do some strength-training, it’s something I really need. It will increase my strength, boost my metabolism, and help my bones also. No more excuses!

How about you, what’s your daily food like? What do you do to maintain/build muscle?

This post written by Trula Breckenridge. Thank you for visiting Supple Mama!

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