It Was Inevitable

I got busy and stopped counting calories. I feel like I put on a bit of weight. I don't think I look fatter, but sometimes I feel like my knees are mad at me when I jog after having gained even 2 or 3 lbs!

The trouble is, I don't think it is healthy or wise to simply cut back drastically again. I think I should ease my way back into CR as though it's my first time: track my calories to get a sense of how much I like to eat on an average day, normalize my gym-going schedule, then gradually cut back my energy intake, 50 calories at a time, over a very, very long period of time. I noticed that I honestly feel better in some ways when I'm eating more, because I eat a carb-laden plant-based diet that would make lots of extra serotonin along with those extra carbs. But CR makes you feel better in other ways, offering enhanced energy and mental clarity, and fasting is its own euphoric high.

We'll see....

My, How Time Goes By

I see why so many CRONies stop blogging. Time, you ephemeral thing, swiftly tumbling sands through a sieve, how I could but catch you and slow the tide!

Ha! Isn't that why we are CRONies, though?

School is occupying my time, and, just as I feared, I am getting to the gym less and eating more. I stopped writing down what I eat, which is such a problem for me. I eat too much fat when I don't keep track, too. Even now, I am procrastinating. I want to drop one of my classes but I don't know if I can at this point.

Time will tell....

I've been eating this big vat of stew my mom made me, which has squash, chickpeas, sweet potato, some greens, onions, and tomato. It's delicious, healthy and improvised, as all my mom's best dishes are. Unfortunately, I don't know how many calories it is, which is always such the problem when I'm eating home-cooked (but blessedly healthy) meals. I do my best with it. The problem is that once I mentally label it as "healthy," it's easy to overindulge, as studies have borne out.

My mealtimes are irregular from day to day because my schedule is, which I hate. How do we juggle all this? I just want to go back to how people lived a nanosecond ago--family farms were how everyone lived. Low stress, high satisfaction, good health, simple schedules with big blocks of time carved into it for each lone activity. And then everyone dies of the flu. I guess not everything was grand.

I need to hit the lotto.

CR's Lingering Effects

Maybe she was just being nice, but I was sitting next to someone I didn't know on my first day of classes, and she marveled at my age when it came up in conversation. She swore that she thought I was 18, straight out of high school! Haha. I had been off CR for awhile though the past year, which I thought made me look older and canceled out what I had gained before, so it's nice that it had lasting effects (if she indeed was being sincere rather than polite). I'm going to be 27 soon, so it bolstered my self-esteem for the day. Not because a youthful appearance should be where we derive our self-esteem, contrary to American corporate marketing's legacy in our culture, but because it validated that the practice worked on some level. I hope it will help my health! While I have such high hopes for my well-being, it is only with self-efficacy that I may realize them.

Changing Schedule

I'm getting nervous about my schedule changing as school begins. It's been the same for-freaking-ever before this, and I hope my food intake won't get all messed up from being busy. I guess I'll have to keep jotting stuff down on a piece of scrap paper throughout the day. But packing a healthy lunch can be a doozy of suck for me, as I would never voluntarily consume any of the garbage that passes for saleable foodstuffs in today's marketplace, calorie restriction or no.

The other concern I have is timing. Keeping basically the same schedule every day for the same types of activities is one of the most under-recognized factors in general health, and will likely become more appreciated in the future as a basic component of well-being (maybe as the "next big thing" in mainstream health buzz for the undereducated, underexercised, chip-eating populace to latch onto and quickly discard as a feasible lifestyle choice). Keeping the circadian rhythm steady by waking and sleeping at the same times every day (and preferably dictated by the natural waxing and waning of sunlight), being physically active at the same times every day, being spiritual at the same times, socializing at the same times, relaxing at the same times, ruminating over how likely it is you'll make it to the anti-aging escape velocity and hit the ground running (that is, be able to afford the damn procedures--better plan for that before you celebrate simply making it to that point alive!) at the same times, and eating at the same times every day, are something that is written right into your body function for it to function optimally.

I recall seeing on an Imminst thread about fasting that one guy would automatically start sweating with heat and a severely runny nose at the usual time he'd indulge in his post-fast binges. The body turns on the thermogenesis when it thinks calories are coming to wreak havoc on your body, and makes you cold when you won't be replenished any time soon. Keeping a schedule allows for optimum use of your calories and even promotes insulin sensitivity! I recall another study that showed people who didn't eat at their meals at the same times every day were a whopping 60% more likely to be diabetic! If your body has to have an insulin party every time you surprise it with calories, it will negatively affect your health and insulin sensitivity. On the other hand, if food is expected, thermogenesis is at the ready, and so is the insulin, and you can handle your calories properly.

I intended to get on a halfway-manageable schedule before school started, but lookey here! Almost 2 A.M. and here I am. I had better get to sleep and get my schedule regulated starting now! Eek!