I have been feeling a little disappointed in myself lately with regards to my eating habits. Devloping positive habits and kicking bad ones is normally not the easiest thing in the world to do. I have never had an issue with a sweet tooth, but man oh man carbs are my weak spot! You can keep all the sweets in the world, but don’t take away my carbs!

Well, age and a slowing metabolism eventually forced me to take them away from myself lol as I have always been naturally very slim and I was carrying an amount of weight that was starting to make me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. Initially attempted full on banting, but after three months of doing that, I was actually beginning to feel ill at the thought of food and the limits in terms of what I could eat. It did however, teach me an enormous amount about the levels of sugars in everything we consume so I am particularly conscious about that now.

After some time, I adapted my own sort of eating lifestyle which was not carb free, but very low carb. As an example, I would eat very little during the day – and completely carb free, such as two boiled eggs, some cheese and perhaps a tomato or two. (Tomatoes are miracle fruit I tell you… they do AMAZING things for your body!) Then in the evenings I would eat whatever I want (within reason) – but when I say that, what I select to eat for dinners is relatively healthy most of the time. There is generally a meat on the plate, at least one veg, a carb and small salad. I continued to eat like this for 3 years… but I completely cut out traditional potato and replaced it with sweet potato and I ate absolutely no pasta or bread at all.

I lost all the weight that was making me feel uncomfortable and the eating habits became a natural lifestyle for me.

When my lifestyle in terms of work changed at the beginning of this year, and I returned to working from home – I completely fell off the wagon. Being at home and being able to walk to the fridge at any point during the day has not done me any favours… and also the fact that there are almost always leftovers in the fridge – so it became like eating dinner twice a day. I know we all make excuses for ourselves in as much as “oh its just one slice of bread” etc. but eventually all of that begins to add up and then you sit where I sit now… back at the beginning! Eeeeek!

I think the major shock came for me when I was up at my dads place recently and I weighed myself for the first time since I was last there in Dec. In Dec, I was at 60kg and now, I am 67kg! I nearly died when I saw that… however it did not deter me from my slippery slope of consuming bread, pasta, rice and potatoes every day.

But when I tried to wear a top which I bought less than a month ago, and it didn’t fit… that was the last straw! Hehehe! I do realise that I am not as young as I used to be, and in many respects I have learnt to embrace my curves… but I have now reached the point where if I carry on this way, I won’t be curvy… I will be completely overweight – and that, I do not want!

I have always been an advocate for this meme, but there is still a relative degree of balance required. I no longer want to look like a little girl or some kind of anorexic model, but I do want to be happy with myself.

Image Credit

I have heard that Sofia Loren did not actually "say that" but was rather quoted saying this...

Image Credit

But it is irrelevant really lol as the message is ultimately the same.

So this morning, I decided to start making an effort to get back to my previous eating habits so that I can actually fit into my clothes… hehehe! So, I started the day with a boiled egg and a large glass of water... not quite as appealing as a fried egg on toast, but when I peeled the egg I was presented with a little visual message about making the decision to show myself a little more love...

Even my boiled eggs are trying to motivate me with messages of love and both my chins agree! hehehe :) So, I am going to do my best to get back on track because I remember how good it felt to be comfortable in my own skin. I know many people look at me and say "you are far from fat" but the fact remains, that it is all relative and is very much an individual thing...

I may never get back to precisely where I was, and as I say - I have become comfortable carrying a little more weight than I did previously which was also a challenging process of acceptance, but it is all about balance and that is what I need to find again :)

Besides - I would far rather cut down on the carbs than sacrifice my wine! hehehe!!!

I will however be making a risotto for dinner tonight hehe...
which I will share with all you lovelies a little later!

So cheers to that!

……

Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx

FOUNDER OF THE @STEEMITBLOGGERS

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Oh, and if you wanna meet the
wannabe photographer in me...