Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones!
I moved the sticky foot on my scale yesterday that had slid out of alignment and my weight went down almost 3 pounds! Amazing how that happens. I have no idea which weight was correct, today's or yesterdays - but I'm claiming it, and will continue to track, at least to make sure it's going in the right direction. Today's weight 219.6 vs yesterday 222.2. I know it's not real but I feel good anyway. (Until it jumps back up, that is.)
I was avoiding work I don't want to do yesterday by reading blogs and caught up on Matt Stone's blog, 180 Degree Health. His current post is on stool volume, ie, how big your poop is. He says that when you're not eating enough, your body will wring every last bit of nutrition out of your food, and your poop is smaller and more dense. When your body doesn't utilize everything you eat, more of it comes out, ie, bigger, looser stool. It's more than just how many calories you eat, he says. It's also about how efficiently your body uses those calories.
I'm not an expert on poop, but that got me thinking. It seems like when I eat the same things day after day, my body gets better at digesting it. I can go almost on autopilot with my breakfasts and lunches since they're so similar - but maybe I'm not helping myself as much as I could. My gut flora are totally acclimated to what I eat, so I'll bet my system is very efficient these days.
If I make some changes to my daily menus, I'll force my gut flora to adapt. My digestion will be less efficient for a while, which I think is a good thing. I'm going to add some juicing and change some other things - I'm still thinking about what exactly. I think I'll change the timing too - like skip breakfast occasionally and have a big lunch in place of breakfast and lunch now. Sortof an Intermittent Fasting thing. Two meals or one big meal instead of three.
The changes won't be permanent. I'm beginning to think that I want to keep my body on it's toes by changing my routines regularly. Or maybe ir-regularly!
Good luck with your experiment. I like to do that from time to time myself, as in change plans or calorie goals or nutrient composition. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteWhen I ate a lot, I had 4 to 5 big poops a day. I kid you not.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went lower carb and low calorie (980 to 1200), I had puny poops.
When I added in more calories in the last few months experimenting with higher protein and added more pears and higher fiber fruit and new veggies, big poops again (not 5x a day like when I ate huge amounts of food). I like having big poops. I feel...like things are moving well and staying "cleanish" inside. :D
I know Matt is a proponent of NOT dieting, but healing the metabolism and eating sufficiently and stuff. I will support folks doing what they feel they need to do, but I've become an anti-VLC diet person. I really have read too many studies on its deleterious effects on the body....and psyche (some folks go plain old nuts on them about food, and can develop eating disorders). BUT that's not everyone. Some work around VLC dieting and deal with the consequences with grace. Amazng.
I switch things up from time to time--types of meals, macronutrients, calories. I do think that self-experimentation is a good thing.Learn what works for you. Scientists haven't figured out all the complexities of obesity and the human body. Self-experimentation can tell us a lot that we don't know. But I like to stay on the science, too. It's evolving and fascinating..obesity research. :D And often very, very GRIM.
Well...on we go. Learning and loving and glad when the scale is friendly to us.
later..
Making your body guess is suppose to be good for it. With food and exercise. When I wasn't doing what is good I use to poop lots, now a couple times a day is excellent and I feel so much better.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your choices. Take care and God Bless!!