On nutrition

Or: Holy crap, junk food doesn't taste good anymore!

Okay, so I wrote something similar a while back. The thing is, the feeling is entirely different this time around. Last time I experienced the whole not-liking-junk-food deal, it was physical, as it just made me feel sick. This time around, I feel fine (although a little sluggish) if I take in a lot of sugar/carbs at once, but not sick. I just don't enjoy it. At all. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd rather have water than pop, but I'd definitely go for plain milk (I prefer 3.25%, but here they only have 2% and skim...) or some Crystal Light™. Speaking of water, though, I sometimes find myself craving it--and I don't mean being parched. I just randomly feel like drinking water. Sick, I know.

My nutrition has been a bit odd lately; I try to take in mostly good foods, but I tend to let myself go post-workout, and take in some Sprite™ (I crave the bubbles...) or, better, chocolate milk, and even dessert sometimes. What's funny, though, is that even when I go for pizza and fries with a side of Sprite™, I tend to skip dessert.

The thing that's surprising me is that it's not a conscious decision, really. I don't think "oh, this is healthier, I'll eat it," I just don't feel like eating crap, most of the time. Even when I do buy junk food--out of habit, really--I eat it but it just doesn't feel as good as it used to. Heck, I bought some fudge and, although it was very good fudge (at least for the store-bought kind) I only barely finished it. Same with drinking pop; I get a glass or two from the machine in the mess, but I end up taking a sip and leaving the rest.

I'm hoping I won't be jinxing myself with this, and I definitely don't expect to eat perfect all the time. Or even the 90% "my" nutritionist (or, rather, "my" team of nutritionists) recommends. I just want to "eat healthier," even if it means hitting the "perfect" mark only 70% of the time. Besides, I'm still at the point where slight adjustments still end up paying back major dividends. When I get lean enough to see my abs, or my veins (they're popping up on my forearms again) then maybe I'll focus in on chiseling the last of the "bad stuff," but until then, I'll just grab the pickaxe and hammer away.

I would have liked to go for something extreme like the Velocity Diet, but between having to pay for the mess anyway (something like $400 a month) and having to buy supplements (about $500 for a month), and the simple fact I couldn't keep doing everything I'm doing while on that diet, it'll have to wait, if I ever end up doing it at all.

I lost a ton of weight already (an insane amount, that most people would qualify as "unsafe") and I've only been back for a few weeks--and the "success" on the last PPT has only heightened my motivation to keep training hard and eating right. There's nothing quite like getting results to get you to go at it harder.

Also, for the psych majors out there, here's a "little" tidbit you might find interesting. Like a lot of "big" guys (I was up to 245lbs at least, at one point, and thought I was "HYOOOOOOGE") I've always had the problem of being somewhat scared of losing "that"--even though it was misguided and "that" was, instead of the mountain of muscle I envisionned, a mound of blubber with a few muscles hidden underneath. Still, most "big" guys start losing weight and get scared. After all, we've worked so hard to get HYOOOGE, what are we going to do if we end up small?

As was explained by someone (I don't remember who, or in exactly which article, but it was on t-nation), when you start losing weight, you generally get smaller (duh) but you don't really look any better. For big guys, used to being big and strong-looking, looking smaller but still not looking better nekkid is scary. After all, we go from having at least one part of the puzzle, to having the worst of both worlds: we're both weak-looking AND fat!

Eventually, you start seeing results, but it can take a long time. Even when you realize your pants fit better, or that the shirt you wore five years ago and kept around "for when I get lean" actually fits properly again, or whatever, you still think, "yeah, but I still don't look that great nekkid." (Let's face it, most people who train do it to look good nekkid.)

Anyway, the whole point is that somehow I got over that, and although I still get a little scared when I look in the mirror and realize my arms have "shrunk" while my belly still looks more like Buddha's than Brad Pitt's, I know that it's all coming along.

Well, I think that's enough of an update on my mental state and the state of my nutrition. Now, if only the mess offered GOOD, HEALTHY food!

TDV!