Storm Eating and Color Coding

Starting weight: 262.5
Current weight: 259.5
Pounds lost: 3.0
Next weight goal: 255.0

Starting BMI: 45.1 
Current BMI: 44.5
Starting BMI designation: Morbidly obese
Current BMI designation: Morbidly obese
Next BMI goal: 43.8

Water intake: 40 oz ~ ish
Weekly Step Goal: 1,100-3,200
Steps Today: Unknown

So I forgot to put on my fitness tracker today.  I’m positive I hit over 1,100 steps for the day, but it frustrates me that I don’t know the exact number.

Then, on top of that, my new iPhone won’t sync all my fitness apps together like my old iPhone did.  Previously, Noom was synched with Apple Health which was synched with VeryFitPro so my steps transferred rather seamlessly from VFP to Noom.  New phone, not so much.  Nothing is reading anything else.  I’ve checked all the settings.  I’ve checked all the privacy buttons and all the Data Source buttons and I just can’t get any of it to register with each other. 

On a plus side, I am only 11 days behind on my Noom app.  With that knowledge, I have decided NOT to rewind my curriculum, but to double my efforts until I’m caught up.  Step tracking aside, I’m counting this a win.

Changing the subject entirely, I want to talk about the concept of Storm Eating.  It’s a Noom term, and even my nutritionist hadn’t heard of it before.  Storm eating is when you “eat even if you’re not hungry, but you feel like you can’t stop” (Noom article, “What type of eater is Abby, anyway?”).  This is my biggest hurdle to overcome, and according to Noom, it is the hardest eating pattern to overcome for everyone who struggles with it.  (Lucky me.) 

According to Noom, the best ways to combat Storm Eating are to make sure to combine Fuel Foods (lean meats, leafy greens, etc.) and Fun Foods (cheese, ice cream, chips, etc.) and to avoid labeling any of these foods as “good” or “bad.”  Some practical ways to do this are with healthy food swaps and the Noom food tracker.

Some examples of food swaps (I think I’ve talked about before) are switching out sour cream with plain Greek yogurt, mayonnaise with avocado or guacamole, honey wheat bread with whole wheat sandwich thins, etc.  I feel like I’ve already made some progress in this area, but definitely still have a long way to go.  There are so many more swaps I could make.

Not labeling foods as “good” or “bad” is a little harder for me to (not) do.  The app helps.  Noom sorts out all your food into Green, Yellow, and Red foods.  Red is not bad and Green is not good – it does give you a labeling system, just a different one.  Green means, “eat as much of this as you want as long as you’re within your calorie count”; yellow means, “eat a little of this, maybe 400-600 calories of this per day”; and red means, “Have some, but just a little, maybe 200-300 calories of this per day.”  It’s been helpful to have a visual for breaking down what I’m eating, but logging is tiresome. 

To help you see where you’re tripping up, Noom recommends breaking down your food log into individual ingredients, like making 6 separate entries for that ham sandwich you just ate.

For example:
Instead of marking down “1 Ham Sandwich,” you’re going to log your food like this:

1 Whole Wheat Sandwich thin roll
2 Tbls Duke’s Lite Mayo
4 slices Land-o-Frost honey smoked ham
1 slice American cheese
4 romaine lettuce leaves
2 tsp spicy brown mustard

As you can see, this can get tiresome after a while.  BUT, my goodness is it helpful!  That Lite Mayo you thought was a better choice than regular mayo?  Still a red food.  That whole wheat sandwich thin you feel like is still too much bread?  That’s actually a green food.  Eat that stuff up.  That slice of American cheese (red food)?  You could have had two if it had been mozzarella made with skim milk (yellow food).  Those almonds you’re noshing on for a snack?  Watch out, you can only have 8 to fit them into your red food calorie budget (that is, if you want to keep that slice of American cheese on your sandwich).  But that fruit you thought had too much sugar in it?  You can eat two whole cups of that!

The color system isn’t just based on calorie count, though it’s part of the process; it’s also based on nutrients, caloric densities, health benefits, good fats vs bad fats, etc.  While calorie count is helpful to know, it’s important to remember that almonds and American cheese aren’t bad for you.  Quite the opposite, almonds are very healthy!  Packed with protein and other nutrients, they are a great go-to snack.  And while American cheese may not be the best cheese choice, it’s super-duper yummy and can help you curb your storm eating by giving you a fun food that tastes good.  Then why are they red foods?  Because red doesn’t mean “bad.”  Red means “eat a little bit every day.”

But, while knowing all this is great, at the end of the day, what it’s going to take to jump over this hurdle is hard work and motivation, which are two things I don’t seem to have when it comes to losing weight and getting healthy. 

This long explanation of food logging is brought to you by the letter Z and that bag of Ritz Crisps I ate last night.  Because the storm eating struggle is real.  Here’s to the next week of logging and blogging.