Rubriik: LCHF

How I Found Happiness

Published on by Margit ParteiLisa kommentaar

This post was inspired by Heidi’s recent post. Reading her thoughts made all of my thought fragments, shattered all over my brain, unite into actual (somewhat) clear thoughts and statements that I’m now going to share with you.

I feel as if a part of the puzzle of life has been solved. With every day, I find out more about myself and that has brought me a totally new sense of happiness. I can honestly say that right now, at this very moment, I am happy and content. And I actually really truly mean it this time!

What do I mean? I will absolutely try my best to explain. Shall I fail, forgive me.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to belong somewhere. Fit into a group. Be someone that everyone likes. Do something (or everything…) to please others. This is typical for a teenager since we’re talking about a young person growing up, not knowing exactly who he or she is. I was insecure and not sure who I was actually supposed to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still trying to figure out career choices and my future. I’m still working on that. 🙂

But today I feel like almost a grown-up. A young and still mistakes-making and a-lot-to-learn kind of grown-up but still a grown-up. I might look like 15-year-old girl on the outside (or that’s what most people think when they see me) but I now refer to myself as young woman, not a girl. Some months ago my self-motivation would’ve sounded something like: “Margit, you’re a strong girl and you can do it!” but now it’s more like: “Margit, you’re a strong woman and you can do it!” Do you get what I mean? Hopefully…

From firstcovers.com
From firstcovers.com

I have grown on a personal level. I feel absolutely no need to fit in, please someone else other than me or do anything to be likeable in someone else’s eyes. I live only for myself. And I want to stand out and be unique and let the actual me shine. I’m no longer afraid of myself. I’ve accepted and genuinely started to love myself. I don’t need a perfect body to do that. I recently realized that I’m pretty great. 🙂

Right now, another stage of my life is almost over. Life as a Bachelor’s student. Yes, I will be continuing my studies in the autumn to get a Master’s degree but I still feel like one journey has ended and something totally new and exciting is about to start. These 3 years in Tartu in university have changed my life so much! Living a lot on my own, having time to think, studying and learning a lot, meeting a ton of really smart, intelligent and interesting people, meeting some people not that smart, intelligent or interesting, being stressed, having more work load than ever, making good choices, making poor choices, having new friends, finding sports and just in general: learning. Not only studying. Learning. University has been a learning experience. Learning about life and everything in it. 

I have learned that sometimes bad things will happen to good people. And that you sometimes can’t fix it or do anything about it. Period. I’m not almighty. I have control over a little, influence on some and most sh*t will just happen because it’s out of your “zone”. You can (and most times should!) try to change things that you don’t like but sometimes your effort is not enough. I have learned to accept stuff and be flexible.

From beadinspirations.wordpress.com
From beadinspirations.wordpress.com

But at the same time, I have further developed my most valuable virtue: being determined as hell. When personal effort isn’t enough, maybe only finding one other person willing to put some effort in will change things? Or maybe finding 10, 100, 1000 other people will help? Sometimes in teamwork, 2+2 doesn’t equal 4, it equals 5 or even a lot more. Or maybe you just need to try harder? I’ve learned that I can always try or work harder. I can do so much more than I give myself credit for! And so can you, my dear reader. I can do anything if I put my mind to it. And being determined: I consider that an important strength I have.

I’ve learned that being determined, however, shouldn’t mean being stubborn and running into walls face forward just because the wall was built after you made your plan and headed out your front door. Be determined but at the same time, be flexible. Be open to change. Sometimes not following the plan is the best thing you can do. Sometimes mistakes lead on new and even more thrilling roads. Mistakes are the opportunities to learn. Don’t waste them! Make your mistakes, learn from them, move on as a better human being. Simple as that. 

From dailyedge.ie
From dailyedge.ie

And lastly: always look at the long perspective. Don’t get stuck in the process!

Let me know bring you some examples of the stuff I talked about.

  • Sh*t will happen and you can’t fix it –> just let go and move on. I won’t bring examples here since the most obvious example that inspired me to write that paragraph is really personal. Sometimes letting go and not wasting your energy is the best thing to do. Just trust me on this one. Letting go of some stuff has helped me find my happiness.

  • Be determined & work hard. Had someone told me 2 years ago, that I’ll be a normal weight and loving sports right now, I would have laughed out loud in their face. I hated most sports. I had accepted the fat and unhealthy me. But I decided to change my life and stayed true to my decision thru all the bad and tough times. Sometimes professor Reiljan’s subjects seemed absolutely impossible to pass but I still passed them all and with fairly good grades and am graduating soon. Set goal, work for it, achieve it.

  • Teamwork! Some things you can do alone but sometimes you need support. Don’t be afraid to ask for it! I have lost connections with all the people dragging me down and being my “friends” only when they needed me and not when I needed them. I now have people who actually care about me and who I care about in my life. This is so valuable to me. I cannot express it in words. My family has never judged my big life decisions. Even if they haven’t agreed with me 100%, they have still stood by my side. Even though they didn’t think much of my LCHF lifestyle, they still supported me. Only after my low-carb lifestyle ended, my brother told me: “Oh, thank God!” 😀 All of my friends, from sports, internet, blog, school, university and everyone else, are true friends. I can feel their support all the time. Even if we don’t talk for a long time, I still now we think of each other and wish well. And when we meet again, nothing has changed. And lastly I have to especially bring out my very special kind of friends: people at TYSK, my fitness club. They are not just instructors, coaches or workout mates, they are my friends. And I appreciate them so much. They give me support, advice, inspiration and motivation.

  • Be flexible. My recent ankle injury is a perfect example of what being stubborn gets you. Bad things! Flexibility is important. Sometimes you have to alter plans if they are not working. This applies to my self-composed half-marathon training plan. On some occasions I felt like I needed more rest than was in the plan. I didn’t listen to my body, I blindly followed a plan. (Which by the way, was altered from an online plan by myself. Who am I to make training plans? I don’t have enough experience for that.) Basically, not listening to my body and giving it enough rest was followed by an injury exactly 6 weeks after the plan started. Set goal, make plan, change it if needed, work hard, achieve goals. Flexibility and an open mind are key.

  • Don’t get stuck in the process and forget to look at the bigger picture. Don’t forget to see the forest behind the trees! 🙂 I was so stuck on my goal to complete the half-marathon, that I ignored my body’s signals. An over-enthusiastic beginner’s mistake that I continue to learn from every day. I let my mood get really down because of my injury. I had complete heureka moment when my coach Maris told me: “This is not your last race of the season or of your life. You can run your whole life.” This absolutely logical and well-known truth hit my like lightning. I’m in the beginning of my fitness journey. I have 50+ years of doing sports ahead of me if that’s what I want to do. I’m 22. That’s just about 1/4 of my life! I learned to look at the long perspective and the bigger picture. Maybe I have to hold back a little now to keep going in the future? Always think about what today’s decisions will do for you tomorrow. Or next month. Or next year. Or when you’re 80 years old. 

To sum up: accepting myself, finding the right people and hobbies, learning from mistakes, being determined and growing up has made me find the road to true happiness, tranquility and peace. Time is a wonderful thing. It passes to quietly, without a lot of noise or fuss, but changes so much. Try to do the same in life! 🙂

My Experience with Low-Carb: the Good and the Bad

Published on by Margit Partei4 kommentaari

Most readers know by now that I’m officially off low-carb since it really stopped working for me. It just didn’t fit me anymore and I wasn’t happy living the way I was. So sure: low carb had it’s downsides. But not everything was bad! As everything, it had it’s pros and cons.

 

 

The GOOD:

 

  • No bloating, heartburn or gastritis.

I used to suffer from bloating and heartburn all the time. I have also had severe cases of gastritis a few times in my life. Gastritis is painful: I couldn’t eat a thing and even drinking water hurt my stomach like hell. I had no cases of gastritis and experienced heartburn only a few times when I was off low-carb. So LCHF actually did really solve my health problems. A MAJOR plus. Since going off low-carb I have had heartburn again and have taken some medication for it. I’m currently figuring out what exactly triggers it.

 

  • No cravings (initially).

For the first months of low-carbing I was actually really happy and had virtually no cravings for carbs and mainly sugar. That’s what most people on any low-carb diet (LCHF, Atkins, paleo, ketogenic diet, primal etc) experience. If you struggle with sugar addiction, cravings or a sweet tooth, I would still recommend going somewhat lower carb. No need to go very strict but choosing better quality carbs and/or timing them right might decrease your carb cravings significantly.

 

  • The fear of eating fat: gone.

I’m not afraid to eat fats anymore. Fat is a necessary part in any nutrition plan. You need good quality fats in your life. Coconut oil, full-fat dairy, nuts, seeds, olives, avocado etc: I now love those things and am not afraid that they will make me fat. Everything in moderation though!

 

  • The love of vegetables.

I have started to love vegetables now. I never used to know how to cook them so that they taste great. Low carbing included veggies in every main meal. That made me search for recipes and learn to cook them. Now I love veggies so much that I need and want to have some every single day.

 

  • New recipes.

As already mentioned, I learned to cook new dishes and learned new techniques. For example: sugar-free and gluten-free cheesecake. Gluten makes me feel bloated, sugar makes my blood sugar fluctuate. I feel so much better when I avoid them as much as possible. Now I have the knowledge to cook great food other ways beside the traditional way.

 

  • Food tastes great with some extra fat.

Add some fat to your veggies and they taste a thousand times better. Fat is an extra layer of flavour. Even the people who never loved veggies now eat them. A boring boiled carrot or roasted with olive oil and herbs: which sounds better?

 

  • Slow hunger.

When you have to eat only twice a day, it saves you a lot of time. Eating a fat-based diet keeps you full for a longer time, up to 6–8 hours. In that way it’s great for busy people.

 

  • Fast weight-loss.

Now that is an obvious advantage of low-carbing. You will lose weight and you will lose it fast. I lost 7,5 kilograms during my first 2 weeks (!) of LCHF. Now talk about motivation! Fast results will give you more drive and willpower to continue. Some of the weight-loss is of course water weight but still: seeing the numbers move is a great feeling (at first, at least).

 

  • Great community.

I made lots of good friends via Instagram and my blog. The low-carb community is extremely supportive and friendly. 

 

 

The BAD:

 

  • Restriction messes with your psychology –> psychological cravings.

A steady insulin level gives you no physical cravings. But a restriction on this level (eliminating almost all carbs) will make you crave things on a psychological level. You will crave things just because they are forbidden. I never liked gingerbread before but I sure craved (and binged) them last Christmas. I didn’t even like semolina porridge before and suddenly I found myself craving it. Restriction leads to craving, overeating and sometimes even binging. VERY dangerous.

 

  • Feeling guilt after eating “forbidden” foods.

… and then stressing and beating yourself up about it. The more you restrict, the more crave. The more you crave, the more likely you will give in. The more you give in, the more you beat yourself up. The more stressed you get, the more likely you will eat “forbidden” foods again. It’s a vicious, vicious cycle. And you will be miserable and sad. 

 

  • Becoming obsessed with food and macros.

After being on a strict diet for some time, you might become obsessed with food and/or macros and/or calories. I sure did. I thought about food all the time: what I ate, what I will eat, when will I eat, what can I eat, what can’t I eat, how to make my macros match, what should I eat, how much to eat… The list goes on. Food isn’t everything in life. 

 

  • No idea what to eat after going off low-carb.

One of the main points of intuitive eating is to eat what you want when you’re hungry. Sounds easy, right? God, it isn’t. I have absolutely no idea what I want to eat now that no foods are forbidden. 

 

  • Sports aren’t that much fun.

Sports are always fun and I love working out but working out on carbs feel SO much better. I know very well what the marathon wall feels like although I’ve never run a marathon. How do I know the wall? On low carb every second you run feels like the wall. Carbs are rocket fuel, I suggest you eat some carbs and you will love sports even more.

 

  • Awkward social situations.

Friends start choosing dinner locations only to match your eating preference. Grandmom offers you pie and you have to say no to her. People don’t know whether to offer you cake at a birthday party or not. You have no idea what to do when the others are eating dessert. You bring your own food everywhere. The list continues.

 

  • Explaining yourself.

People don’t understand going low-carb. I had to explain my food choices and lifestyle so much that it almost made me sick. And furthermore: even after explaining your lifestyle, some people will still think that you are a freak. 

 

  • Pretty expensive.

A low-carb lifestyle can be pretty expensive. Substituting some meat and fresh vegetables for grains makes your weekly shopping cart (a little) cheaper. To make it simple: an average low-carb calorie will cost you more than a “normal nutrition” calorie. At least that’s my experience.

 

 

That was my low-carb experience. It wasn’t all good, it wasn’t all bad. I lost weight. I learned a lot about myself. I’m interested to see what my new future brings me.