Some people want to diet because they believe society will value them more if they were thinner. I know the media reinforces this message. And for many of these people, there really isn't anything wrong with them in the first place. If there is anything wrong with them, it is that they just simply don't like themselves the way they are. I think these are the victims of the fad diet industry.
We talked about the importance of mental attitude. I don't think it is necessary to enslave yourself to a diet. I think what is important to start with an attitude of learning to appreciate yourself. I'll tell you, it is more attractive to see a person beaming with happines, though not an emaciated supermodel, then an aneroxic supermodel with a dead look in their eyes.
I was trying to point out that metabolism slows as you get older and everyone finds that if they continue with the same food intake and energy output, they will put on weight as they get older.
It seemed like Nick was beating himself up over the fact that there were much younger people in his office who could eat what they wanted and not put on weight.
What they are able to do is normal and he really need not fret about it.
Nail - head = you hit it!
The hard part is about the diet / exercise thing is finding someone with whom (particularly when just starting out) you are compatible.
I am not particularly a snacker per sé but I will snack if I am bored and snacks are available. Hubby is a snacker though which causes a problem in my home... if left on my own I get a single sweet every few days rather than keeping sweets or salty snacks in the house.
Meanwhile, back in the day...
Somehow a lot of my social activities in my early 20s got switched from bicycling to and from a swimming pool / beach to going out to the pub until 2 or 3am followed by "breakfast" at a 24hr diner.
I moved and again, social activities stemmed around consumption of calories of one "useless" sort or another, sans exercise.
To be honest and look back, I had a stressful job. We ALL wanted to "unwind" after work... unfortunately, I somehow found the only 3 gals on earth who'd rather drink than dance.
It was purely my "fault" for not going out of my way to find folks who already had similar interests to me and make friends among them, instead falling into easily made "friendships" with coworkers who had different ideas of a good time than I.
Soooo... 20yrs later, here I am, in Switzerland, hoping to go back to the lifestyle I enjoyed in my teens. Riding my bicycle to someplace to swim with the occasional movie or games night tossed in, hopefully eventually with folks who'd enjoy the same thing .
If I can manage that, perhaps I can get back to the size and weight I was in high school. People would still look at me and call me fat as size 14'ish (about 75 kilos) is not generally considered "ideal" by society but I've never been happy without curves.
Minimise the alcohol intake, you wouldn't believe the amount of calories that stuff contains, apart from the fact that a glass or two of wine goes so nicely with a bowl of nuts / crisps etc.
Minimise the amount of cooking you do, and keep off the processed food (duh). I ate stir-fry (with minimal oil) for a lot of my meals, and the weight fell off. A recent experiment showed that merely grinding down and softening a group of rat's food pellets caused the rats to become obese, by comparison to the control group that were given the same number of unprocessed pellets. I am rather intrigued by the observation that the number of calories people consume has not risen much over the last few decades, but the number of calories we can extract from that food has risen dramatically.
Eat slowly. I try to chew 22 times. It is not much fun, but I find I'm bored of eating by the time I get to the end of what is on my plate. Most obese people I know literally hoover their food off the plate.
I am 'blessed' with a brother who is as skinny as a rake, never works out, and can eat barrow-loads of food, but what you notice being around him is that he is literally fizzing with energy. He cannot stand / sit still, he fidgets, taps things, jigs up and down, and goes everywhere at a near run. I guess that's why he's skinny.
Good luck
Jim
It limits snacking and gives a bit of 'reverence' to food and eating in general.
Don't eat in front of the TV (regularly) . It doesn't give food the respect it deserves.
A lesson to be learned here would be to ditch the TV. altogether. Sitting at a computer screen all day and then being slumped in front of the TV all evening isn't conducive to a healthy life style.
Finding time to relax is important though - just do it in other ways.
Find an excercise partner, one that is also keen to improve their fitness and/or loose weight as well. The fittest I ever was, was when I had a lodger that got me into Triathlons. We used to cycle into work together and ca. 3 times a week cycle to the pool we had access through to from work which was 12 miles away (over some tough hills, but nothing like we have here). So two 12 mile rides and a 3Km swim did wonders (plus tha daily cycle and some longer rides at the weekend), we always intended to do a run after but this never happened. There was another guy in the office who also joined us.
Take up a new leisure activity that involves excercise or join a club. In the end if it does not feel like excercise, then you are more inclined to continue.
I started really using this program in spring 2008. To date I am -21 kg or -44 lbs.
To each their own, but to those of us who need structure that works and teaches us to change our bad habits I highly recomend calorieking. I am less then 2lbs or less then 1 kg away from my final goal.
Good luck to all who travel the same path!
A friend of mine informed me that it is the stomach that tells the brain that you want to eat and if you ignore it, after three days, the stomach will give up asking and kick in and use the fat excess for energy.
I have to confess it was hard NOT eating for three days (just dringing 4 litres of water a day). Every time I wanted to eat, I would run/walk up the stairs in the house 20 times. Sure enough I did not crave food after that.
In the four days I lost 4Kgs and now don't want much because I don't want to go through it again.
I am now taking small portions of food, as stomach now appreciates anything, walking at a brisk pace to the shops and back at 4kms and coming down further aiming for 161 pounds (73 Kgs). Even that weight at 181cms gives my body a BMI of 22 which is only average.
Conclusion is that it is all down to real desire and will power.
I know of a nutritionist... or six... with whom you could benefit from an in depth conversation.
(Just as a starting hint: starving yourself for 3 days is NOT anywhere close to a healthy way to lose weight.)
Moreover, the combination, of alcohol and fatty food, is a challenge for the liver. When alcohol is in the blood stream, the liver priority is to process it. Meanwhile, the liver retards processing fats, which are then deposited instead of decomposed.
After a couple of months of careful dieting I managed to get from 90kg to 79.1 kilos - I would like to be around 75 so still a way to go.
I started out by counting calories - weighing and recording what I have eaten - and aiming at 1500 - 1700 per day.
I have now switched to Rick Gallop's G.I. Diet which encourages you to eat (sensibly) three meals and three snacks per day - with emphasis on low G.I. foods. I am still losing weight. I also still manage to get out for a beer on Fridays and have (just one) beer at Fasnacht Clique practice on a Wednesday.
A typical day's meals for me will be something like:
- Breakfast: Porridge made with water plus a low-calorie yoghurt and a piece of fruit.
- Mid-morning: A piece of fruit
- Lunch: Wholemeal bread roll with (e.g.) cottage cheese, cup of soup, yoghurt and piece of fruit
- Mid-afternoon: A piece of fruit or slice of wholemeal bread with hoummus, or a low-calorie yoghurt
- Evening: Grilled steak, jacket potato (with tiny amount of butter), large salad. Low calorie chocolate dessert
- Bedtime: Fruit or slice of wholemeal toast with a little jam
I lay off alcohol as much as I can bear - replaced the post-work evening beer with a cup of tea or low-calorie cordial from Migros diluted with Sprite Zero.
On that you're never hungry and you will lose weight. Never skip meals, and if you splurge one day, don't punish yourself the next by skipping meals. Just resume the plan.
Cheers,
Nick
A typical day's meals for me will be something like:
- Breakfast: Porridge made with milk plus a yoghurt and a piece of fruit.
- Mid-morning: A piece of fruit
- Lunch: Wholemeal bread roll with (e.g.) cheese, butter, tomato, cucumber and piece of fruit
- Mid-afternoon: nothing
- Evening: Grilled steak, jacket potato (with butter), vegetables, large salad. Fruit or pudding but normally nothing
Glass of wine
- Bedtime: nothing
There's not too much difference is there?
I'm not trying to score points but I see what I eat as normal but you see it as a diet even though it's basically the same thing.
(I may be having larger quantities though but then I am running a lot and don't want to lose weight)
What will you do regarding food when you reach your target weight?
By the way, what is wrong with just eating a healthy balanced diet and taking moderate and regular exercise rather than punishing yourself with a 3 day fast?
Crash dieting never did anyone any good.
I'm now back to running 10km per day - I block out the lunchtime run in Outlook and reject any meeting invites at that time. I will restart the Aikido training in the near future.
Once you reach your target weight, the GI diet encourages you to reintroduce yellow and red light foods in moderation (i.e. with higher GI) and to increase portions of pasta, rice, potatoes etc to maintain weight.
At the end of the day it is quantifying sensible eating in a different guise. I am not saying this way works for everyone - but it works for me.
Cheers,
Nick