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How
did this happen?
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The
line between your wife thinking you're lovely and cuddly and
you waking up one morning to realize you are just fat is a
fine one…and one I have crossed. I'd like to believe
I crossed it recently, but the truth is it happened years
ago, each passing year furthering my distance from the line.
It creeps up on you. Add a pound a month over 10 years and
you'd hardly notice the change. Sure your trousers feel a
bit tighter one day but the next size up isn't that
big, but before you know it they are starting to feel snug
too. |
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get on a diet, full of determination and you lose a bit. However
something comes up; a wedding, a family get together or one
of those stresses and strains of life and you fall back into
the ingrained eating habits. Your willpower wanes and before
you know it you're heavier than when you started. Then "suddenly"
you're fat! Going through beds at the rate of one every 14
months because they are not up to the job of supporting your
bulk helps bring it home, as does the feeling you are about
to have a heart attack every time you try to cut the grass.
It's then you know you absolutely have to do something. That's
where this site comes in. I'm
hoping this sudden openness about the whole thing is going
to be the fuel to get my dietary fire burning. Maybe talking
about it will help me and reading about it will help anyone
who stumbles across it and is in the same boat as me. Don't
worry it's a big boat. :) |
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All
in the head?
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One
thing I have found both personally and talking to friends
and family about weightloss is that you have to be in
the right frame of mind for it and it is very difficult
to do it alone. I've known I need to lose weight for years
and I've tried with limited short term success and zero
long-term. Why? I know I need to do it for health reasons
alone so why didn't I stick at it? I'm convinced that
for many people food either groups of or breaking it down
to things like sugar, becomes an addiction. I've had all
sorts of symptoms when on diets that I would put down
to withdrawal: cravings for a particular food, headaches,
nausea, shakes, insomnia and more that all disappear as
soon as I eat whatever it is I'm craving. It's normally
carbohydrate so I'm guessing the addiction, if it is that,
is sugar. Ironic as I don't have a sweet tooth! As such
you really need to be in the right mindset to punch through
that and come out the other side and as it can take time
it's understandable that people can end up yo-yo dieting
as they reach a point they can't get through, give up,
then build up the willpower again a while later and start
again. As such you need to get into the right frame of
mind and don't do it alone, get support from friends and
family. Let them know your plans and if like me you have
family members who like to bring you treats, ask them
to change it to healthier options. You don't have to miss
out! :-)
I'm
in the right frame of mind, right "now." I'm
hoping that determination, support from friends and family
and sticking it online will all help me to maintain that
determination. That and the fact the grass really needs
cut!
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Diets,
diets everywhere and not a drop to eat
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Most
diets I have tried try to lock you into their way of eating,
a way of eating which when you think about it doesn't often
seem very balanced or healthy for that matter. I have found
that this raises two problems in particular: if specific
food groups are not allowed it leads to cravings and if
it's very low calorie you nearly always feel hungry.
I
tried the Atkins diet a couple of years ago and while it
was working and I lost a couple of stone I eventually hit
a brick wall called craving. I was literally crawling the
walls with the insatiable desire to eat bread, potatoes
or pasta. I wasn't hungry; this was akin to an addiction.
No amount of meat, fish, dairy or the allowed vegetables
provided the fix. I managed to last about six weeks before
I succumbed to it and eating the desired foods stopped the
symptoms immediately. With low fat diets I found I was simply
always hungry and in the end my will power wasn't enough
to overcome that. Processed low fat food doesn't doesn't
do itself any favours in the taste department either and
as to its health "benefits" it is often pumped
full of sugar and stuff to try make it more appealing. No
thanks. Also there are essential fats that we should be
eating and I worry that a low fat diet would lose those
somewhere along the way. For a lot of people these types
of diet have worked well. I am concerned though that both
options limit certain food groups to such an extent. However
somewhere in there there has to be a healthy middle ground,
which involves limiting processed meals and sugars and doesn't
turn something fat and juicy into a dry cracker.
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I'm
not going on a "diet!"
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Having
tried a few diets over the years, one thing I have learned
is that I am not going on a diet ever again.
"How
can you lose weight then?"
Well
that is a good question and my answer is based on nothing
more than a gut feeling, (sorry) :-) The word diet has become
synonymous with weight loss when really it should just mean
whatever everyone eats. If you ask someone who doesn't have
a weight problem at all, "are you on a diet?"
they will say no* but they are, they are just not on a weightloss
diet. As an example a lion has a diet consisting of whatever
prey happens to be in its territory, a chicken a diet of
whatever feed you give them and what they scratch up in
the garden. However you don't see many skinny/obese lions
or chickens. They are generally just the right size.
As
such my "diet" will be to try to eat healthier,
mixed with becoming a bit more active, such as walking the
dog, (he says, bum stuck to the computer chair). I am currently
unemployed so I can't afford to go totally organic, buy
the best cuts of meat every day or hire a personal trainer.
However with a bit of common sense I should be able to work
in plenty of good whole foods and I will do my best to pick
up organic food bargains. I want to limit processed foods
as much as possible as well as reduce sugar and caffeine.
Overall it will depend on what is in the cupboard and fridge
freezer at any given time and will consist of the types
of food available to everyone. I will also be growing my
own, which has many benefits such as tasting great and providing
exercise getting the ground ready and tending it throughout
the year.
*The
person may be a tad offended that you asked so just take
my word for it. :-)
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"And
so, it begins"
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It
was with some trepidation that I weighed myself. The scales
without so much as a whimper (they were strong scales) came
to rest at 339lbs, which a quick calculation shows is 24.21st,
or just under 24st 3lbs.
Positives: I'm small for a sumo wrestler, weedy for
a grizzly bear and positively minuscule compared to a mountain.
Negatives: I'm fat!
Start
date:
Mid December 05
Start/Current/Target:
339/319/196
(lbs) Latest weigh in 24th February 2006
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| MENU |
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Food
facts
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There
is the same amount of sugar in 1 tin of ordinary Coke as
there is in aprox 190 tins of Diet Coke. Pity about the
latters' taste though.
Carrots
are good for your eyesight.
It's
thought the Romans first discovered oysters, on British
shores and brought them back to Rome to cultivate.
The
strawberry is actually a member of the rose family.
Bread
was invented by the Egyptians! By mistake!! Instead of throwing
away burnt toast, one of Pharaohs bakers decided to scrape
off the black - and delicious bread was found underneath!
See Breadweb
for more bread "facts."
The
stomach is NOT the way to a man's heart.
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