Life Changes Aren't Easy

[Road Runner]

This is the first time in my life I have seriously thought about my diet and
managed to make changes that I can live with.

I think I must be older than most of the people on this list, 61, but I too,
need to loose weight and I find this list very helpful and supportive.

I never had a weight problem until the last ten years, so I don't have the
experience of knowing what works and what doesn't. But this is what I have
learned so far since I have been trying to make changes in my eating habits.
I started in March of this year, and in spite of some slips, am still doing
fine.

1. You only loose weight if you burn up more calories than you take in.
2. Always read the serving size and try to stick with that amount, no matter
what you are eating.
3. Give up the sweets completely. I can't seem to leave them alone unless
they are in the form of one of those meal bars and then they are used in
place of a meal.
4. Get weighed every day if possible, but at least once a week. Otherwise,
you will be fooled in to thinking you are a different weight than the scales
show.
5. The old saying is true, Eat to live, not live to eat.
6. Exercise is very important, but a good walk can be enough.
7. Make sure your routine is easy enough you can live with it with comfort,
you won't give it up and get discouraged that way.
8. NEVER GIVE Up even when you put back a pound or three. Keep that goal
weight in mind and you will reach it.
Sandy.

[Caleb]

Sandy -- I sure agree with Ig about those points being great!

And for some people, it might not be sweets as much as something else
-- perhaps pizza or beer, or both together, but we have to find our
high calorie trigger foods and avoid them.

Excellent post!

Yours,

Caleb

[Carol Frilegh]

In article om>,
Caleb > wrote:

> Sandy -- I sure agree with Ig about those points being great!
>
> And for some people, it might not be sweets as much as something else
> -- perhaps pizza or beer, or both together, but we have to find our
> high calorie trigger foods and avoid them.

Pizza does not deserve a bad rap. Using a tortilla dough round as a
crust, lots of veggies and moderate amounts of cheese produces a weight
wise puzza that is guilt freee. You can probably have the entire
thing..

--
Diva
*****
Discipline is Liberation

[Chris Braun]

On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 13:31:02 GMT, "Road Runner" >
wrote:

>This is the first time in my life I have seriously thought about my diet and
>managed to make changes that I can live with.
>
>I think I must be older than most of the people on this list, 61, but I too,
>need to loose weight and I find this list very helpful and supportive.

Well, I'm 57 -- not a huge difference. And I lost 130 lbs. and have
kept it off for 15 months so far.

>1. You only loose weight if you burn up more calories than you take in.

For sure. (Except it's "lose" :-) .)

>2. Always read the serving size and try to stick with that amount, no matter
>what you are eating.

Well, this isn't strictly true. There's no magic in serving size;
it's just the measure used to assign calorie and nutrient counts. Of
course you need to be aware that eating more of the food will mean
more calories. But there's nothing wrong with eating more provided
your calories balance out. Eating more than the standard serving of
healthy foods such as vegetables and lean protein might be a good
thing. And eating less than a serving of not-so-healthy foods might
also be a good thing. I routinely eat larger servings of things like
chicken and fish than the standard serving size. And I often eat less
than a standard serving of foods high in fat or starch, such as
butter, salad dressing, pasta, or sweets.

>3. Give up the sweets completely. I can't seem to leave them alone unless
>they are in the form of one of those meal bars and then they are used in
>place of a meal.

This is probably a good idea for most dieters, at least until they
really get into the groove. And it's better to avoid bringing them
into the home.

>4. Get weighed every day if possible, but at least once a week. Otherwise,
>you will be fooled in to thinking you are a different weight than the scales
>show.

This has been my approach too. (Though now that I'm in maintenance I
sometimes don't bother, but go by the fit of my clothes. That's
mostly because we don't have scales at home so I just get weighed at
the gym, and I don't always think of it.) Some people have a lot of
emotional baggage associated with scales, though, and prefer to weigh
only once a month or so. Whatever works for you.

>5. The old saying is true, Eat to live, not live to eat.

True. But I do think that food is one of life's pleasures and that
it's unrealistic to deny that. I think we need to find pleasure in
our meals -- to ensure they're enjoyable even if lower in calories.
And for me personally, I always allowed the occasional treat -- just
made sure my overall consumption was within my goal range.

>6. Exercise is very important, but a good walk can be enough.

Well, I agree that exercise is very important. I'm not sure just what
the word "enough" means here, though. It's possible to lose weight
with no exercise. It's easier with moderate exercise such as walking.
It's easier yet with more vigorous exercise, as this burns more
calories and increases metabolic rate. But clearly some exercise is
better than no exercise, and a good walk most days of the week is a
great addition to a diet plan. The best strategy for losing weight is
to simultaneously reduce consumption and increase activity relative to
what you were doing before -- whatever that means in your life.

>7. Make sure your routine is easy enough you can live with it with comfort,
>you won't give it up and get discouraged that way.

Agreed. I might prefer to go for "satisfying" or even "enjoyable"
rather than just "easy". That's the best way to make it a permanent
part of your lifestyle.

>8. NEVER GIVE Up even when you put back a pound or three. Keep that goal
>weight in mind and you will reach it.

Amen! This is the most important rule of all. Don't beat yourself up
if you slip off your plan; just get back to it again and keep going.



Chris
262/130s/130s
started dieting July 2002, maintaining since June 2004

[Beverly]

Road Runner wrote:
> This is the first time in my life I have seriously thought about my diet and
> managed to make changes that I can live with.
>
> I think I must be older than most of the people on this list, 61, but I too,
> need to loose weight and I find this list very helpful and supportive.
>


There are a few of us who are older :-) I'm 62.



> I never had a weight problem until the last ten years, so I don't have the
> experience of knowing what works and what doesn't. But this is what I have
> learned so far since I have been trying to make changes in my eating habits.
> I started in March of this year, and in spite of some slips, am still doing
> fine.
>
> 1. You only loose weight if you burn up more calories than you take in.
> 2. Always read the serving size and try to stick with that amount, no matter
> what you are eating.
> 3. Give up the sweets completely. I can't seem to leave them alone unless
> they are in the form of one of those meal bars and then they are used in
> place of a meal.

I think this varies from person to person. I never completely gave up
any food. I just needed to find some way to limit trigger foods such
as ice cream.

> 4. Get weighed every day if possible, but at least once a week. Otherwise,
> you will be fooled in to thinking you are a different weight than the scales
> show.


> 5. The old saying is true, Eat to live, not live to eat.

I think many of our social activities include food. I just need to
choose wisely and not over indulge in the food. I do a lot of biking
and one of the sayings amongst the group is "Eat to ride, ride to eat".
I'll burn approximately 800 calories on a 20 mile ride so that cup of
coffee and biscotti is easy to work into my calorie total for the day.



> 6. Exercise is very important, but a good walk can be enough.

I agree. I find it much easier to maintain my weight loss as long as I
exercise. Once I slack off the exercise the pounds start creeping
back. Keeping the pounds off in warm weather is fairly easy for me but
the winter months can be a problem since I'm not out riding. I joined
a gym last year and dragged myself there but haven't seen the inside of
it since warm weather arrived. Guess I'll have to start back once the
ice and snow start around here :(

Beverly
177/142/~140 since 1996


> 7. Make sure your routine is easy enough you can live with it with comfort,
> you won't give it up and get discouraged that way.
> 8. NEVER GIVE Up even when you put back a pound or three. Keep that goal
> weight in mind and you will reach it.
> Sandy.

[Nunya B.]

"Road Runner" > wrote in message
...

> 2. Always read the serving size and try to stick with that amount, no
> matter what you are eating.

I wouldn't say no matter what. It's most likely not going to harm anyone to
eat more vegetables than a normal serving size, except for the starchy ones.
:) I do think however that portion size is one of the biggest contributors
to the increase in obesity in this country.

> 3. Give up the sweets completely. I can't seem to leave them alone unless
> they are in the form of one of those meal bars and then they are used in
> place of a meal.

Up to the individual though it is something to probably take on at first
until the new WOE takes hold.

> 4. Get weighed every day if possible, but at least once a week.
> Otherwise, you will be fooled in to thinking you are a different weight
> than the scales show.

Just because a person doesn't weigh daily doesn't mean he/she fooling
him/herself. There are people even in this group who weigh daily and are
completely delusional to go so far as to blame a malfunctioning scale for
weight gain. How often a person weighs is a personal preference just like
which diet to choose, and there are some of us who are doing quite well
maintaining weight without daily weighing.

> 8. NEVER GIVE Up even when you put back a pound or three. Keep that goal
> weight in mind and you will reach it.

Yep. There's no race to the finish. You have your whole life to learn how
to eat right though of course the sooner you get hold of it, the potentially
longer the life may be :)
--
the volleyballchick