What you may be wondering is a pre-new-years resolution? Well it is my attempt to counter the good meals and lack of regular workouts I have had since I’ve moved. I have made gains in my progress (I mean GAINS) so I am now 240 pounds (up from 224 pounds at the beginning of September).
So if I was actually trying to gain weight I would be real happy right now but alas, that is not the case. I have gotten used to eating more food and have not counted calories since August. I also have not worked out as much and have been plagued with injuries; the latest injury caused by my chihuahua chasing me (I stubbed my toe on a door jamb).
I will talk about what happened, what I am doing and how importaint counting calories are to any diet. I will also touch on why you cannot just exercise more to make up for the increased amount of food. Here is a glimpse of a youtube video entitled, “Attack of the killer chihuahuas” for your perusal.
I was searching youtube and I found this old 1985 Grapefruit 45 Diet commercial. Wow… Do you remember them? The one I fell for asked the question, “Do you know anyone that ate 2 (or 3) grapefruits a day and did not lose weight?” I could not answer the question (and figured that it must be a well known thing) and bought the grapefruit pills. Here is the commercial I found.
Plateau’s are hard to deal with for any dieter but mountains (my term for my present state) are even harder. What got me here? I would like to say it was not my fault but I moved a couple of months back and got used to eating on the run again. I did not eat my normal diet and have not returned to my normal exercise routine yet.
I bought a mountain bike but it broke after 7 hours (3 weekends worth) on the trails. The back spring detached and the sprockets busted. I returned the bike to Walmart for a full refund but I now need to figure out where I can buy a good quality mountain bike for a couple hundred bucks on black Friday. If anyone has any ideas - let me know… I live in San Diego’s East County (Santee, CA).
Gaining weight after losing a some can be emotionally difficult and I will talk about this today. But first I found a video of a gal that is (or has) gone through this now… admitedly she does not look really overweight but it is each person’s self-image that is important.
As I was working out tonight I had a thought… I have lost 35 pounds in about 33 weeks since the beginning of the year! Wow! That sounds like I am losing about one pound a week. Many diets would like to claim such a weight loss per week. But most often I have observed the diet industry makes initial weight loss claims such as lose 40 pounds in two weeks - I’ll show you how (I just made this up but you can see how silly this sounds).
Do you want to lose 20 ugly pounds? Cut off your head (at least in my case - this would be true) 
I digress but seriously lets examine why I am happy with a pound a week and why the diet industry is focusing on quick weight loss over lifetime results. Now I can hear some of you saying your diet is the best and works well. Well I am glad for you! But that is not what I am addressing today. What I am addressing is how you can find something that works for you and how some commercial diets may fall short, especially the ones that claim quick weight loss.
This is just a quick note to say I have lost 35 pounds so far since the beginning of the year. I am now 225 pounds! I’m multitasking right now so no sage wisdom or wit but rather just the pure joy at achieving another few pounds! I only have 11 more pounds to go till I am just overweight (compared to obese!)!
I had only eaten 500 calories before I got home from work and did a long workout. My wife and step-daughter came home from the Olive Garden with leftovers just in the nick of time. Needless to say I am easily around 1500 calories for the day. As always… if you create a goal and work steadily towards it.. you will achieve it! Hang in there… it is working for me!
While perusing the internet I found this study published by the New England Journal of Medicine! The study at first seemed promising as it compared low-fat, Mediterranean and low-carb diets. As I read the abstract I started getting confused.
Methods In this 2-year trial, we randomly assigned 322 moderately obese subjects (mean age, 52 years; mean body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 31; male sex, 86%) to one of three diets: low-fat, restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted-calorie; or low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie.
Ok - so far so good but it seemed a little off-kilter already with 86% of the participants being men. The confusing part to me after reading the two-year results (converted into pounds) were:
- The low-fat group lost 6.39 pounds
- The Mediterranean group lost 9.70 pounds
- The low-carbohydrate group lost 10.36
I am going to point out the study’s results, benifits and then the logical problems that many readers of this study might notice (at least I did). I will also speak about existing alternatives that work (I have lost 30 pounds so far since the beginning of the year). I found this Hardee’s low-carb Goldilocks spoof in honor this study’s low-carb diet winner for your perusal.
Part of any diet, whatever flavor you decide, is to stay with the/your plan more often than not. As readers of this blog know, I espouse the view that the diet does not matter so much (as long as it makes sense) as your ability to live with the diet. What am I talking about? Well now… I think you have to like what you eat.
When my doctor told me that my cholesterol was too high and I had to lose weight, on my most recent physical, I decided that I could no longer afford the luxury of eating real eggs because they were too high in cholesterol. I still liked eating egg sandwiches but I had to find a reasonable substitute that would not only meet my goal of eating less cholesterol but also taste good enough for me to stick with the substitute! Generally I eat a quick egg sandwich (made with an egg substitute) but today I made some delicious scrambled eggs! I will speak more on ways to find good tasting substitutes for any diet as well as how I am able to stay on track. Here is a picture of this morning’s breakfast.
I am happy to report that my weight loss is on track again after a couple month period of a plateau! Yes plateaus happen when one is trying to lose the weight. When you find yourself wondering what is going on and if it is not going to work - I’m going down the block to get my double meat Whopper that I really like (yes, I have been there), consider this.
- You did not gain the weight overnight so why do you expect to take it off overnight? Really?
- Whatever way to lose the fat you decide to try - probably has some merit (assuming you have done some research) so why not give it a chance?
- If one way does not work for you - step back and evaluate the pros and cons. Then start researching a diet and exercise plan that works and you like.
In this post I will share what is working for me and how I have got to this point. Before I start I want you to know there is no secret or path to enlightenment that I have discovered but after trying a bunch of diets (read my diet book entitled, “Slimmer Zimmer” available free on this site) but finding out what can work for you! Everyone will have something. I am doing a combination of a diet (I will go into) and walking. Yes the exercise portion is walking. I have found a site, “in motion” from the city of Saskatoon, that gives some walking tips.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a woman say she did not want to get on a scale over my lifetime, but it would be from almost every woman I know! I remember a funny story about a girl that was tall but weighed as much as me at the time. I weighed about 155 pounds and she was full-bodied… you know like a Marylin Monroe type of body. I thought she look just fine but as a 5′ 10″ woman, she thought she was fat. I just looked up 155 pounds for a 5′ 10″ person and that is not fat!
Lets look at some gender differences concerning how the sexes measure weight loss as well as how preceived weight affects women versus men. I found one funny video about a woman going to great lengths to make weight on a scale.
I found this great website about Dietgirl! What might you ask is a “Dietgirl? well she is a transplanted Aussie lass that now resides in Scotland. I started to read about her story and was pleasantly surprised to find a great sense of humor as she dealt with weighty issues. Her name is Shauna Reid and her website is called The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl! Here is a picture of her book entitled, “The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl!
My health care provider (Kaiser Health Care) suggested that I get a flexible sigmoidoscopy since I am 50 years old. This test is a scope that views part of the intestinal tract. My test was good in that no masses or polyps were found but another common condition in older people was identified - diverticulosis. To quote Kaisers portion of the patient instruction about diverticulosis:
“Diverticulosis is a condition of the colon and not a disease. Diverticulosis comes from a Latin word meaning small diversion from the normal path. When weak spots form in the colon wall and cause and cause small pouches to bulge out, these weakened areas are called diverticula. Fifty percent of Americans over the age of 60 have diverticulosis. Usually there are no symptoms from this condition.”
Update: I’ve been told by my doctor that being overweight is also a cause of diverticulosis becuase of additional pressure (caused by the extra weight). Losing weight will reduce the pressure.
The advice to mitigate possible issues with diverticulosis is increasing fiber in one’s diet. I found a video on fiber below.
I was looking at diet videos an came across this Thailand tuna commercial… Have you ever felt this way? I was laughing when the food started revolting and going directly to the stomach!
If you have been reading this website, you know that I have written a book endorsing a low-fat diet and I currently follow a medium fat diet. Why would a person want to follow a low-fat diet vs a moderate-fat diet? And what are the rules? All diets have rules right?
I tend to follow a moderate fat diet now because in the long run, I will be able to stick with this easily. If I wanted to lose weight fast I would have went on a low-fat diet. Low-fat diets do not store very much fat at all and if you are also exercising and dieting - you end up losing fat faster than with a moderate-fat diet. The down side is there are trade-offs - namely taste! Cameron Diaz is reportedly using a combination of moderation with junk food and mostly eats a low-carb diet.
Picture from: http://howcelebritiesloseweight.com/category/cameron-diaz/
I don’t know about you but I have always heard that a person needs to drink from 6 to 8 glasses of water a day and only water counted. Beer, coffee, and soda did not count towards the total. What? Any reasonable person can think this out… water is in beer, coffee, and tea so why don’t they count? And - what is this reliance on bottled water? Has the human race discovered that all of our ancestors died early by drinking river, well, and tap water, in the last twenty years? I will try and address some of these questions in this post.
Picture from: http://www.niagarafallstourism.com/gallery-07.html
Diet - Shmiet… Why do people think they have to cheat to get a good lunch? Just because you are on a diet, does not mean you cannot enjoy your food! My wife goes to Smart & Final, a local (we are in San Diego County, California) warehouse store that stocks bread from the California Baking Company.
The good thing about this bread is that it is very low in fat and sugar. Their (the California Baking Co.) rolls of various varieties are from 90 to 120 calories! You cannot get that from regular bread that is laced with fat and sugar (so we like and buy it) at grocery stores! One slice of bread at a grocery store is normally 120 calories! Here is what my lunch looked like today (1/27/2008).
Left side = toasted bun with melted cheese. Right side = toasted bun with turkey, mayo and mustard. Glass = Miller High Life Light.