You know, losing weight is not, in principle, difficult. Burn more calories than you take in, by exercising and eating less.
It’s amazing how easy it is to blow off an easy principle and screw it up. In theory, if I bike an hour a day (12 mile ride), I should be able to burn off about a pound a week with absolutely no other effort. ‘course, since I can’t remember the last time I biked 7 days a week, I can’t be sure this would actually work…
Of course, we’re going to Fairbanks this weekend so it’s not going to happen this week either. :P
I agree with the basic concept of dieting… just today at lunch I was eating a plate of ‘mild’ hot wings and was thinking, “this rather defeats the purpose of losing weight.”
They were nevertheless yummy.
It’s definitely not easy. I found one of the easiest things to do was to stop drinking (other than as treats) anything other than water. Sodas add up FAST. Of course, this is from the person who just bought a big box of fudgesicles. Granted, it’s hot, so I’m allowed. Rotten Connecticut.
Milk also adds up fast. I like milk more than almost anything on the earth, and I more or less gave up sodas years ago, so if I’m going to cut a liquid, it pretty much has to be milk.
I am really insanely *not* giving up milk. I’m trying to compromise by 1. drinking water with a ‘sweet’ lunch, like a PB&J, and 2. using only little (8oz) glasses instead of big (16oz) glasses when I have a glass of milk. It’ll have to be enough of a compromise, because I’m *not* giving up milk. *fnrt*
I’m also giving the John Travolta Diet Plan a whirl. He needed to lose weight, so he compromised on his meals by only eating half of them. Cut a hamburger in half, ditch half the fries, pour out half the milkshake. All the flavor, half the calories. Ideally it’ll get me into the habit of smaller meals. The exceptions are breakfast (since I eat about what the box recommends for a bowl of cereal anyway) and vegetables. I figure I can eat as many vegetables as I like. :)
i find that keeping a “log” of what i eat helps, too…..i’ve been trying to cut down and eat more healthy…and i find that if i reach for that second serving of whatever, i start thinking “do i really want to write down that i ate two giant slices of cheesecake?!” and so i don’t eat that second piece. i have also started doing the half serving thing above, to a large extent…’cept instead of throwing it away, i freeze it for lunch a week and a half from now (also a good budget assist, i think). i find total denial/cold turkey on things does NOT work for me…..
on the random literalism front…
i was at the neurologist’s office last week to have my wrist and elbow examined (not my head as one might expect) and they gave me the usual new-patient-paperwork to fill out.
Towards the end was a scale of 1
Well, see, the problem is that you’re much better at using the language than they are. I mean, I’d agree: average pain should be no pain. Pretty weird.
Right, I wasn’t actually going to throw out half my meal. I thought I’d save ’em for the next day. :)
Keeping a log is such a booooooother. ‘course, if the point is to keep ya honest… :)
Coming to Fairbanks?! *pounces* Our basement will be curing this weekend, so I may have free time. We should get together!
ooh, that would be a good idea. Maybe I could get Ted to drop me off somewhere so we could hang out for a couple hours! We’ll see! :)
I found that keeping a log at first helped me too, though not just for keeping me honest purposes. It also helped me to really look at what I was eating and figure out what needed to change. It worked pretty well. Of course, the big thing, which takes forever, is changing your overall food habits (like eating more veggies and less junk) and getting exercise to be a habit and a part of your daily routine that you can’t go without. I’m not quite there yet on that exercise thing, but I’m working on it. Good luck, Catie!