Diets & Weight Maintenance Support Group
Chat about how well your latest diet is -- or is not -- working. This group is a great place to find support and accountability as well as share success stories and valuable lessons with the community. From where to start to weekly weigh-ins, get help from others to reach your dieting and weight maintenance goals.
It was suggested that I read "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink, Ph. D. I love this book. It tells of why and how we eat. It has no recipes, is NOT a diet book. Its all about change. Change plate, glass size, put healthy food out in the open, he talks about distractions while eating i.e. driving, reading or watching television. When I started to eat healthy, I kept telling myself and others that I am NOT dieting. This is a way of life for me. Recently I went to a church function and they served root beer floats afterwards. I didn't have any but was offered one. I told the person kindly that I don't eat that type of food. They said "Oh that's right. How long will you be doing that?" I replied till the day I die. Its interesting how I programmed myself to think in different ways. I believe that weight loss has to be a mindset, not a starvation diet or diet that deprives one of essential nutrients. Eat healthy and live.
Your last statement is so true and that is exactly the philosophy I live by... or at least try to.
It is this mindset that has allowed me to shed 35 (or more) pounds... 25 of them since joining this group!
You are so on your way to being healthy and losing weight while you're at it! Congratulations and I can't wait to hear about your progress as you take this journey!
What I did was simply replace my Standard American Diet (SAD) that was mainly processed foods with lots of sugar and bad fats with healthy whole foods with lots of veggies, fruits and healthy fats. I don't have to count calories or starve myself. I get to eat lots of healthy good tasting food and after just a couple of weeks the kinds of food that I use to eat started to gross me out when I saw others eating that kind of stuff.
I also got serious about exercise again. I exercise every other day and instead of working out to lose weight I workout to improve my health. I'm doing something that I ENJOY doing which is strength training and I try to improve a little every time I workout.
I've been doing this for two months now and the changes in my body have amazed me. I've suffered from chronic pain for most of my adult life and now other than some muscle soreness from working out I am pain free. I have suffered from insomnia for years and now I sleep like a baby. My energy level is much higher and I no longer crash in the afternoons at work. As far as losing weight I lost 10 pounds the first month and 4 pounds the second month. That averages out to 2 pounds a week by focusing on being healthy rather than on losing weight.
Now don't get me wrong. I did intend to lose weight because I knew I was at an unhealthy weight but my main goal was to do everything I could to be healthy. Like you said it's a mindset. My mindset is to be as good as I can to my one and only body by giving it the proper nutrition and exercise it needs and I know it is smart enough to take care of itself.
I do believe in time I will see results from this, and not the yo yo effect.
With eating healthy, wt loss comes gradual, and we feel better each day. This is so important as we get older.
I am 63, and what to be the best I can be for my age.
Habits are not easy to change, but by changing just one thing, it can really make a difference.
I need to keep working on the head stuff......
I do think what you've written about is what finally clicked with me. I've known for along time that I have to get some weight off. And for various reasons, I kept putting off 'starting the diet'. There was this shadowy feeling of dread and I knew I'd feel deprived and couldn't wait to start eating 'normal' again.
I suddenly realized that I simply have to redefine normal. I can't be a person that lives on carrot sticks and eats a huge slab of carrot cake when they're feeling deprived. So it has to be carrot sticks and chicken breast and having fun lightening up my favorite recipes -- and eating less of it. And then I GET to have a tiny sliver of carrot cake occasionally.
As you've wisely pointed out, I'm not ON a diet. I working on CHANGING my diet.
LOVE your point about essential nutrients. I suspect many people do as much damage to their nutritional intake when dieting as when they're bingeing.
Thank you for sharing..I had read your post on Friday evening and am planning on getting one...and also, am now using small plate and a small bowl for my 3 meals..and no snacking...am doing good so far and it working for me ..My motto is eat less and move more..My scale is moving on the right path..Thank God!! Again, Thank you for the book info..
Liliann
Thanks 2early