Suleiman -> RE: I'd like to know (in a DIET fashion) what's worked for you... (12/30/2007 4:08:59 PM)
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I have a few tricks up my sleeve for managing my weight: #1) I cook. I can even do math and have a basic understanding of food chemistry. That means I can control how much of what I put in my mouth. #2) I gave up added sugar. I don't worry too much about thinks like bleached flour (tho I try to keep it to a minimum). I just cut out all the sugar and corn syrup. #3) I don't drive. Never learned how - it's not a vital skill here in the Bay Area. That means I walk a hell of a lot more than thirty minutes every day. #4) I'm a geek. I always have a bag with me that's got my laptop and a bunch of gaming books. It's rarely more than ten pounds, but if you carry a ten pound bag on a three mile walk, you will feel the resistance. #5) I'm poor, but I'm also a food snob. I don't eat junk because, for the most part, I don't like it. My parents spent years trying to cultivate a refined palate in me when I was a child, and it's probably saved me from morbid obesity now. Now, please keep in mind, I'm still anywhere from ten to thirty pounds over my idea weight (there's some fluctuation, and some major disagreement on what "ideal" is). I have a spare tire that showed up in my teens that has never gone away, but after I got married and moved out to the suburbs, my weight ballooned. I wasn't walking, I was eating way too much sugar, and I was staying home a lot because there was nothing to do except sit in front of my computer and work or veg out. After I swore off sugar and started getting more active, I dropped fifty pounds in about two months, and kept it off. It's not a diet. It's a lifestyle. I'm pretty much resigned to doing this for the rest of my life. I don't like the alternatives. Both my parents are diabetic, and I can't afford to visit the doctor on a regular basis. I don't want to go blind from eating a ding-dong, so I have made a serious effort to get poractgive about my health. Your mileage of course will vary, but the best way - the only real way - to take the pounds off and keep them off is to actually get off your butt and make some serious, permanent changes to your life. And yes, I do slip from time to time. I some times binge on sweets, or cheat and put a little sugar in my coffee like I used to. What I don't do is decide this means I've failed and ignore my diet. I pick myself up and keep on going, trying to make the right food choices and to stay active in spite of my slip ups.
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