I thought it was time to at least address something that touches most of us in one way or another… dieting. That could be thinking about dieting, researching different diets, listening to success stories about diets, following fad diets, reading about diets on the internet…whatever it is we all seem to be infatuated with the subject. The first time I ever actually went on a diet was in the 1970’s when we lived in San Jose, CA. Kathy, who never needed a diet in her life decided to support me by going on a diet with me. We did a Natureslim thing. This was a powder that you made shakes with. You had one in the morning, one at lunch time and then had dinner. That was it. Suddenly the only important part of the day was dinner time. All activities were gauged by dinner. We went to the store 2 hours before dinner. We watched a TV show right after dinner. I needed to know the day before what we were going to have for dinner the next day so I could think about it. I was preoccupied with every dinner. It was ridiculous. I had never had to watch what I ate. I was very active and ate pretty much what I wanted and between golf, racquetball and work I burned enough calories to maintain my weight. Unfortunately, I was getting older and wasn’t as active as I had been but kept the eating up and started to put on some pounds. The other factor was that you couldn’t eat anything after dinner. What a bummer. I remembered that it took 42 days for the guys in Ireland to die of starvation. I reasoned that by simply reducing my intake that would be enough. Some egghead nutritionist wasn’t ok with that approach. I needed to stay on the diet. It was terrible. All I could think about was food. The shakes weren’t working and not eating after dinner was totally unacceptable. Kathy and I stayed on this diet for about a month. I think it helped some but I was going to have other problems if I stayed on the diet much longer. I would probably develop ulcers from the anxiety and I am sure that my eye would start twitching uncontrollably if the diet lasted much longer. I kept thinking about a big breakfast with hash browns and bacon and toast with a nice cup of coffee. A sub sandwich from Togo’s for lunch and whatever sounded good for dinner and finally an ice cream sundae after dinner. It got to the point that I couldn’t read magazines, watch TV commercials, know that there was any snack food in the house, watch other people eat, drive by restaurants or listen to other people talk about eating. Clearly, I was not committed to this thing and we stopped the diet. I did not end up with an ulcer or twitching eyes.
Fast forward to more dieting. As time passed, I continued to eat what I wanted and the physical activity continued to go down so the end result was weight gain. My only admitted vice has always been over-eating so dieting is like a sentence of daily torture for me. I have heard that once you get over the initial shock that it gets easier. That is pure baloney. I still had the cravings. Contrary to what you may have heard dieting is no fun. Losing weight is fine—I like the net result, but I could also lose weight in a jail cell deprived of food. This entire article is depressing me. You can always find justification for cheating on a diet. You have to weigh the benefits. How badly do I need to lose weight? Is it life threatening? How much do I need to lose? If I outgrow all of my clothes is buying larger sizes the end of the world? Don’t I need to be happy? If being on a diet makes me unhappy is that ok? This whole discussion is getting stupid. Of course, I needed to lose weight. My health is important. Being overweight leads to all kinds of health issues. I like my current wardrobe and don’t really want to buy larger sizes…hell I might actually end up in the Husky section of the store. I know that was not acceptable when I was a kid and it still isn’t now.
Let us take another look at dieting. There have been so many different diets. Obviously not every diet works for everyone. I guess you try to find one that works for you and try to stay on that diet. To me it comes down to everything in moderation. At the end of the day that makes the most sense to me. Now this is starting to sound like rationalization. I guess it is to some extent but I do believe that the key is to find something that you can live with and stick to it. Doing nothing makes no sense. Making the effort is better and making a commitment to changing your eating habits has to be worthwhile. Today we hear about the South Beach Diet, Keto diets, Cave Man Diets, and so many more. All carbs, no carbs, low in carbs, supplements, daily exercise, extreme exercise, the Peloton and all the other machines to help you trim down and feel better. Pills, lists of foods, portion sizes, food shipped to your house…a diet consultant for you. This all seems pretty daunting. At the end of the day, you have the last word. Losing weight is entirely under your control. It goes beyond self control. It goes beyond counting calories…which by the way I refuse to do. It is all about deciding what you want, what your goals are, writing down those goals and keeping track of how you are doing. It is easy to cheat or have miss steps but as long as you are committed to a plan…whatever that is…and whatever you can actually live with…it is the right thing for you.
I want to share one incredible success story about me and dieting. At some point I decided that I was ready to lose weight. I bought the South Beach Book and read about the diet. It made sense to me and I believed it was something I could do. The book had meal plans in the back. It was really a life changing experience…and I was absolutely committed. I followed the first 14 days to the letter and lost an incredible 9 pounds. I stayed on the diet using their meal plans and snack plans and in 90 days I lost 45 pounds. I couldn’t believe it. The pounds just went away. Every piece of clothing in my closet fit. It was incredible. I liked the way I looked and felt. After 90 days I believed that I had changed my way of eating forever and that I would be able to maintain my weight with few problems. Unfortunately for me I started going back to my old ways and in about three to six months I had gained back most of the weight. That was depressing. I was on top of the world and blew it. A few years later I tried the South Beach Diet again with not so amazing results. I kept on it for a while then lost interest when the pounds stopped coming off. I haven’t gone back on the diet since. I am basically healthy, don’t have any real health issues but I do carry around too much weight and again I should be thinking about doing something to lose some pounds. I know it would give me more energy and help with my blood sugar readings since I am a Type 2 diabetic. I know that exercise and weight loss would help with that.
Here are the takeaways from this little article on dieting. Make a commitment, set realistic goals, do something in terms of what you eat, when you eat it, and keep track of your progress. Walk, jog, or do some exercises at home. Do them regularly on a schedule. Celebrate any successes…Be patient with the results or lack of results. As long as you are trending in the right direction everything is ok. I don’t know if spending money is necessary. You literally have all the control…start making good decisions and see what happens. Your new day could be great. I don’t even know that you need to announce to the world what you are doing. Dieting is really very personal. As you become successful others will notice and you can feel good about all those good decisions that you have made. Make tomorrow the first day of the rest of your heathy life.
I do want to mention one other thing. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Blue Zones. These are places around the planet where people tend to live long. Many of these people live well over 100 years. If that appeals to you then I suggest that you look into the whole Blue Zone subject. The only Blue Zone in the US is Loma Linda California. There are several other zones around the world. It is fascinating reading. They talk about similarities in the way these people live. What they eat, etc. Check the subject out. Maybe you don’t want to live past 100 but it is certainly of interest to me.
