<p>I could never have a diet that didn’t include a plan for including some less healthy foods. I’m not interested in never having ice cream again - but I don’t mind not having it in the house. I limit wine and desserts to weekends and I have small servings. At one time I had one piece of chocolate a night - I’ll do that when I get my Valentine’s Day box of chocolate. I think it’s silly to go to a restaurant and not cook something they cook better than I do. I might even order the hash browns if I was convinced I could only eat a small serving of them. They usually give you way too much!</p>
<p>Actually, we like the mini-parfait (yogurt with some fruit topping) at McDonald’s. It’s on the dollar menu at most of them in HI & hits the spot. I’ve heard of others who like their salads (but to me, they’re pricey for salads).</p>
<p>Wow, did you notice in the research findings that 90% of the paticipants exercise an hour a day? Impressive! I’ll be curious to read their findings 2blue.</p>
<p>Check this out the mini parfait has 22 grams of sugar, the double cheeseburger has 7 with fries 0. Guess what I’m eating! of course that would be half of the carbs allowed for the day, though. I know, it makes no sense, but I’m losing weight!</p>
<p>Official weigh in on the office scale tomorrow AM, will let you know if it continues. (I won the pool the last 2 weeks, don’t expect to tomorrow.) Remember, I haven’t gone to the gym at all, just walking my dog daily for 20 minutes or so.)</p>
<p>mathmom, if I had your willpower I would not be on this forum!!</p>
<p>I have had the parfait but honestly find it too sweet. I am not a big sweets person- I love salty foods. Hence my love of the french fries. I think I’m probably just better off staying away from any fast food place!</p>
<p>I love the parfait! It is a better choice than ice cream or donuts. :)</p>
<p>I could live with never having ice cream again. I could also live with never having another soda or even any alcohol. I could not live with never having another french fry or piece of sour dough toast with butter.</p>
<p>I don’t expect my cutting out sugar will be a lifetime thing, but it’s something that I have to do now, until I get to the point where I can me moderate about it. The problem is that at this point, if I have just a little bit of chocolate or a cookie I can’t stop until I have too much. Thus, it’s easier for me to go cold turkey for a while. I’m hoping that once I lose the cravings, I will be able to have the occasional treat without going nuts.</p>
<p>Bookiemom, my advice is to take it slowly. At our Y, the classes are strenuous. I started back on a more intense workout routine on Dec. 28th, using a 9-week couch to 5k program. I am up to 28 minutes continuous jogging and the program ends with 30 minutes. I won’t have completed a 5k in 30 minutes at my current pace, so I will have to keep adding minutes and speed on alternative runs until I get there. I added some light weight lifting and stretching about one week after starting the running. I also do a daily 3 mile walk (which is not new). I think I am close to being ready to add back in a class. I like Sculpt, which is light weights with lots of reps. All of this takes quite a bit of time, but I am finally starting to see results.</p>
<p>In terms of diet, for me completely eliminating foods (which is the route I generally take) doesn’t mean I don’t “want” those foods, but I no longer “crave” them. I saw some pretty good-looking ice cream Sundaes at Sam’s Club over the week-end. Because I haven’t had any sugar in about a month, resisting wasn’t that hard. If I had indulged, I would be climbiing walls wanting something sweet for about three more days. Just knowing that keeps me from wanting it except on a really, really special occasion. Just seeing it won’t tempt me once I’m past that initial detox period. That doesn’t mean I can’t mindlessly fall of the wagon. I do have to remind myself about the implications of indulging. </p>
<p>I’m pretty sure not everybody has the same kind of reaction to sugar because lots of folks here seem to do great eating just a little bit of something indulgent and then stopping. That is a recipe for torture for me.</p>
<p>Thanks, TheAnalyst. I don’t want to be the dork in the back of the room who can’t keep up. There are a lot of “101” classes at our Y that are supposed to be OK for beginners. </p>
<p>And I’m with you about just saying no the the goodies. Usually I’d rather have no cookies than one cookie. A friend passed on this saying:</p>
<p>One is too many, and a hundred isn’t enough. </p>
<p>That works for me with cookies, potato chips, cashews, chocolate, and my new forbidden food: wasabi flavored almonds.</p>
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hmom5 claims that I’d stop wanting hot fudge sundaes and come to prefer an apple. Well, I wouldn’t. Sorry. I love apples, but I also love ice cream. I can stop buying ice cream and having it in my house, but I can’t stop liking it.
[quote]
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<p>The fairly recent book by a former head of the FDA, The End Of Overating (or something similar) provides info on a lot of the science involved in changing you brain chemistry in terms of food. I do believe from personal experience and that of many I know, you will stop craving foods when you stop eating them.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean you won’t still like them, it just means the pull isn’t there. I love chocolate and french fries and do eat them in moderation. But I’m happy with one square and a few fries. Big pieces of chocolate cake have no appeal and would probably make me feel ill although I once ate them often.</p>
<p>In the end, it really is about what we want most. That candy bar that brings pleasue for a few minutes? Looking great in skinny jeans? Feeling and being as healthy as possible? </p>
<p>Everyone gets to choose. Most of my overweight friends self loathe, so it’s hard for me to understand why they keep choosing the candy bars. My friends who look and feel 40 at 55 seem to have a greater love of life. So I’ve made my choice based on long term observation, and those who feel they are missing out on life without the sugar or fat are hopefully happy in the long run with their choice…</p>
<p>An older man I’m newly working with commented that god had been good to me because he was suprised to learn I had college aged kids. I told him, no, my trainer has been good to me as have my green juices and healthy diet. OK, and a little Botox.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of different routes to weight loss and its best to share tips and offer advice without taking a moral stance or being judgmental as to choices. I am the lowest weight I have been in years – down enough that my biggest problem happens to be the need to tighten my belt and extra notch to keep my pants up – and I think I have maintained generally good eating habits, but dark chocolate bars are a staple in my house (I keep them in the fridge and eat them 1 square at a time) – and I also enjoy nibbling on cheese. Rather than give up cheese I chose the crackers - now it is small bits of cheese with celery & carrots. </p>
<p>Anyway – its not a matter of what I choose to eat vs. what someone else chooses. As delighted as I am to find my size 8 jeans are too loose, I wouldn’t opt to make myself miserable over food to get there. I strive for reasonable balance and I’m big on portion & size control. Dinner tonight was a very small (but yummy) sliver of lasagna and a very large spinach salad. I still eat what I want to eat, and I’ve given up a whole lot of fattening foods I decided I could do without – but someone else might have a different equation. </p>
<p>To Cardinal Fang – one suggestion I have is simply to keep the foods you like, but look for more healthy alternatives of the SAME food. Ice cream and pizza? Opt for thin crust pizza rather than the regular crust – go for more tomato sauce and less cheese – choose a pizza loaded with lots of healthy veggies (green peppers, mushrooms, artichokes) – rather than one topped with sausage or pepperoni. And limit yourself to 1 large slice or 2 small ones – and load up on the salad. Instead of regular ice cream, try frozen yogurt or sorbet – or else do a portion control thing with ice cream – a little scoop of ice cream along with sliced fresh fruit, for example. </p>
<p>A person who can’t resist the second scoop of ice cream or the third slice of pizza might have to give them up entirely – but I have found that I can satisfy myself with various substitutes for my favorite foods, and sometimes I end up liking the lower fat or higher fiber substitute better. </p>
<p>But again - I feel that the goal should be whatever works. For some people that might mean raw foods and someone else might choose the Atkins diet. I think I’m pretty much on a Mediterranean diet – if it could fit a particular definition or pattern – but the main thing is that as I learn more I try to incorporate more healthy foods without necessarily making huge changes. Truthfully, because I live alone and its a hassle to cook, Lean Cuisine is a staple for me – so nothing to brag about. Just common sense coupled with figuring out what works for me. I have some friends who have done very well with Nutrisystem – that solves the cooking problem – but it wouldn’t be a good match for my lifestyle.</p>
<p>^^^Wise words, calmom. I was easily able to give up candy, ice cream, and cake. I’ve found I cannot keep cookies in the house. But give up my nightly glass of wine? Never!!</p>
<p>Everyone is different. Everyone needs to do what works for him/her.</p>
<p>I pulled out my South Beach Diet book to look for some recipe ideas and do find that some substitutions are totally painless for me. Instead of my apple with my oatmeal, I switched to fresh blueberries (which Sam’s carries at a reasonable cost) and I got a bag of grapefruit for my afternoon fruit snack and love them just plain. I’m not willing to give up all fruit (or my weekly glass of wine), which the book suggests to do for the first two weeks to change your body chemistry, but I can switch to fruits with a lower glycemic index. </p>
<p>I need to have H eat up the remainder of the 10 pound bag of potatoes we have. If I make a big batch of mashed potatoes with skim milk, low fat sour cream, and roasted garlic, he will polish them right off and I think I can resist. Then I will switch to sweet potatoes, which others have recommended, since they also have a lower glycemic index. H loves the hummus on his sandwich and he thinks his pita bread is a “real” food ala Pollan’s definition. Sam’s carries giant tubs of hummus as well as pita so I will check labels when I go shopping today. It would be nice not to have to make a separate trip to a bakery for H’s bread. I am also going to pick him up some pretzels and corn chips because those don’t tempt me at all and he has been craving them big time, probably because his body needs the salt. He is running 50 miles per week right now (training for Boston), so has different nutritional needs than I have.</p>
<p>To paraphrase the infamous quote, “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!”</p>
<p>:)</p>
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<p>And if one is healthy but overweight? Does it just come down to appearances then? I’m pretty sure that my husband is healthier than I am. He works out 2 hours a day most days. He never misses a doctors or dentists appoinment. But he’s overweight because he eats a lot. I am thin, only work out an hour or two a week, hate to go to the doctor and dentist, and am extremely headache prone.</p>
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</p>
<p>I thought that was only when you were having overnight guests!
;)</p>
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<p>LOL, definitely a preventable producing cause!</p>
<p>^NYT just talked about this:</p>
<p>[Phys</a> Ed: Can You Be Overweight and Still Be Healthy? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Phys Ed: Can You Be Overweight and Still Be Healthy? - The New York Times”>Phys Ed: Can You Be Overweight and Still Be Healthy? - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Thanks for posting that, hmom5. </p>
<p>Even if my blood work is “normal” I cannot imagine lugging around all of this extra weight for the rest of my life. I think physical discomfort at being overweight more than appearance is what’s motivating me right now. Happily, I weighed myself this morning and over the course of the month have lost approximately 12 pounds. Without torturing myself or feeling deprived. </p>
<p>So I’m hoping in another 30 days I’ll see another 8 to 10 pounds drop off the scale. This weekend I’m going to pull out the South Beach cookbook as TheAnalyst has done and see what I can do to spice up the meals a bit. January was tough with children coming and going but now that we’re back to 2 for meals I’ll see what I can come up with.</p>
<p>Interesting, hmom5. It seems to be politically correct to talk about a “healthy weight” rather than an “attractive weight.” But I imagine that the beautiful young women that are criticized on the model and cheerleader shows are perfectly healthy - they just have a little too much belly or rear to look good in a skimpy costume.</p>