Posts Tagged ‘healthy lifestyle’

8 Jun

Weighing in, and bacon.

Posted by hlward in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

I don’t know if you read this blog for the witty turns-of-phrase (yes, I flatter myself), for the insightful links from the research department, because you have nothing better to do, or because you keep thinking that sooner or later I’ll lose some more weight.

If that last reason is your reason, I have good news and bad news for you tonight:  No, I haven’t lost weight since the last time I posted a weigh-in. I was 262 this morning, which isn’t bad considering how much I stretched my “program” since I was last posting regularly in March, but it’s not the same thing as losing weight.  The good news is that now I’m pissed-off about it.  Which isn’t a good motivator for everyone, but for me, it’s always been a fine way to keep my mind on the project at-hand.  Being angry about something sharpens my focus.

Why am I pissed-off?  Well, there are the obvious reasons – primarily that I’ve been stalled within a few pounds for too long, and since I actually write about his stuff on the internet it’s kind of embarrassing to be stalled for so long for no other reason than that I haven’t been on-task.  I wanted to be farther along than this before summer, and I’m not, and it’s nobody’s fault but my own.

But that’s not all.  The truth is – and we all know this – that there are a lot of too-good-to-be-true weight-loss gimmicks out there, and if people like me who are doing this sensibly don’t succeed, and don’t share that success, the gimmicks win.  And then everybody loses, because the gimmicks don’t work.  At least not in the long run.

So I won’t have it.  No white-bread hamburger bun, no bowl of cheese-grits, no Kraft Mac and Cheese tastes good enough for me to let the gimmicks win without a fight.

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Speaking of hamburger buns, here’s a bonus bacon cheeseburger link and a couple of thoughts.  You may have read that McDonald’s announced they will phase out using pigs from gestation-crates for their pork products.  Good news, right?  Yeah, turns out they’re not going to actually, ummm, do that for about ten years.  One more reason to stay away from fast food.

Beyond that, let’s talk about bacon cheeseburgers for a minute.  A while back, in one of my more lucid moments in this process, it occurred to me that when I order a bacon cheeseburger – or any sort of beef burger – what I taste is the burger.  Furthermore, that’s what I want to taste when I order a burger – the beef.  So I tried really thinking and tasting my burger (yeah, eating intentionally) to see how much the bacon was adding to the experience.  Answer?  Almost nothing.  And on further review, I think I’m going to jettison the cheese.  A good burger stands on its own.  No reason to tart up a good piece of beef.  It’s insulting to both the cow and the pig.

Yeah, I still eat bacon, you bet I do.  But I save it for places where it really makes a difference – carbonara, next to an egg, places where it belongs.  It doesn’t belong on a burger.  So I don’t put it there anymore.  And I don’t miss it.

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Thanks for reading – don’t be shy about passing this along to a friend!

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11 Jun

The Difference Between This and Dieting

Posted by hlward in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , .

I’ve mentioned this before, but I realize not everyone has read every post on this blog, nor do those of you who have necessarily remember every pearl of wisdom and turn of phrase I write here.  I understand that to readers who aren’t working through a similar process (or haven’t in the past, or aren’t close to someone who has or is), it’s hard to distinguish between being “on a diet” and making permanent changes to the way one (me) approaches food and drink.

In an effort to be both clear about what I’m working on and to keep this blog relevant to readers who aren’t working on similar changes of their own, I’ve come up with a couple of examples that might be helpful:

The difference between what I’m doing and going on a diet is the difference between giving up smoking and just quitting until the cough clears up.

The difference between what I’m doing and going on a diet is the difference between giving up drinking and sobering up for a big meeting.

Going on a diet is fine if you’re trying to lose a few pounds for the reunion.  I’m not.  I’m changing my relationship to food and drink.  If I were on a diet … and I’ve been on plenty … I’d have a goal – like I do now – but I’d know that as soon as I reached that goal I could back off and relax.  Go get a cake from Publix and celebrate.  Open up a bag of Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles and wash it down with a convenience store drum of Coca-Cola.  Sure, that wouldn’t be ideal, but that’s what going on a diet is.  It’s a climb up the mountain knowing the downhill trip is, well, downhill.

That’s why I’m not on a diet.  There’s no “yippee, I made it!” party at the end.  Yes, I’ll be mighty happy when I get to 207 next year, but that’s not the end.  I’m not going back to soda, to white bread, to sweet tea, to any of that stuff.  I won’t tell you I’ll never have a slice of birthday cake again – that would be ridiculous.  I want to get to a point where I can do that occasionally.  I want to be able to eat “just one” without it driving me crazy.  And if I can’t get to that point, then yes, I’ll stay away from that stuff entirely.

This is a lifetime lifestyle change.  The part where I lose the weight, that’s just the short-term, getting-started phase.  That’s why it’s not a diet.  I hope this helps me explain it a bit better.  I’m not going to harp on this anymore but I felt it needed to be written.

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In other news, I’ve learned that at least one person I work with reads this blog.  Which turns up the accountability heat.  There’s nowhere to hide.  Which was kinda the point in starting this blog.  Thank you, readers!

10 Jun

Train Kept a Rollin’

Posted by hlward in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , .

Today’s Friday, and Friday’s weigh-in day:  268.  That’s 19 pounds in 13 weeks, or almost seven percent of my starting weight.

This morning I’m thinking about that lost weight as debris being thrown from a runaway train, littering the tracks behind me.  Don’t worry, it’s biodegradable.

And yes, I know the song referenced in the title above has nothing to do with losing weight or anything that could be construed as a healthy lifestyle.  I like train songs, and it’s a good analogy.  Give me some room to work, here.

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Some post topics to which you can look forward in the coming days:  Easing into an exercise program, How fake/overprocessed food might be affecting us all and Why avoiding a stroke has become a Big Deal for me.

Thanks for reading!

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