I went to a holiday party last night and saw a friend I hadn't seen in a while.
"Hey, Woody--you look great! How did you manage to lose so much weight?"
"Well, I tried something radical: I'm eating less food. I realized that I liked looking good and feeling good more than I liked eating extra food. I found that I was eating a lot when I felt depressed or stressed or lonely, so I decided to find other ways of managing stress and being with people I love that weren't centered around eating too much."
I've been conducting clinical research for over 30 years. In the process I've learned what really works to make and maintain lasting changes in diet and lifestyle. Woody got it right.
So, maybe you're a little stuffed from holiday indulgences. OK, really stuffed. Perhaps you look in the mirror and don't like what you see. You're ready to make some New Year's resolutions, but you're not optimistic that this year is going to be any different. Many people believe that it takes willpower to achieve such goals. "I resolve to eat less food" sounds good in theory, but it's often hard to sustain. And if you believe that it's all willpower, then you're likely to be upset with yourself if you don't succeed.
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And join Weight Watchers. I've lost nearly a hundred pounds in 2 rounds of WW. Of course, each time, I gained SOME (but not all) of it back when I quit. But the whole idea is to lose gradually simply by smart eating and calorie-counting plus exercise and also sharing your culinary triumphs and tragedies with a group of like-minded fatties....
You could go get yourself a 50-pound bale
of leafy green spinach, and do your best
to put it all in your mouth and gulp it down.
Your friends will all leave the house, so
it'll just be you and the spinach, but you'll
be satisfied. You'll also be healthier than
if you tried to eat 50 pounds of pizza.
I think if people want to lose weight, then
they should drop 10 bucks for a nutrition book
and go buy something called 'a kichen scale',
where you can weigh it BEFORE you put it in
your mouth, because that'll be something that
gives you a better idea of how much of it
will glue itself to your beltline.
Of course you can get some good desserts in those states if you like cheese cake and maple syrup. Oops, sorry.
What I really want to say is that I think the Doctor is 100% correct. Step one is accepting the fact that you are overweight, it is killing you slowly and change must happen. Step two is finding the realistic answer that fits you, not the person in the next cubicle at work. Step three is implementation. For most people the cliche that better diet = permanent change in lifestyle is true. The Doctor is doing us all a stupendous service by using the D word. Depression and excess weight are twin devils.
People must fight both. Talk to your doctor, but decide what is going to work for you. Normally this means reduction in overall food intake + avoiding specific foods. Within those boundaries you can eat tons of stuff you love and never feel deprived. One final comment. Please do not listen to all the bad advice from your family, friends and even people on the Net.
Skinny people like to lord it over fat people. Live with it, and don't let it get you down. You are not your worst enemy, but the self rightous prick at the next cubicle in the office might be when it comes to help in making good decisions.
Dr. Dean,
Funny how heart disease and diabetes only became endemic once humans started eating cereals, isn't it? We are a hunter-gatherer species, and until evolution catches up to our modern diet, eating otherwise is foolhardy.
Meat, eggs, nuts, green vegetables, moderate dairy, and berries and fruit for dessert in small portions is how you do it. Oats, rice, wheat, and other grasses are nothing more than a myocardial infarction in granular form.
Atkins works, and all your wailing and gnashing of teeth to the contrary will not alter that fact.
With respect,
--Hyde
.
(Now, if you're carrying 50 extra pounds, that's a different kettle of Omega3-rich fish!)
Weight is determined by calories in - calories used. 1 lb. = 3500 calories, so every extra 3500 calories eaten puts on a pound or so. Want to lose a pound? Consume 3500 fewer calories: 7 days x 500 calories = 3500 calories, so to lose 1 pound per week, you must consume 500 fewer calories per day. That's 500 fewer calories than it takes to maintain your CURRENT weight, not how many you happen to be eating. If you consume 4,000 calories per day, dropping 500 isn't going to help.
An adult woman needs between 1500-2000 calories per day: to lose 1 ib. per week, eat 1,000-1,500 calories per day. You can burn up a few calories swimming or walking, which might get you an extra teeny cooky. Sorry, thems the facts.
That´s what Woody did, isn´t it?
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