Overcoming obesity

[yayurr]

I thought I'd share my current approach to losing weight, should it be useful to anybody else.

Let me preemptively say that weight loss necessarily requires that you consume fewer calories than you expend, and weight maintenance requires that you balance the two. (Now let's see how many people jump in to tell us exactly this, as if knowledge of this one fact would be enough to do away with obesity once and for all.)

The real challenge, of course, is how to reduce consumption. (Increasing expenditure is relatively straightforward, at least in my experience: go for a walk, go to the gym and jump on the elliptical, etc.) So here's what I've been trying lately, with some success:

1. Go to the gym in the morning and do an hour of cardio, keeping your pulse rate around 60% of your maximum heart rate.
2. To make yourself go to the gym, pack your work clothes in your gym bag, and have your exercise clothes ready to put on in the morning.
3. Decide on an appropriate weight loss goal and an appropriate time frame. (For me, this is to go from 270 (now) to 180 (end of March 2012). This is a little fast than the weight loss rate you normally hear advised (1 or 2 lbs per week), but I haven't found any hard data behind the 1-to-2 lbs/week recommendation, and I think it was meant to apply to those who only had 20 or 30 lbs to lose and not those of use with more like 90 lbs to lose.)
4. Create a calendar with the exact weight you will need to reach for every day between now and then. (You could do this by calculating the number of pounds you need to lose and dividing by the number of days. I'd suggest you do something different: divide the goal weight by the current rate, and take the nth root of that number, where n is the number of days you have. Then take the original weight, multiply it by that number, and you get the weight on the 2nd day. Take the 2nd day's weight, multiply it by that number, and you get the weight on the 3rd day, and so on. This way your goal is to lose a certain (very small) percentage of your weight on each day, which means that you'll be losing faster on the early days than the later days. This is good, since the heavier you are, the more easily you'll be able to drop the pounds.)
5. Buy a balance beam scale. This way you'll be able to tell exactly how much you weigh.
6. Every morning, right after you get up, weigh yourself. Write the number down on your calendar. If the number is too high, don't eat anything that day except for dinner, and don't drink anything with calories in it. (But adding a tiny bit of milk and sugar to your coffee is okay.) Yes, you will be hungry, but if there's no doubt in your mind that you just aren't going to eat until dinner, the hunger won't bother you the way it would if you felt that it were possible that you might eat before then.
7. Otherwise, for breakfast have some oatmeal. (I make steel-cut oats in my rice cooker overnight with soymilk and a little maple syrup.)
8. For lunch and dinner, have a (healthy) frozen dinner. (I like Amy's since they're mostly organic, not packaged in plastic, have no funky ingredients that I don't know how to pronounce, and are generally not overflowing with fat and sugar. You can usually also find some reasonably healthy frozen Indian food.)
9. Eat vegetables throughout the day if you feel like it.
10. Eat one or two pieces of fruit per day.
11. When you're eating, focus solely on your food: no reading, no TV.

Seems to be working for me so far. In the past I'd do things like decide that I would be eating nothing but beans and rice for every meal until I lost 100 lbs. It worked for as long as I could keep it up, but I'd eventually want some variety, and I'd start eating food that kept me from my goal. I seem to have enough variety now to keep me from straying.

Hope this helps somebody else. It'd be great to hear advice if you've got any.

 

[kineticpsi]

You should always eat routinely. It helps your metabolism and avoids causing your body to go into shock which slows the metabolism process. Even a piece of fruit is better than nothing.

Some studies and physicians say to eat every three to four hours, others say only to eat when hungry. I say eat three main meals and two to three healthy snacks, avoiding sodas and other high caloric items. This has worked for me. Especially cutting out meat, although it could have been that I was more conscious about everything that went in my body and not just avoiding dairy products.

 

[MoltenRock III]

You should always eat routinely. It helps your metabolism and avoids causing your body to go into shock which slows the metabolism process. Even a piece of fruit is better than nothing.

Some studies and physicians say to eat every three to four hours, others say only to eat when hungry. I say eat three main meals and two to three healthy snacks, avoiding sodas and other high caloric items. This has worked for me. Especially cutting out meat, although it could have been that I was more conscious about everything that went in my body and not just avoiding dairy products.

Feeling hungry isn't a bad thing. The American obsession of carrying water and snacks with you everywhere you go, as if you're some pack camel riding into the desert for 4 days, instead of the actual 40 minutes you'll be gone, is hilarious.

A person shouldn't be eating to avoid feeling hungry. It teaches awful eating habits. The feeling of hunger is good, and should be felt daily to manage ones weight. It's learning to manage those feelings / urges longterm to keep your weight in the healthy zone.

 

[kallipolis]

A person shouldn't be eating to avoid feeling hungry. It teaches awful eating habits. The feeling of hunger is good, and should be felt daily to manage ones weight. It's learning to manage those feelings / urges longterm to keep your weight in the healthy zone.

This is very good advice.

A strictly observed dieting fad often loses its allure and old habits return.

An obsessive, compulsive focus on our eating habits often speaks more of other underlying problems that are contributing to over eating, and poor choice of foods.

A low key long term approach to eating healthily, and regular physical exercise rewards us with results that are an investment in our well being over our life time.

 

[yayurr]

You should always eat routinely. It helps your metabolism and avoids causing your body to go into shock which slows the metabolism process. Even a piece of fruit is better than nothing.

Some studies and physicians say to eat every three to four hours, others say only to eat when hungry. I say eat three main meals and two to three healthy snacks, avoiding sodas and other high caloric items. This has worked for me. Especially cutting out meat, although it could have been that I was more conscious about everything that went in my body and not just avoiding dairy products.

You do hear this advice all the time, that you'd better not let your caloric intake drop too low (or let too much time pass between meals) or your metabolism will slow down. I can't speak for everybody, but as a 30-year-old man with a lot of weight to lose, it has always been my experience that the less I eat, the more I lose. If I were a 50-year-old woman who only needed to lose 20 lbs, perhaps things would work differently.

I've read that in France (until quite recently) it was considered almost socially inappropriate to eat outside of mealtime, whereas here in the United States you can't hold a meeting without a giant platter of cookies, muffins, sandwiches, etc. The French clearly don't have the kind of weight issues that we do (at least not yet), so I figure it's worth trying that way of thinking for a while. If I go a little hungry between meals, I don't think it's going to do me any harm.

 

[yayurr]

A strictly observed dieting fad often loses its allure and old habits return.

An obsessive, compulsive focus on our eating habits often speaks more of other underlying problems that are contributing to over eating, and poor choice of foods.

A low key long term approach to eating healthily, and regular physical exercise rewards us with results that are an investment in our well being over our life time.

I agree with what you're saying, but how do you take a low-key long-term approach? My entire life, I've alternated between two states. The first is where I just refuse to think about my weight problem, and I eat whatever I want. When I'm in this state, I gain weight. Fast. The second is when I become acutely aware of how much I weigh, and I start eating better. Whether what I've described above counts as a strictly-observed dieting fad, I don't know, but I do know that I do have a somewhat obsessive and compulsive focus on my current eating habits. And here's the thing: as soon as I lose this obsessive-compulsive focus, I'll go right back to eating the way I have in the past that made me gain all this weight to begin with.

My suspicion is that for some of us, the only way to lose weight (or even to maintain a healthy weight) is to keep an obsessive focus on it. I wouldn't be surprised, since maintaining a healthy weight in the current environment is not something that our evolutionary heritage has prepared us for. And I'll bet our lean ancestors were hungry a lot of the time too.

 

[kallipolis]

I agree with what you're saying, but how do you take a low-key long-term approach? My entire life, I've alternated between two states. The first is where I just refuse to think about my weight problem, and I eat whatever I want. When I'm in this state, I gain weight. Fast. The second is when I become acutely aware of how much I weigh, and I start eating better. Whether what I've described above counts as a strictly-observed dieting fad, I don't know, but I do know that I do have a somewhat obsessive and compulsive focus on my current eating habits. And here's the thing: as soon as I lose this obsessive-compulsive focus, I'll go right back to eating the way I have in the past that made me gain all this weight to begin with.

My suspicion is that for some of us, the only way to lose weight (or even to maintain a healthy weight) is to keep an obsessive focus on it. I wouldn't be surprised, since maintaining a healthy weight in the current environment is not something that our evolutionary heritage has prepared us for. And I'll bet our lean ancestors were hungry a lot of the time too.

Obsessive behaviour often creates the swings that you are referring too, when speaking to your weight issues. Consequently it does not make sense to become obsessively focused on your dietary regime knowing that your obsessive behaviour is the cause of your weight related matters.

A gentler, or more subtle approach that recognises a need to eat healthily for the rest of your life, eliminates your apparent obsessiveness with time and focuses on your long term need to create balance, and well being in all aspects of your life.

The gradual approach eliminates an obsessive need to create the perfect physique over night rather focuses on good health, well being and harmony.

 

[bankside]

• Eating for survival.
• Eating for nutrition.
• Eating for consolation.
• Eating for the pleasure of the experience.

Survival eating is based on consuming whatever food is around with enough calories to make the organs function and move around.

Nutritional eating is based on getting the right kind of food, not just the minimum quantity. This prevents things like scurvy. Or as we're learning, cancer, heart disease, and many other diet-connected health problems.

Consolation eating comforts us in times of stress, gives us a quick hit of endorphins, and is used to manage our mood.

Pleasurable or experiential eating is for the joy of the feast; savouring the wonderful flavours, celebrating the special occasion, toasting a special event with calories, but most of all for the sheer appreciation of the wonderful flavours, textures, sights & sounds of our favourite things to eat. It's a chance to experience a certain kind of passion for the food.


I think we often advise people who are losing weight to give up eating for consolation, and give up eating for pleasure. I think it is bad advice. I think it is unnecessary advice. And ultimately I think it's actually self-defeating.

People can't face a bleak future of just eating nothing but sensible nutritionally balanced minimum portions required for survival. Food is too wonderful to reduce it to some kind of caloric metabolic input as though we're just robots that need to be plugged in.

And because we make that mistake, we set ourselves up to fail because such a restrictive approach just isn't sustainable. Unless of course you can maintain it with a degree of obsessive compulsiveness that probably in itself is unhealthy. But it's not necessarily a very pleasant relaxed way to live, nor is it pleasant to be around to be honest.

I think it is easier to make progress by allowing for all four kinds of eating, insisting on them even, as part of a holistic healthy life.

AFter a shitty day at work and I want nothing more to eat an ice cream cone because the regular boss is on assignment and the boss filling in is an asshole, I should be able to walk down to the dairy queen, eat one, enjoy every bit of it, and calm down knowing that I haven't fucked up my health, my boss didn't make me fail by pushing me over the edge into a downward spiral of another failed weight loss attempt. It's just an ice-cream cone for fuck's sake. And because I walked there, I can enjoy every damn crumb and still do okay on my weight loss plan, and enjoy being calm from getting my treat.

After saying "no thanks" on tuesday to pizza lunch at work and having lentil soup for supper on Wednesday and freezing some for next Tuesday, I'm going to enjoy whatever I like at Thanksgiving dinner. I'm going to have extra stuffing. I'm going to say "pass the gravy" and I'm not going to feel like a failure for actually knowing that food tastes good. Because in the overall plan, it's not a failure and it's not stopping me, and I'm still on track.

I think it is asking people to deny that part of eating which ultimately is unhealthy.
I think the only problem with a 4300 calorie thanksgiving feast is that people use it as a trigger to shut down and give up, instead of just adapting the week before and after.

To my list above, which I think are all healthy kinds of eating, I would add the following unhealthy kinds of eating:

• Eating on schedule. (I'm not hungry but since it's lunch and all my co-workers are eating).
• Eating to punish failure. (I'll never lose weight so if you can't beat it you might as well eat it.)

Eating on schedule was an issue for me. I actually agree that you should feel hunger before you eat because your body needs to learn the difference between "hungry," "not hungry any more," "full" and "uncomfortably full."