are you guys really happy with the healthier life style? or how do you keep up?
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Just started a few months ago, so I'm gonna say I'm still in the adjustment phase. I like the results but don't like the effort. Pretty sure that will change the more I get used to it. Hopefully, anyway.0
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arabianhorselover wrote: »"I am one of those "lucky" ones that I never really put on much weight no matter how much I eat."
There is no such person. Either this or you are a magic fairy.
This is not true. I am a compulsive over eater, and for all of my life up until I was in my 30s and had my kids, I ate all I wanted of whatever I wanted. I did not put on weight, and I ate a LOT of fat and sugar. Even during my pregnancies I hardly put on any weight, even though I continued to eat all the stuff I thought I shouldn't have. It is a metabolism thing, and mine changed after having kids and going on some medications.
I was thinking the same thing. There are people out there actually having a hard time trying to *gain* weight in order to be healthy. Definitley there are such people.0 -
Yeah one of those delicious looking plates are about 2 meals worth of calories for me lol and I'm NOT short!Well, no, I don't enjoy working out and measuring portions and eating healthy and everything, let's be honest. And the guy who took pictures of stuff he eats.... that's how I *used* to eat, and it made me fat! Breaded fried filets, my God, what I wouldn't give to be able to get away with that. Breaded things are no. more than one portion/filet of anything at all is no. more than one slice of cheese is no. It's actually pretty grim if I think about it, which I try not to do. But I'm female, short, middle aged, and hypothyroid so I have two options. 1. suck it up and live with the food restriction and the workouts, but be pretty and have good bloodwork and be able to get nice clothes or 2. Eat what I want but keep forever expanding, let my blood sugar go crazy, and have nothing cute to wear. I decided Option 1 was better especially since I won't become diabetic that way. It's like going to work, doing taxes, and all the rest of that BS; you just suck it up because doing otherwise ends up being a LOT worse! lol
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Everyday is a challenge. Everyday I wake up in the morning excited that I'll get home from work and jump on the elliptical and burn some calories. Come mid afternoon, i'll e trying to find excuses not to exercise. Once I get home, I fight with my mind everytime to force myself to JUST DO IT. I do feel great after doing it, and I personally thank GOD for helping me make the right choice for that day. As for food, I'm eating clean most days. I pack my lunch to work so I won't find excuses to eat out and go out of control. Do I miss junk food? Yes I do. Do I avoid it totally? No. I allow myself to have 1 cheat day a week, but I ensure I don't go above the calorie count. So yes, everyday is a challenge. But i've been on here for 43 days and counting.
I get up at 4:50 am and work out then. Not that I like getting up that early but by the time I get home from work its too easy to not do it, too tired, too many things to do, etc etc. So do it at the beginning of the day and its done and over with. Then if you do have energy in the evening you can fit some more activity it, so a win win.0 -
I look better and feel better. What's not to like?
Sometimes I get frustrated and would love to stuff myself full of fattening food - but I don't think I got more enjoyment out of eating than I do out of feeling better.
I think of it more as substituting a long term enjoyment in place of a short term enjoyment.0 -
A very interesting problem you have. I am sure there are some interesting responses in here but i'm just going to cut to my answer and read the rest later.
1. I feel so much better eating healthy food. I like healthy food. I feel its effects right throughout my body. And vice versa when i eat junk food all the time. I feel really bad as well as get fat.
2. I don't do much exercise but when i am fit i do feel good. I have recently started some fitness activities and feel better for it but i don't really like having to go out and exercise so i try to make it easy for myself.
3. If you don't like the healthy food you are eating, maybe its because it isn't very well made. Perhaps you could change all this if you go and learn how to cook properly. Do some cooking courses. Then you will be able to kill both birds eat healthy and food you like. I guarantee you that once you've learnt to eat really good food, you won't be so interested in junk food any more.0 -
Interesting post. I found it interesting when you said you have (obesity diseases) though you are not overweight. I think I know what you mean by that-diseases that are often associated with obesity, but the funny part is often being overweight alone does not cause those diseases (as you know). My dad and I have always been the slightly chubby types as adults and we both have low cholesterol and low blood pressure. My mother who was always slender got the high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I had the benefit of knowing back in the 80's that eggs could not really cause high cholesterol although all the research then said so, because my father ate 12 eggs a week and had no high cholesterol.
Moving onto the other part-I truly love eating healthy. However I have to say I come from a cultural background that is half Mediterranean and so my idea of healthy eating is not the same as some average Americans. What I see is that Americans often decide to change their eating and weight and go to an anti-meat, anti-fat approach that causes them to eat really lousy food that does not taste good. Then they fall off the wagon back into overeating. Also some probably have low serotonin which can cause an excess craving for high fat and starchy food. High fat and starchy food temporarily relieves low serotonin.
I feel so yucky after eating more than one meal in a week of high fat and starchy foods that I cannot do it. I feel just lousy. I do not get sugar highs as I have heard some people get. I just feel blah and tired.
Here is what I see some of my dieting friends eat that is a problem: They eat everything they used to eat but take out all the fat and starch. So basically they cancel rather than add. They eat vegetables dipped in fat free ranch dressing for snacks every day, days on end. They eat fat free products that have no nutritional value like ff cookies. They look around and see that most of the foods they like contain meat so they stop eating them. They basically take out anything yummy and wonder why their diet fails.
I eat things like chicken tacos with a little cheese, no sour cream, no guacamole but lots of salsa and lettuce, tomatoes. Hummus on Pita, stuffed grape leaves. For a quick meal Ramen noodles made with half the packet of seasoning and a bit of olive oil. Homemade beefaroni-made with natural meat and tomato sauce. Cream of mushroom soup with 4 multigrain crackers crushed in. Kale salad made with dried cranberries, lime, salt and olive oil. Bean soups, veggies burgers (with only one 1 slice of bread cut in half as the bun).
Italians are some of the best at creating foods with no meat that are therefore lower in fat and calories. Eggplant Parmesan is very satisfying and can be made by roasting the eggplants or frying them in only a little oil.
I poach salmon in wine and eat it with fresh spinach with some Parmesan and olive oil and salt. Oh another thing Americans hear something and go overboard. By the way I am American too, but my mom spoke this way as a first gen american and so I do the same (funny). Because even though I am American I eat more like a poor Italian mixed with a middle class American and am married to a Mexican-American. So an American hears salt is bad and they cut it all out, food then tastes like crap and they go back to how they used to eat.
Americans heard soy was good so they started to eat 5 servings a day although you would never catch a Japanese doing that and suddenly there was an issue with Americans getting too much estrogen from the soy. I do not know why they do this over boarding from info but I have seen if for years and it is funny to observe. Now it is gluten that is the "bad" food. Now some truly to avoid gluten but there are tons of others just doing it because it must be the bad guy now. My co-worker said so many people switched to sea salt that some people got problems from the lack of iodine. So it just keeps happening.
So eat real good delicious food and chocolate with all the fat and just have it less and enjoy the food and the variety. But branch out if you are eating TV dinners and low quality stuff because I feel there is no way to sustain eating lousy tasting food (marginally healthy food) for the long term.
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Erm... It's hard to tire of a lifestyle that makes you feel good. Please, don't misunderstand. I love eating junk food, but I'm not really thrilled with the way it makes me feel. I'd simply rather have the energy that I know comes from eating right and exercising than to feel all blah, like I'm dragging myself through the day, fighting to stay awake and get things done.
PokeyBug I agree with you 100%. I also think this change is more about taking care of my health from the inside as well as the outside.0 -
I was a working musician, on the road, for more than 30 years. Road food is junk food, pretty much ALL the time. I figured cutting it out completely would be too much of a challenge and it WAS. So, I started by adding 3 fruits and veggies to my diet without cutting out any junk. Then I bumped it up to 6. Then I started exercising portion control with everything. I still eat junk and probably won't ever give it up, but I eat a lot less of it than before and more good for you things than before and I think that for me it's a pretty happy balance. Probably not as healthy as I could be but MUCH better than before because I get in an hr to 2 hrs of exercise a day as well.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »Yeah...eating healthfully doesn't have to be boring...food doesn't have to be tasteless and blah...too many people have a very narrow view of what actually constitutes "healthy" foods and thus they corner themselves into that little box that only allows for dry salads and celery sticks..complete nonsense.
Also, working out and kicking *kitten* is fun...who doesn't like kicking *kitten*?
This. If eating nutritious food feels like torture, you're doing it wrong! Learning to cook is THE greatest gift you can give yourself. Cooking doesn't need to be complicated or time-consuming either. Buy an excellent high-quality olive oil and some good sea salt and you're halfway there. (And if portion sizes are an issue, buy treats in small sizes--a single-serving portion of ice cream instead of a pint--rather than denying yourself.)
Same thing goes for working out. Personally, I loathe running, so I DON'T do it. But I like biking, and there's a kind of Zen quality to swimming that I'm starting to appreciate, so I stick with those. Is every workout some fantastic moment of ecstasy? No. Sometimes it's a slog. But I have never come home and thought, well, that was a big fat waste of my time. I'm always glad I did it. And as many people have noted on these boards, sometimes I don't feel like brushing and flossing, but I do it anyway, because it's part of taking care of myself. The same goes for exercise.0 -
Agree eating doesn't and shouldn't be boring. It is learning to cook healthy and flavorful I love new dishes that have couscous in them and well for me I am never giving up my hot and spicy chili just the deep fry part.
I do agree with you on hard when you don't have a weight issue to cut junk out I still eat some of my junk food and enjoy it. I am not on MFP to loose weight maintain only at this point. (A few years ago yes I had to gain and thankfully did at times with the help of high calorie things like PB and Ice cream but mainly learning healthy and fun dishes)0 -
Erm... It's hard to tire of a lifestyle that makes you feel good. Please, don't misunderstand. I love eating junk food, but I'm not really thrilled with the way it makes me feel. I'd simply rather have the energy that I know comes from eating right and exercising than to feel all blah, like I'm dragging myself through the day, fighting to stay awake and get things done.
I don't notice any difference in the way I feel if I eat 'healthy' food or 'junk' food. The only time I didn't feel so good after eating 'junk' food lately was after a Rita's sundae because I ended up spending way too much time in the bathroom, but other than that... no difference at all. If anything, my best workouts are on the days that follow a carb binge (pancakes, chocolate, ice cream, you name it).
So much for that argument for me!0 -
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I love it! I love to cook and enjoy a wide range of foods so I have no sense of eating "health food" really or anything like that. I just eat delicious foods that fit my calories. I've only been this overweight for a couple of years so I don't feel like I'm learning a whole new life from scratch which helps. I've just stopped being lazy and started being mindful of what I put in my mouth again.
I've been finding it easy to keep up so far, because every time I look in the mirror and see my body slimming back down I feel sexier and sexier and sexier. I still feel beautiful and sexy at my current weight but the closer I get to my goal my confidence shoots back up to the insane levels I used to have. Like, Samantha from Sex in the City type levels, lol. That's why it's so easy for me to keep going. Because I can practically get high off that feeling.0 -
MsHarryWinston wrote: »I love it! I love to cook and enjoy a wide range of foods so I have no sense of eating "health food" really or anything like that. I just eat delicious foods that fit my calories. I've only been this overweight for a couple of years so I don't feel like I'm learning a whole new life from scratch which helps. I've just stopped being lazy and started being mindful of what I put in my mouth again.
I've been finding it easy to keep up so far, because every time I look in the mirror and see my body slimming back down I feel sexier and sexier and sexier. I still feel beautiful and sexy at my current weight but the closer I get to my goal my confidence shoots back up to the insane levels I used to have. Like, Samantha from Sex in the City type levels, lol. That's why it's so easy for me to keep going. Because I can practically get high off that feeling.
Amen sister! I totally agree ☺0 -
Nope. To be frank, I hate it. It's a huge battle every single day, and I'm maintaining by eating at a deficit and binging like crazy once a week. If I could eat whatever I wanted and still stay fit, I would. But I can't. So this is a choice I have to make.0
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" are you guys really happy with this healthy life style? or you just tell yourselves this to keep up?"
Yes, I do genuinely love eating a diet consisting of more nutritionally dense, less processed foods. I don't eat anything just because I'm "suppose to", I only consume that which I genuinely enjoy. And I do I genuinely enjoy baked/grilled/rotisserie chicken, seafood, most red meat, fruits, vegetables, some nuts and legumes, fats like olive oil, real butter, etc. That stuff makes up the bulk of my diet not because I "have" to, but because I love to.
I drink water almost exclusively. But I've been doing that since my early 20s. It was very tough at first, but after it became a habit it became second nature. I almost never think of consuming liquids beside water.
I grew up eating the kinds of foods you love. It was my norm. Years of low carbing off and on totally transformed my palate and killed my craving for most high carb food. I still very much enjoy all the "normal" foods that people tend to overeat like pizza, burgers, chips, subs, fries, pasta, etc, but I no longer crave them. That was a huge revelation when I realized I could easily have really amazing pizza or pasta just once or twice a year, and that was good. I never, ever crave bread, no matter how delicious it is. No temptations, no longings. It took years to reach that point though and it happened without me purposefully trying. I no longer low carb exclusively, but I still just enjoy the kinds of foods I ate back then.
I am still a HUGE dessert fan though. I spent years feeling guilty about that, but over time evolved out of that foolishness. I don't feel bad about eating anything. But cookies, cake and ice cream are the only foods I find a challenge to control. totally have an "all or nothing" mentality about my sweets. I'm neither good, nor interested, in moderating them down to one or two cookies a day, or a half cup of ice cream. I compromise by eating them less often, but allowing myself to go buck wild when I do. If I want to eat the whole packet of oreos? It's all good. Half an Entenmann's cake? Have at it. No shame. No guilt.This works well for me, for the most part. Occasionally I'll go overboard for too long, and put on a few pounds, but it's not big deal and I just drop them. Once I put the desserts away for a couple of days the cravings stop. That's my definition of moderation.
Whatever you do, try to fall in love with what you do. Eat different foods, try different kinds of cuisines, etch out a diet that sustains you and is enjoyable. There's no "right way" to be healthy and there are so, so many choices that it is possible to have a diet you love to follow for the years and decades to come.0 -
Iwishyouwell wrote: »" are you guys really happy with this healthy life style? or you just tell yourselves this to keep up?"
Yes, I do genuinely love eating a diet consisting of more nutritionally dense, less processed foods. I don't eat anything just because I'm "suppose to", I only consume that which I genuinely enjoy. And I do I genuinely enjoy baked/grilled/rotisserie chicken, seafood, most red meat, fruits, vegetables, some nuts and legumes, fats like olive oil, real butter, etc. That stuff makes up the bulk of my diet not because I "have" to, but because I love to.
I drink water almost exclusively. But I've been doing that since my early 20s. It was very tough at first, but after it became a habit it became second nature. I almost never think of consuming liquids beside water.
I grew up eating the kinds of foods you love. It was my norm. Years of low carbing off and on totally transformed my palate and killed my craving for most high carb food. I still very much enjoy all the "normal" foods that people tend to overeat like pizza, burgers, chips, subs, fries, pasta, etc, but I no longer crave them. That was a huge revelation when I realized I could easily have really amazing pizza or pasta just once or twice a year, and that was good. I never, ever crave bread, no matter how delicious it is. No temptations, no longings. It took years to reach that point though and it happened without me purposefully trying. I no longer low carb exclusively, but I still just enjoy the kinds of foods I ate back then.
I am still a HUGE dessert fan though. I spent years feeling guilty about that, but over time evolved out of that foolishness. I don't feel bad about eating anything. But cookies, cake and ice cream are the only foods I find a challenge to control. totally have an "all or nothing" mentality about my sweets. I'm neither good, nor interested, in moderating them down to one or two cookies a day, or a half cup of ice cream. I compromise by eating them less often, but allowing myself to go buck wild when I do. If I want to eat the whole packet of oreos? It's all good. Half an Entenmann's cake? Have at it. No shame. No guilt.This works well for me, for the most part. Occasionally I'll go overboard for too long, and put on a few pounds, but it's not big deal and I just drop them. Once I put the desserts away for a couple of days the cravings stop. That's my definition of moderation.
Whatever you do, try to fall in love with what you do. Eat different foods, try different kinds of cuisines, etch out a diet that sustains you and is enjoyable. There's no "right way" to be healthy and there are so, so many choices that it is possible to have a diet you love to follow for the years and decades to come.
I'm the same way and have no problem at all with moderation for most things, it's sweets that get me every single time. And that's the part that sucks for me... having to pretty much stop eating them because I have a hard time stopping at a reasonable serving size otherwise.0 -
I'm the same way and have no problem at all with moderation for most things, it's sweets that get me every single time. And that's the part that sucks for me... having to pretty much stop eating them because I have a hard time stopping at a reasonable serving size otherwise.
If certain kinds of cookie, cake and ice cream disappeared off the face of the earth, I'd probably be one of the leanest people around with no effort. Those three are literally the only things I struggle with now.
Abstinence use to be the only method that controlled my cravings. If I didn't eat them, I didn't crave them. I once went a year without eating any of them.
These days I just embrace it. I realized that the feelings of shame and guilt I kept associating with the "bad" foods is largely what helped fuel my overeating. Making them forbidden just made them that much more enticing and that much more difficult to stop eating when I did "fall".
It's a minor miracle how much I've changed by just telling myself that it's OK if I eat them, OK if I eat them in large quantities. I just have them less often, for the most part. And even if I do eat too much, for too many weeks or longer, I get back on track with my goals.
But here's the thing, the fact that I'm a regular intermittent faster helps a great deal.0
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