Choices......

StuAblett

This may run a bit long, but I've been thinking over it for a few days now, so please excuse me in advance it I'm a bit long winded. :blushing:

June 2010 I finally made the decision to do something about my excess body fat, I knew it had to be a real lifestyle change, not just another "Diet" as I've been on them all, trust me, I have What really worked for me was a very close examination of what I was eating, and how much I was eating, and how little I was moving. The MFP app on my iPhone is what did this, it was/is so very easy to use and let me tell you, I had a serious wake up call when I honestly logged everything I ate and then stood back and read the list and the calorie count.... :noway: no wonder I was so fat!

Mainly I did three things, I honestly logged everything that passed my lips, I did my best to eat "Real Food" and I tired to move more.

By the end of the summer I was down a fair bit of weight, I started at 301lbs and now, today I'm at 251lbs, I still have a way to go, but I'm getting there.

What brought me to the topic of "Choices" is something that I observed the other day, I was on my way back from an injection I'm getting to fight cancer (Oh yeah, I had a nasty bit of that to deal with, but I'm cancer free now!) and I was starving, as I had to work very late the night before and then get up early to go to the hospital, I wanted sleep more than food, so I did not have anything but an apple on my way out the door. I rode my bike to and from the hospital, it is about a 40 minute round trip, a good morning work out, but on the way back I had to go into town to pick up some stuff for my wife, after I'd done that it was about 11:00 AM and I'd been up since 7:30 AM and had only had an apple..... I needed to eat!
I went to Starbucks because it was on the way, and I knew I could buy a wrap and a banana there, as well as a short Soy Latte.

In the line just ahead of me was a guy about my own age, 46 for those counting and for a Japanese guy at tall as me (six foot) but quite a bit bigger than me, now :bigsmile: I could not believe what he was buying :noway:

Grande Hazelnut Latte 130 calories
Four packets of sugar 80 calories
One mini sub 692 calories
One glazed donuts 370 calories
One Apple Fritter 592 calories

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Total

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1834 calories

This was NOT lunch for this guy, trust me, it was a morning snack.

What I'm on about is the choices that we make, at the gut level on everything we do in our lives, I'm focusing on eating and exercise here.

I had:

Root Veggie with Chicken Wrap 157 calories
Banana 90 calories
Short Soy Latte 133 calories

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Total

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380 calories

This was my breakfast, and I'd ridden my bicycle at that point nearly an hour at a good pace, enough that I was only wearing a light shirt in 10C/50F weather, and I was still too hot.

I watched this guy go sit outside and devour this food, faster than I could eat or would eat my banana and veggie wrap, I honestly thought he might lose a finger Then when he was done, he pulled out a pack of smokes and smoked that, when it was time to leave, he got up, slowly swayed to the curb and hailed a cab, he did not even walk to the train station which is only about three blocks away (now honestly that is an assumption he would use the train, he might just take a cab the whole way to where ever he was going).

It may sound like I'm picking on this guy, but I'm not, his life his choice, but what struck me was a year ago............ THAT WAS ME :noway: :sick: :sad: Except for the smoking that is :happy:

Honestly, I used to eat like that an never think about it, it was just a "Snack" now all day, what that fella ate in his snack is all of what I eat.

My point is that no one wakes up in the morning and thinks "Hey, lets be fat today and gain some weight" :drinker: it just sort of happens, and all the small choices we make all day everyday, add up. I did not get fat overnight, it took a long time, years and years. Now, after seeing this guy, as a mirror image of my past lifestyle, I really do understand how far I've come, but the journey has NOT been made up of large leaps, but tiny steps along the way. I no longer put sugar or honey in my coffee, while an apple fritter on the surface looks like it would be yummy, I know that after I eat it I'll feel stupid and bloated. I know that the Veggie wrap and banana will taste much better and I'll be satisfied with that amount of food, I know this because I've made the wrong choices in the past and I learned from them.

Its all the little things we decided to do, or not do that make us move forward, you have to take care of the details, not obsess about them, but make sure you are taking care of them.

Well there you go, I got that off my chest, thanks if you have read this far.

Please share with me and everyone else if you have had any similar revelations, or it you have some comments or discussion on our "Choices"

Thanks!

Stu in Tokyo

Liz_Cady

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on choices Stu. I've had similar thoughts, unfortunately not from the perspective of one who has overcome. For me, I have to make the choice to be healthy one meal, snack, or walk at a time. I can make big plans about how I want to be, but I fail when it comes to the many choices in a day. I am trying to change the way I think about each choice by considering how it will contribute to or take away from my long term goals.

Congratulations on your success. Keep it up!

LisaKC

You are totally right when you say this journey is made of many tiny steps, not giant leaps. I have to remind myself of that everyday. Like you, I have changed my attitude about food. I used to love fried food, especially onion rings. Sometimes they seem tempting, but I remind myself that they never taste as good as I imagine they will, and that I will have a massive acid reflux experience later in the day. I'd rather have a salad, or a veggie sandwich on whole wheat.

Also like you, I've noticed how people around me eat, and can't believe I used to eat similarly. Yikes!

I tend to take a long range view of most things, so getting those tiny steps right every day is my biggest hill to climb.

As usual Stu, you are always thoughtful in your posts. Take care.

patricac

Thank you for sharing this! Congrats on your successes!

dragonbug300

Wonderful post! Entertaining, too. Especially since that 'snack' sounds a lot like what I used to eat in one dinner.

piccolarj

Thanks Stu!! As always you are so encouraging. I think anyone who is taking this journey seriously looks at food totally different now. Not only do I look at food differently but as Lisa said I look also look at what it will do to my body. My body deserved so much better ( so does my bike haha) than what I was doing to it. I too have to remember "baby steps" and just like on a long bike ride you have to stop to fill up water bottles, stop to pee ( sometimes in the woods ), get off to stretch your legs but you get back on keep on peddeling until you reach your destination! Thanks again Stu!!

crazycat828

Doesn't it seem like we, My Fitness Pals, are an exclusive club "in the know"?

Constantly makes me feel like sharing our techniques with all that are wanting to change.
Thank-you MyFitnessPal.. this is a great app that has changed my life. :0)

mayburcm

That was an excellent posting. I know that it is choices that each and every one of us make. I am trying to turn around my lifestyle because if I continue living the way I have in the past I will wake up one morning and wonder, "how did I put on all this weight?" In the past 4 years I have put on a total of 40 lbs. I went to university and lived like a university student and went up size by size. In reality, I probably only put on about a pound a month, but it really begins to add up. When you're living away from home and only see family once or twice a year they start to really notice the weight. I remember just a couple years ago everyone would always comment on how thin and in shape I was, this year at Christmas it was more like..."Oh your clothes aren't fitting so well..." Which was a big wake up call for me.

Choices. We all make choices but does it ever seem to anyone else like society is just set up to be fat? People park as close to things as they can. It seems like there is always a bigger, richer chocolate bar....or some ridiculous sugary drink that has so many calories in it you don't even want to look at the label. I wonder sometimes that in our society with all the knowledge that we have, why is there drinks that have an entire days worth of calories? For months I was staying with some relatives on the weekend and we used to go have blizzards on friday nights. I couldn't believe what I had been eating when I looked at the calories. We know that that isn't healthy, we know what being unhealthy does. I think society needs to change it's relationship and use of food, and use it in a much more productive way.