Can someone help me prioritize my health targets?
Replies
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I know it's been said but I'm chiming in anyway. Stop smoking should be number 1- I'm not a smoker but both of my parents were heavy smokers. I'm not sure how old your son is but it could affect him as well. I had friends tell me that I smelled like smoke when I was 10. I begged my mom to quit and she never would even though her dad has emhysema. If you can replace smoking with walking when you need it, you kill 2 birds with one stone (smoking and exercise!) Maybe your husband or son will walk with you sometimes.
I know a lot of people are brushing off the alcohol and artificial sweetener stuff but if it's important to you, here's my experience on both. I have terrible migraines (blacking out, loss of vision and so on) and artificial sweeteners are a huge trigger. It sucks because a lot of low cal food contains them but in the end, a smaller amount of the regular version tastes so much better and can be more satisfying (think greek yogurt vs yoplait light). Don't buy the Diet Coke, get a fizzy water or add lemon or berries to your regular water.
I don't think your 2 beers are that much, especially if they fit in your cals but I can also see how it might be nice to redirect those cals to something more fulfilling. I usually drink 2-3 drinks once a week at our big dinner but when I was prepping for my new neuro appt, I decided to remove alcohol and see if it changed anything (it didn't) but what helped me was La Croix. It has some flavour and it's slightly bitter in a similar way to alcohol and it has texture with the fizz. I also just stopped buying drinks for the house- not having it makes it a lot harder to drink it!
Good luck!2 -
Agree with most posters.
I read your post as you were looking more in the long term as opposed to the shorter term, so these are my thoughts.
I know quitting smoking it tough. Really tough. While I've never smoked myself, I've had a few people close to me quit and was there with them through the process. No, I wasn't the one suffering through it, but I have an idea how hard it is. BUT, it will also have the biggest payoff of any of the "healthy" choices you are making. Way more than any food choices will, that's for sure. Everyone I know who quit hasn't looked back, and the changes in their quality of life was amazing once they were on the other side.
After that, I'd be working on fitness. The eating changes are great, and if they're important to you, go for it, but fitness will have life long benefits that are hard to measure. From your abilities to keep doing things you love to just day to day functioning, to lowering your risk of osteoporosis, etc.
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You’ve gotten some great advice so I hope you can see the benefit in stopping smoking #1. Even if you start by setting your calories to maintenance while you are quitting, you’ll start getting in the habit of weighing and logging your food. At least you won’t gain while you are quitting. (Smoking around a young child isn’t much different than smoking while s/he was in the womb.)
Then, try to move more, walking for errands, parking further away, etc. a “structured” plan can come later.
You can eat whatever you like within your calories - as others have said, you’ll decide what trade offs it makes sense to make regarding beer, etc.
Artificial sweeteners have no bearing on weight loss or health. “Processed crap” (whatever that means) doesn’t either if you are at a healthy weight. I personally couldn’t have lost 97 lbs without frozen shrimp, Greek yogurt, 1% lattes, soup, Diet Coke and Lean Cuisine. The only effect on my health was improvement because of weight loss.
Go for it - you can do it!
I agree that I need to move smoking up on my priority list. This is not an excuse, but I just want to let everyone who has been kind enough to offer such thoughtful advice thus far know that I NEVER smoke around my child. He is 3 and I absolutely vigilant about not exposing him to my bad habits. No smoking in the house, car, or anywhere he is. I usually have a few cigarettes after he has gone to bed and then I shower at night. If I ever do have one while he is still awake, I always wash up and change my clothes if necessary. I know it's just semantics. I just want yall to know that it's not as though I chain smoke all day in front of my child. I do love him enough to quit so that I can be the best and healthiest mom I can be though. Thank you all again for your thoughtful feedback. It means a lot and I now have shifted my opinion since it is obvious that smoking is selfish , if nothing else. I will update as I make progress. 💛7 -
First, I just want to throw out there that I am following a ketogenic diet. Not "keto" as in I eat a pound of bacon and a tub of cream cheese every day; "keto" as in i am trying to eat whole foods, get about 6-8 cups of veggies (usually raw), and avoid processed /prepackaged crap.
None of that has anything to do with a ketogenic diet, which is all about altering your body's fuel source from glucose to ketones. You do that by starving your body of the foods from which it derives glucose, mainly carbohydrates, which causes the liver to metabolize fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Unless you're doing that -- and if you're eating all those veggies without significantly increasing your fat intake, probably not -- you are very likely not going to throw yourself into ketosis.
Ironically, while I'm not confident a ketogenic diet per se has much to do with weight loss, it certainly can help control epilepsy in children and may also benefit adults. So it may be something for your husband to consider, if his doctors concur.
There's no particular reason to cut out diary or artificial sweeteners, and it baffles me that you'd even consider putting these on a list like this, let alone prioritizing them above quitting smoking. Smoking cessation should be, hands down, without question, your #1 priority. Will it be hard? Yes. But that, much more than anything else you can do, will improve your health.
IF is presently a popular weight-loss method, but hardly the only one that might work, and would not be my go-to method for calorie reduction. But if that's what you want, go for it.
Make it one drink in the evenings rather than 2. You're fine as long as it fits into your calorie goals. As far as it contributes to your health goals, it's the calories it contributes more than anything else. It would be a different story if you were drinking to excess, but 2 drinks a night isn't crazy. So make it 1 a night instead. If you want to cut back further after that, it's up to you.
So if I were you, my order would be:
- Quit smoking
- Reduce my calorie intake
-- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Regular workouts
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First, I just want to throw out there that I am following a ketogenic diet. Not "keto" as in I eat a pound of bacon and a tub of cream cheese every day; "keto" as in i am trying to eat whole foods, get about 6-8 cups of veggies (usually raw), and avoid processed /prepackaged crap.
None of that has anything to do with a ketogenic diet, which is all about altering your body's fuel source from glucose to ketones. You do that by starving your body of the foods from which it derives glucose, mainly carbohydrates, which causes the liver to metabolize fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Unless you're doing that -- and if you're eating all those veggies without significantly increasing your fat intake, probably not -- you are very likely not going to throw yourself into ketosis.
Ironically, while I'm not confident a ketogenic diet per se has much to do with weight loss, it certainly can help control epilepsy in children and may also benefit adults. So it may be something for your husband to consider, if his doctors concur.
There's no particular reason to cut out diary or artificial sweeteners, and it baffles me that you'd even consider putting these on a list like this, let alone prioritizing them above quitting smoking. Smoking cessation should be, hands down, without question, your #1 priority. Will it be hard? Yes. But that, much more than anything else you can do, will improve your health.
IF is presently a popular weight-loss method, but hardly the only one that might work, and would not be my go-to method for calorie reduction. But if that's what you want, go for it.
Make it one drink in the evenings rather than 2. You're fine as long as it fits into your calorie goals. As far as it contributes to your health goals, it's the calories it contributes more than anything else. It would be a different story if you were drinking to excess, but 2 drinks a night isn't crazy. So make it 1 a night instead. If you want to cut back further after that, it's up to you.
So if I were you, my order would be:
- Quit smoking
- Reduce my calorie intake
-- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Regular workouts
I am well aware of what a ketogenic diet is. I have researched it extensively for both professional and personal reasons for many years. And a comprehensive keto lifestyle does require nutrition derived from plants. So yes, I do successfully incorporate leafy greens and a few other vegetables thoughtfully into my diet daily rather than taking supplements since I have had absorption issues in the past. My macros are tracked diligently. I eat within my calories. I occasionally test my ketone levels with a blood meter if I stall. May I ask, why, after 30+ thoughtful and helpful replies, you felt the needed to join in in an obviously judgemental and negative manner?2 -
As someone who has struggled with smoking and weight, I’d encourage you to focus on quitting first. It is much more detrimental to your health than 60 lbs. Also, exercise will be easier when you quit—and while it isn’t that important for weight loss, you’ll benefit in a lot of other ways. Mostly healthy eating and some exercise are the only two long term strategies you really need once you quit smoking—I wouldn’t worry about adding those other small changes at all, or at least not on any timeline. I’m a former smoker so friend me if you want extra support with that, and best of luck whatever you decide.2
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First, I just want to throw out there that I am following a ketogenic diet. Not "keto" as in I eat a pound of bacon and a tub of cream cheese every day; "keto" as in i am trying to eat whole foods, get about 6-8 cups of veggies (usually raw), and avoid processed /prepackaged crap.
None of that has anything to do with a ketogenic diet, which is all about altering your body's fuel source from glucose to ketones. You do that by starving your body of the foods from which it derives glucose, mainly carbohydrates, which causes the liver to metabolize fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Unless you're doing that -- and if you're eating all those veggies without significantly increasing your fat intake, probably not -- you are very likely not going to throw yourself into ketosis.
Ironically, while I'm not confident a ketogenic diet per se has much to do with weight loss, it certainly can help control epilepsy in children and may also benefit adults. So it may be something for your husband to consider, if his doctors concur.
There's no particular reason to cut out diary or artificial sweeteners, and it baffles me that you'd even consider putting these on a list like this, let alone prioritizing them above quitting smoking. Smoking cessation should be, hands down, without question, your #1 priority. Will it be hard? Yes. But that, much more than anything else you can do, will improve your health.
IF is presently a popular weight-loss method, but hardly the only one that might work, and would not be my go-to method for calorie reduction. But if that's what you want, go for it.
Make it one drink in the evenings rather than 2. You're fine as long as it fits into your calorie goals. As far as it contributes to your health goals, it's the calories it contributes more than anything else. It would be a different story if you were drinking to excess, but 2 drinks a night isn't crazy. So make it 1 a night instead. If you want to cut back further after that, it's up to you.
So if I were you, my order would be:
- Quit smoking
- Reduce my calorie intake
-- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Regular workouts
I am well aware of what a ketogenic diet is. I have researched it extensively for both professional and personal reasons for many years. And a comprehensive keto lifestyle does require nutrition derived from plants. So yes, I do successfully incorporate leafy greens and a few other vegetables thoughtfully into my diet daily rather than taking supplements since I have had absorption issues in the past. My macros are tracked diligently. I eat within my calories. I occasionally test my ketone levels with a blood meter if I stall. May I ask, why, after 30+ thoughtful and helpful replies, you felt the needed to join in in an obviously judgemental and negative manner?
This was thoughtful and helpful, and said nothing significantly different from many other replies on this thread. I am baffled as to what you might find to be either judgmental or negative about it.
We used a ketogenic diet to control my son's epilepsy for most of his teen years, until he no longer seemed to be benefiting from it.2 -
I quit smoking many years ago by cutting back very slowly. I tried several times to go cold-turkey and just couldn't handle it. I literally counted the cigarettes I was smoking every day and cut out about 1 every 2 or 3 days. It took a long time and sometimes I cheated (just like I do with my WOE now) but in the end it stuck. I'm not encouraging you to keep smoking if you can quit all at once, just sharing that even very slow progress is better than constantly quitting and relapsing.3
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First, I just want to throw out there that I am following a ketogenic diet. Not "keto" as in I eat a pound of bacon and a tub of cream cheese every day; "keto" as in i am trying to eat whole foods, get about 6-8 cups of veggies (usually raw), and avoid processed /prepackaged crap.
None of that has anything to do with a ketogenic diet, which is all about altering your body's fuel source from glucose to ketones. You do that by starving your body of the foods from which it derives glucose, mainly carbohydrates, which causes the liver to metabolize fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Unless you're doing that -- and if you're eating all those veggies without significantly increasing your fat intake, probably not -- you are very likely not going to throw yourself into ketosis.
Ironically, while I'm not confident a ketogenic diet per se has much to do with weight loss, it certainly can help control epilepsy in children and may also benefit adults. So it may be something for your husband to consider, if his doctors concur.
There's no particular reason to cut out diary or artificial sweeteners, and it baffles me that you'd even consider putting these on a list like this, let alone prioritizing them above quitting smoking. Smoking cessation should be, hands down, without question, your #1 priority. Will it be hard? Yes. But that, much more than anything else you can do, will improve your health.
IF is presently a popular weight-loss method, but hardly the only one that might work, and would not be my go-to method for calorie reduction. But if that's what you want, go for it.
Make it one drink in the evenings rather than 2. You're fine as long as it fits into your calorie goals. As far as it contributes to your health goals, it's the calories it contributes more than anything else. It would be a different story if you were drinking to excess, but 2 drinks a night isn't crazy. So make it 1 a night instead. If you want to cut back further after that, it's up to you.
So if I were you, my order would be:
- Quit smoking
- Reduce my calorie intake
-- Reduce alcohol consumption
- Regular workouts
I am well aware of what a ketogenic diet is. I have researched it extensively for both professional and personal reasons for many years. And a comprehensive keto lifestyle does require nutrition derived from plants. So yes, I do successfully incorporate leafy greens and a few other vegetables thoughtfully into my diet daily rather than taking supplements since I have had absorption issues in the past. My macros are tracked diligently. I eat within my calories. I occasionally test my ketone levels with a blood meter if I stall. May I ask, why, after 30+ thoughtful and helpful replies, you felt the needed to join in in an obviously judgemental and negative manner?
Forgive me if I took your comments the wrong way. I guess I was put off by the assumptive and dismissive tone of your first paragraph.
"None of that has anything to do with a ketogenic diet, which is all about altering your body's fuel source from glucose to ketones. You do that by starving your body of the foods from which it derives glucose, mainly carbohydrates, which causes the liver to metabolize fat into fatty acids and ketone bodies. Unless you're doing that -- and if you're eating all those veggies without significantly increasing your fat intake, probably not -- you are very likely not going to throw yourself into ketosis."
I originally posted that information because I know that many of the general forums are not usually keto friendly. But I was trying to explain concisely that I am not doing "dirty keto" or using Keto as a quick fix, as some do, just to drop a few pounds at the sacrafice of my nutrition. Also, knowing where I chose to post, I didn't feel the need to offer an explanation of how keto works. That's not what I was posting about. If you have any questions about my diet, my progress, or my background knowledge, feel free to ask. Like I said, your comments came across to me as dismissive and judgmental. No biggie
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