Day eight May 20
I’m barely even noticing this thing anymore, except for when I walk by a restaurant. Other than that, though, I could basically do this indefinitely. I mean, not from a health standpoint, I guess, I probably need protein or something at some point. But… I’m not hungry. I’m not tired. I feel great, axetually. I don’t even have the phantoms anymore - empty out in the mornings and I’m set for the day. I am going to have a lot of leftover syrup though - I got enough for 12 servings a day every day, and really I’m going through like 7-8.
I’ve got questions for the future though. I thought I was receiving my wii fit today, but turns out it was a false alarm (an immersion blender instead - kind of an impulse buy. Amazon will be the death of me.) That said, I know that wii fit is only a stopgap measure. To that end, I am joining the Columbia Heights WSC. It opens just as I get back from vacation, start of June. Perfect.
I also need to work out a diet plan. I was gonna do the South Beach Diet, as it’s been recommended numerous times. I have the book, and from what I know it seems like a workable plan - ultimately you can reintroduce most carbs, just not, like, white bread, which is fine, fuck white bread. Then a different friend recommended something called the “Abs Diet” and went so far as to loan me the book(s), and it also seems basically workable. I’ve had recommendations for eating many little meals per day and recommendations for going nutso one day a week, so as to stop my metabolism from adjusting to the lower calorie count (which I guess maybe it already has, since I’m fueling myself with 800 calories a day just fine right now?) I’ve had recommendations for going vegetarian/vegan, and on that note Agatha says I should read “Skinny Bitch”, despite it being subtitled “A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous” and being panned as yet another vegan manifesto. I mean, it’s not that I don’t see the appeal in going that route - meat is kinda sinful, I honestly believe - but oh man. It’s my kinda sin. Also, I’m just not, like, in love with beans or nuts. I will eat them, but they do not make me happy. I feel like that route is doomed to failure, for me.
So, what say you? Have *another* recommendation for me? Even more than one specific thing, what I need is some kind of guiding principle - there’s a million different plans and diets and shit out there, I’m awash in health information. For 27 years this stuff has been really, really easy - I ate as much as I want of whatever I want and only exercise insofar as it made sense to, meaning very little. I am motivated to cut that shit out and reform my diet/exercise decisionmaking process, but honestly the avalanche of information is overwhelming. Healthy folk, how do you know what to trust?
Matthew Barney Gumble May 20
Hey neat - I just google-pedometer’d my walk after work today and I burned almost exactly the amount of calories I consumed today. Sweet!
Willa S. Preston, Esquire May 20
Check out the Fat Smash Diet and/or the Extreme Fat Smash Diet books by Dr. Ian K. Smith. He’s the doctor dude from Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, which makes it totally awesome or slightly cheesy depending on your perspective.
Anyway, I can’t vouch for it’s efficacy from personal experience (don’t believe in dieting), but I have a good friend who uses them and she looks so hot it’s sick. The beginning is a bit extreme, but sounds like you can handle that after this week… After that it’s normal food, lots of healthy snacks etc.
Glad you haven’t passed out!!
capitulatenow May 20
Well I probably don’t count as “healthy folk” anymore, since I kinda stopped working out a while ago.
But I think cutting out white bread and white rice and sugar and all those white things, and making sure you get all your fruits and vegetables in every day, is pretty sufficient. Wait, there was something good I read in the New Yorker yesterday:
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
– Michael Pollan
Matthew Barney Gumble May 21
I’ve never given into my natural curiosity about Celebrity Fit Club or the Biggest Loser or any of the other diet shows (I assume there are others). So his celebrity doesn’t change its appeal either way, though in general I’m pro-Video-Hits. I’ll read up on it.
I’ve seen the Michael Pollan stuff, Anthony over at Apples and Bananas is always pimping him. Another thing I’m considering reading soon.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Brian May 21
Really, the biggest help to me was using a calorie calculator like FitDay to keep track of what I put in my mouth. Actually attending to how much I was overeating really shamed me into cutting back.
It’s really just a matter of eating less and exercising more, which while daunting, doesn’t require cutting out macronutrient groups (I’m looking at you, much-maligned carbs) for a diet that will likely be unsustainable in the long run.
Shena May 21
Immersion blenders are awesome. Now you can make healthy yogurt smoothies and soups!!!
I don’t even *cook* and I bought an immersion blender. Man, now I’m all happy for you and your new kitchen appliance!
You know I have no tips for health.
Bobby McObvious May 21
I would concur w/capnow. Probably fairly obvious, but I think the main reason I’m not a porker is that I just don’t keep snacking foods around, and I don’t really have skedded meals other than breakfast, so I only eat when I’m hungry.
Rusty May 21
Seafood, seafood, seafood.
Terri May 21
My only friends who have ever gone on a diet and kept up guiding, life-long sustainable aspects of it were the ones who did weight watchers. As you know, it’s not “DO NOT EAT THIS. ONLY EAT THIS. THIS IS SOMETHING SPECIAL YOU MUST BUY TO PARTICIP8.”
It teaches you what’s actually going in your body, what your body needs, and how to estimate it on the fly, even when you’re eating out.
You can say in certainty that in 4 years you won’t still be on the South Beach Diet — but 4 years after weight watchers, you will still have a better idea of what a healthy body needs to sustain it, sans gimmicks.
Also, it no longer means weird meetings with ol’ ladies who want to pinch your cheeks — you can do it online, where the old ladies can’t get you (or, to).