Fads, Fat, Fads, Fat: If the Fad Diets Work So Well Why am I Still Fat?

     It wasn't until the last few years that I had trouble losing weight. I used to able to "think thin" and lose 4 lbs in a week. Now I have to almost starve to lose weight.


     It is much harder to lose weight  after 50 than before. I have to admit though that I really don't have to starve to lose, I just have to eat healthy, eat moderately and drink a lot of water. Exercise is helpful too. But that is not easy and that is not fun so I, like the rest of those who are overweight, am always on the look out for that one amazing diet in which I just take a pill and the pounds fly off.


     That magic diet never seems to happen though. I've heard of all  the diet programs and the diet pills. I've seen this movie star advertising a diet only to see that same star later on sporting those lost pounds again. It all makes me wonder if those fads are so great, why are people still over weight? If those fads are so easy, why don't people remain thin? Well the answer is, those diets might help a person lose but that loss won't remain unless you learn to live life in a way to keep those pounds off.


     I know exactly what to do to drop weight. I can drop the needed pounds easily if I just eat like I should. But I don't do that, I love food too much. I love sweets and well, eating is a pleasure to me. So I wonder if the secret might be to stop looking at food as a pleasure and look at it as a necessary thing I need to sustain life. Yes, eat what I like and enjoy what I eat but don't look to eating for pleasure. Not an easy task.


     I think that is why we turn to the fads, we want to continue enjoying our food, we want food to remain a pleasure, it is fun and darn it, it is a way people socialize too.


     All those fad diets work short term but for most of us real people, they don't work long term. It is hard when you went from someone who could be thin by thinking thin to someone who looks at a donut and gains five pounds. All of the old cliche sayings fit now."A moment on the lips, means a life time on the hips.".I used to laugh at that saying and now I say it my own self.


     With all of this in mind I realize that losing weight just is not meant to be easy, I still wonder why I can gain 5 lbs much faster than I can lose it. Regardless though it is time to stop looking for those fads, get serious and change my thinking about food, think of it as an important substance I need to sustain life.


    That said I am looking forward to eating all the good foods I love at Disneyland....

The Week in Review

     I didn't really do that great this past week on losing weight but I did not gain. This time of year I feel happy if I do not gain weight because well, there is just not much to do in way of exercise. Yes I have my exercise ball and my Wii but can't seem to get a routine. I think it is because I am so tired when I get off work.

     Today I did get a lot of exercise shoveling snow however it made me half sick and I am sure I will hurt tomorrow because I am super sore tonight. Maybe some yoga will help me not be sore...

      I have been eating healthy this week so that helps. I was not eating enough for a few nights and unable to sleep so have decided I need to eat enough to get my rest.

     Hopefully next week I will find that key ingredient to getting back to losing..I think it is exercise. I will be so happy when it is nice out again.

Noah Goof bot

New Year, Healthier Me

     I have not been here in a while. It seems like every get healthy plan I come up with fails. Not because I am a failure, more because it is life and how things work. It seems like we as a people tend to make these big promises to ourselves and just can't quite keep them.  It is not for a lack of desire to get healthy and fit, I think it is just more of a lack of well, I'm not really sure what it is a lack of or that it is a lack of anything tangible. I think it is just how we are made, at least I know it is that way for me. I also think that it all has to be a lifestyle change and that change must be something we can step up to each day.

     I start out with big plans to get healthy. I know how to lose weight and get healthy, I've done it before. I had my Mad T Party exercise plan which was great for  a while, it was a lot of fun but after a while I found I did not have time to dance in front of the TV each night. So before I knew it the exercise program was done.

     My most successful exercise program was many years ago before I had kids when I exercised to Denise Austin's Carb light video. I actually loved it and felt like I was a part of her gym. I also liked my Kathleen Ireland video and felt like a part of that group. However I had kids and once they were older and life got busy I found I did not have time to work out in front of my TV.

     I have Wii Fit and it has proven a great program for me. But yet again I have the problem of finding time to work out in front of my Wii. I must say I love it though.

     I love my exercise ball and those tapes were fun too. But again, the same problem arose, time to get in front of the TV.

     The programs I found least successful were going to the gym. I did not like going there, not because I didn't like the workout but more because I felt out of place. The people there were athletic and I just do not fit into that kind of mold. I did not fit there when I was thin either.

     Walking is good exercise in the summer time, but in the winter it is out unless you want to pay money to walk inside. That takes me to the rec center where the athletic people go and I just feel very uncomfortable there so find I don't go an participate as often as I need to.

     So here I sit trying to figure out what to do, how to get fit and healthy. I've had a wake-up call from my body, in November it decided to let me know it is not happy with me. My liver has fatty tissue and it is mostly due to my weight. I found out from a gal bladder ultrasound.  This has forced me to eat better which is helping with weight loss. But now I need to come up with a plan to not only lose weight but to get healthy. I'm 50 years old and it is not as easy to lose, my energy level is not what it used to be and getting fit and healthy is just hard to do.

    Here is what I plan to do now...I am going to use this blog as my check-point. I won't check in with progress daily because that is just too hard to do with my job and also sometimes there's not much to say. I plan to check in weekly or maybe twice a week. I will continue eating healthy. That does not mean starving and it does not mean depriving myself of those things I love. It means adding more veggies and fruit to my diet, eating less and exercising. As for my exercise routine, I'm not sure what to do there yet. I will probably mix it up and use my exercise ball sometimes, other times the Wii Fit and I might pull out my Denise Austin tapes too. By mixing it up maybe I won't get bored. When the weather is warm I'll go walking.

     So here's to the new year and a healthier me. I would like to look like this again but can't turn back the hands of time...







So I'll settle for this...