Monday, September 17, 2012

Weight Loss

My wife wondered if I might put this Sparkpeople article on weight loss up:  What Quick-Fix Weight Loss Solutions Have You Fallen For?  It's got overlap with a few of our topics here, so I thought it might please.  The author has a weight-loss team, Slowest Loser, that highlights his views on long-term maintenance. 

Mostly, I've never done anything, just slowly gotten fatter.  I did do something called the Rotation Diet years ago a few times, which seemed to sorta work, but i never stuck with it.  Recently I've done dieting because I have to, and had several sources, including bsking, mention the Gary Taubes method with at least mild approval, so that's what I do, in simplest form.  I greatly reduced concentrated sugars, which were never much of an issue anyway, and grains, which were an enormous problem.  I don't worry much about fats, but these went down when the french fries, butter, and pizza went away.  I eats more nuts and cheese, and more raw vegetables sort of in self-defense.  I keep them lying around so that bread/rice/corn/donut/potatopuff cravings do not overwhelm me.

It seems to work some.  His point about optimism, even false optimism, driving both diets and progress seems mostly true: if we assessed the odds correctly, no one would diet, start a business, get married, etc.

10 comments:

james said...

I lost some weight on a very simple diet: I cut out everything between meals except water. Worked pretty well for 6 months. Maybe I should try it again... (But I love good bread!)

Anna said...

Here is a way - get diagnosed with gluten intolerance. My problem was eating out so now going to a restaurant is out of the question unless I google it, call ahead, etc. Not fun.

Assistant Village Idiot's wife said...

The point I found interesting in the article was this. "Equally important, however, was that once subjects were informed what the actual odds were, they often failed to remember the bad news. If the news was good, however, they were more likely to retain it." Our minds want to remember good news. No wonder I like happy endings. This also supports our delight in anecdotal evidence.

Retriever said...

I was an anorexic dancer as a teen and have had pretty screwy views about food, combined with encyclopedic knowledge about nutrition and diets ever since. The only time in my life I ever had a healthy attitude towards food and weight was during four pregnancies, and nursing. I never believed the infomercials becaus I had already computed the calories in everything edible and how many miles I had to run to "earn " dinner .

The one dietary quick fix I still succumb to (especially in blubbery middle age) is Atkins. It's the only diet I can lose weight on, because I don't like the food I'm allowed to eat, so I eat less. Yet the protein and fat are satiating. I lose weight on it. But it makes me savage, sometimes horribly depressed. My family beg me to eat some carbs (presumably Savage Tiger Mom does not appeal-/they prefer blueberry pie-making mom).


I would like to be thinner. But dieting turns me back into a self-obsessed anorexic who makes the people around her miserable. For now, it seems more important to tolerate a figure I dislike in the interests of being a nicer wife and mommy. Because I have no self discipline I stop cooking my usual lavish family dinners when on a diet, so my spouse suffers when I diet.

Latin Americans talk about a plump wife as looking "bien cuid a". I wish I cd be content w that label. Meanwhile, I read about miracle drugs that might banish my middle aged cravings for chocolate and ice cream and donuts and Fettucine Alfredo.

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