It used to be, when I talked about weight loss or diet with my relatives, I’d recieve an onslaught of unsolicited advice. I was especially aggrevated when I continued to get advice after a successful initial weight loss. While many have lost and gained 50 stubborn pounds most of their lives, few can say they belong to the ‘over 100 club’ and continue to keep that off for years to come. I remain proud of that acheivement even though I’m roughly halfway to my goal.
Nevertheless I’m enjoying my recent conversations with my older brother. There days, I’ll get whatever inspiration I can to keep moving, keep going. Afterall, isn’t that the *best* reason for losing weight to better health?
Today, we talked about the concept of not *dieting* so much as … be mindful of our nutritional needs; in essense, fuel for our bodies to make it work efficiently. My bro and I definitely belong in the “foody group”… people who enjoy savory good quality food. We want our food tasty and fun to eat. This is not something that will go away. However, at the end of the day, I think it’s equally important to really look at why we eat what we do, and if it’s going to work effectively for our bodies and health goals.
This is where exercise weighs in heavily as an important tool for me to remain commited to a low gi diet lifestyle. When I workout, which is something I try to do at least three times a week now, I now have a strong desire to “eat clean” and not sabotage results gained from my open water swims.
I just finished having a whole can of tuna mixed with mayo, 15 grams of shredded cheddar mixed over a bed of greens. While the temptation to have a slice of bread was there, I remembered I had a sandwich for breakfast earlier today, and compensated with added greens. As amazing as it sounds, even over 300 lbs, and after a solid hour work out at the lake, a simple salad with ample lean protein is enough to keep me satisfied until dinner time.
Maybe food as fuel isn’t such a hard concept to grasp after all. It is the one step I missed in my 20’s when I was working out, but still gaining weight.
Finally, I briefly read an article last week that titled: Study: Weight Gain Most Prevalant Among Fat Friends. As I skimmed through the new titles that day, my heart sank a little knowing full well that the majority of my friends are fat. While this is just a study, and may not apply to me personally, it did give me pause. I started to wonder if this was similar to alcoholics or drug addicts in recovery, where generally one has to remove themselves from friendships that will cause problems for their recovery.
Instead, it motivated me to not lose my ‘fat friends’ but to hopefully continue to be a source of inspiration to them, to each other. As the same time, I find myself equally interested now in not hiding my goals and accomplishments and desires to be thinner from my thinner friends who they themselves are constantly working to keep healthy. I found as I talk to them, including my brother, that healthy (or healthier) living is something that is a DAILY commitment. It doesn’t end after weight loss, or after years of maintaining. Success only occurs from a commitment that lasts a lifetime, not from just a few months of a fad diet.
I firmly believe now, that if you’re on a diet that isn’t designed to effectively meet your nutritional needs to keep your body functioning, essentially, if you’re not eating “cleanly”, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Thankfully, concepts learned on the gi diet meets all of my requirements in this regard.
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The real experiment begins when I start to physically tax my body with swimming, hiking and other forms of exercise.
