It was this thought, that I was literally addicted to food, that made me wake up and start eating to live instead of living to eat. And I can’t imagine turning back.
Addiction - “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance”
One third of Americans are obese and another third are overweight. So only one third of adults in the United States are at a healthy weight. The mindless eating we exhibit, I believe, can only be attributed to food addiction.
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If you’re like me you’ve read about a lot of different healthy ways of eating. Some might recommend the opposite of others but the majority will hold some key ideas in common. I’ve found that the four most common elements of healthy diets that work for real people are:
- Limit white carbs
- Know your fats
- Get ample fiber
- Strive for variety
In this post I’ll discuss why each of these is important and some simple strategies to achieve them.
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The hardest part of losing weight and getting in shape for me is keeping motivated. On the first day it seems like nothing can stop me. But sometime after three weeks — or even three days — I begin to falter. Not only does doubt in my ability to succeed creep in but I question whether the goal is even worth achieving. I think the single most effective exercise to quell these doubts is to imagine wild success. It sounds simple and it is.
This works for any goal. Define exactly what succeeding is and visualize what it would feel like achieving that goal. How would you feel? What would you do? What would people you care about say? If it is weight loss, what size clothes would you wear? Where would you shop? How would your life change? When you look back on the path you took to achieve this goal, how will you feel about it? And what would you do next?
A one line motto I try to live by is “focus on success”, which I especially try to evoke when I’m anxious. I think all of my anxieties stem from fear of failure. If I’m stressed at work or if I feel like I just can’t stick with my diet/workout I tell myself “focus on success”. And the exercise above makes me focus on just that.
Eating everything you want is not that much fun. When you live a life with no boundaries, there’s less joy. If you can eat anything you want to, what’s the fun in eating anything you want to? - Tom Hanks
My wife, Stephanie, and I love good restaurants. At one time our favorite hobby was dining out and we did it three or four nights a week. But we’ve recently discovered that she is an excellent cook and that going out so much wastes time and money so we’ve cut back. We do dine out, however, every Friday and Saturday night to reward ourselves for a healthy week. And if we are visiting friends and family, or vice versa, we’ll splurge at a sit down place. People’s social lives just seem to gravitate toward restaurants.
There are a lot of alternatives to eating out if social interaction is the aim (game/movie nights, potluck dinner, etc) but sometimes it just makes sense to go to a restaurant. I’ve found that in the 9-5 environment that going out for lunch is a very important social construct and the best way to network. Inviting your boss to your apartment to play Parcheesi at lunch doesn’t go over so well.
Boundaries and limitations are needed, however, since in the U.S. portion sizes and unhealthy dishes are on the rise. Some restaurants have a section of healthy dishes along with calorie counts (like Chilli’s) but most do not. I’ve compiled 10 easy tips that will help you make sure you don’t overeat when you eat out.
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I absolutely love reading stories about people achieving their goals. But when I saw the headline “Dropping 110 pounds transforms woman’s life” I assumed it was another gastric bypass “success”. But after reading the article it turned out to be a very inspiring story about a women going from an unhealthy size 22 to a size 4 in one year.
Thirty one year old Heather Davis lives in Washington and said she had tried everything to lose weight in the past. But that one day, something clicked, she made a commitment and a lifestyle change that made getting healthy easy. I think this is very important and has only recently happened to me, I will write a future post about this light switch and how to achieve it.
My favorites bits Davis included were to get as much social support as possible but to also not let your family and friends derail you.
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This was written last month before starting fitfilter.com, but I want to share it with everyone. I wrote earlier about diet and fitness goal setting tips and now I’d like to expand upon that and talk about my goals.
The question I always get from my dad when I tell him I’m going on a diet is “Why?!” (then again that is his response to pretty much everything I say I’m going to do). I’ll tell him why then he’ll ask how, “Are you going to starve yourself again?” He also always reminds me to stay off diet drinks because “Aspartame is poison” and how pickles have “negative calories”, but that is a digression. I’m going to answer all the applicable questions in one fell swoop in this post. The “What, when, why, where and how” to my diet and fitness goals.
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People who don’t set goals and want to lose weight or get in shape are destined for failure.
Goal setting is a widely discussed topic in personal development literature. It is the pivotal first step in creating anything you want in life. In this post I will summarize five tips that I have found to be helpful in setting diet and fitness goals.
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