Ok, I wouldn't say anything but a few comments about weight loss made me do so.
Let me just say that I am a guy who never had to think about his weight, it still surprised friends when they saw that I lost weight, like "WHY?" was the biggest question asked. But I learned a few things, I learned how disappointing it must be for people to look at the scale after working so hard to see nothing has changed. But I also learned that it DOES change and it's worth it to do it!
About two and a half years ago I got a physical and was told by the doctor I was a "boarder line diabetic!" my glucose number was up there getting close and I was 20 lbs overweight.
Diabetic! I was
NOT going to go there. I had many family members who were diabetics and I was
NOT going to go there!
I went to a dietitian the doctor sent me to who gave me an eating plan to eliminate the bad stuff and increase the good stuff. I thought I ate well, I had veggies every day, I
thought I ate well, I wasn't even close!
We know nothing about what we eat, let me put it that way. We get sucked in by marketing, we don't know crap about what we eat, which is largely crap! I didn't "go on a diet" that day,
I changed my diet! "Going on a diet" means you will be going off that diet, right? Well I am not going back to what I was, this life is too precious, I love my family too much, I love this life too much.
I started doing a little home work, we aren't talking a bunch of work, it doesn't take much, just a little looking on labels, just a little not believing marketing and looking at the actual nutritional value. I started making a quick little chart like the photo I have here, that simple, so I could mark down when I eat a helping of each of the food groups. I found out real quick doing this I was not eating as good as I thought! The first thing I ate in the morning I would make up this chart and put it in my pocket. I stopped, I mean stopped eating sugar, we are talking I would have a half of a cookie and savor it, not just stuff it in my mouth but enjoy it. There was then no need to get any more.
I also started walking, around the block, around two blocks, down the main street, every other day, just walked out my front door after dinner. I just did what I felt like, around the block, timing it, a lousy 8 minutes, really? I knew I needed 20-30 minutes as the doctor told me. I started out with that 8 minutes then after a week or so it was raised to the point where walking two to 5 miles is nothing! I do this every other night, just walk out my front door for an hour or so, I don't think a thing of it, it's amazing how I will walk a few miles to a store and grab a veggie to snack on as I walk back. It's amazing how easy it is!
It took me a few months to loose that 20 lbs and it took me 16 months to drop my glucose number to good! SIXTEEN MONTHS so don't expect stuff over night. But every time I took the test (ever 3 months) it got lower and lower so I knew I could do it. I had people tell me (overweight people) that "if you are diabetic you are diabetic, nothing will change that" BS, I did it, and know many others who have!
Don't believe the marketing crap, start reading the labels and you will find things like that little pastry with fruit in it you think is "Ok" has as much sugar as a friggin Snickers bar! Or that tuna sandwich at the restaurant has 1000 grams more fat and 1000 more mg sodium than the bacon cheeseburger your friend is eating! Which doesn't mean you get a bacon cheese burger, but something really healthy.
And don't think I don't eat all the "good stuff", I am a foodie, I LOVE food and live in an area with the best food from all over the earth. I eat Mexican, Indian, Afghani, Thai, Chinese, and on and on, I LOVE food. I eat all the right stuff 90% of the time and have the other stuff to enjoy when I "dine", I don't eat crap to fill my stomach. When I am working and just "eating" I am eating the best I can for me, then I enjoy stuff too when I dine, there is a big difference. And the change can be amazing, I no longer even want stuff I use to eat. I have plain greek yogurt with whole grains and blue berries in it. This isn't "vanilla" yogurt but plain, you get the flavor from the berries, you don't need a bunch of sugar that the vanilla has.
I am sorry, I could go on and on with this because I LOVE this life and I have found that we have a lot more control over our bodies than people think.
Now damn it, hop in your truck and take it for a drive to the store for some veggies.
Brian