Finally--weight loss!

[Nestor]

Forgive me for being thrilled.  All my life I've struggled with a little too much roundness in the stomach, but I was not overweight according to BMI and I had no extra fat anywhere else.  

Throughout 2006 and 2007 I weighed around 150 lbs--I'm 5'7--and still had a 29 inch waist.  Then, overnight, I gained twenty pounds.  In the beginning of 2008 I went up to 170 lbs, and looked and felt it  My weight kept creeping up from there; the worst was August 2009 when I weighed 177 lbs.  By this point I was depressed and felt sluggish.  I tried normal dieting measures--few sweets, reduced portions. At the end of November I weighed 172 lbs.  That was 5 lbs in 5 months; not spectacular, but something.  But by the beginning of March I was back up to 175 lbs.  

So in the last two weeks of March I did something radical.  For two weeks I ate nothing but very old-fashioned Japanese peasant-type food: brown rice with barley and beans, vegetables, miso soup, tiny amounts of tofu.  Small portions of these things for breakfast and lunch, and for dinner nothing but fresh fruit and a handful of nuts.  On Sunday, in the middle of this ten-day period, I ate chicken, eggs, yogurt, chocolate--I felt if I didn't have an occasional day of indulgence I would not stick to the diet.  

Well--as of yesterday I weigh 167 lbs.  That's a loss of seven pounds in two weeks!  And I feel better: I sleep better, and have more energy during the day.  

On Easter Sunday of course I ate "normally": lasanga, roast meat, wine, dessert at both lunch and dinner.  It was all heavenly---and the next day I felt dead.  

Where do I go from here?  Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead, and keep on the Japanese peasant food until I'm back to 150 pounds, or below?  

Contributions from anyone who has successfully lost excess pounds, or is trying to do so, would be greatly appreciated.  I need moral support!  

[mecch]

congrats you should feel proud for the will power!

[Nestor]

Thank you!  I'm planning to keep it up for a while and see what happens. 

[veritas]

Nestor,

Bravo on the weight loss !!!

Read this article:

http://www.healthynewage.com/keeping-weight-off.htm
(forget the advertisements) The article makes sense. It's a change in habit that keeps the weight off.

v

ps: I cheat sometimes too.

[Nestor]

Thanks for the great article--it does indeed make sense, and,  although I don't agree with the bit about protein/carb/fat proportions, most of it is good advice.  As for change of habits, that's the point of the "mostly Japanese" diet I'm on--to get used to smaller portions before re-integrated other types of food.  By the way, I don't think of occasional feasting as "cheating"--I think a good plan would be to eat simply most of the time and then "feast" on holidays and special occasions.  I just spent the last few days with my grandmother and certainly wasn't watching the calories, but now with Easter week and that visit over, it's back to the brown rice--and I'm looking forward to it!  Thanks for the encouragement!

[mewithu]

I say if your oriantal diet was working keep with it. II mean look at them now tht their economy is getting better they are eating meat and getting fat. So there is something to your diet I would say.

Jerry

[Nestor]

Hi mewithyou, thanks.  The article that Veritas posted discussed some of the dangers of too rapid weight loss, and I'm wondering whether my loss of eight pounds in two weeks counts.  But in the beginning I think something like that can be very good psychologically. 

I suspect the growth of overweight and other problems in the far east has more to do with processed and artificial foods and sugar than with meat; when I was there in the early nineties, the average young person was dramatically taller than the average middle aged person, and this was attributed to eating meat--not a bad thing.  But all the junk food is bad.  It's not unique to Asia--years ago I read an article from Spain called "When we were poorer, we were healthier." 

The point of the old-fashioned Japanese diet is that while I like and enjoy the stuff, it's not compulsively eatable--what the British call "moreish"--I don't eat brown rice and seaweed and want more and more and more, as I do with something like lasanga.  So hopefully I'll get used to more reasonable portion sizes. 

By the way, what I didn't mention was that that (in)famous New York Magazine article about early aging in people with HIV was indirectly behind this weight loss.  The two messages which I took away from that article were 1. Fear bone loss, and 2. Fear dementia.  Somehow that led to my eating a lot of sardines.  Not a wild amount, but definitely more than I'd been eating previously.  Sardines are rich in calcium--to protect the bones!--and are also a "brain food".  So, suddenly I developed gout!  And it turned out that not only the sardines but a lot of other things of which I was eating a lot were known causes of gout.  Oysters--for zinc; liver, for copper; kidneys, for selenium; heart--for CoQ10; all of these things cause gout.  So does brewer's yeast, which I'd been taking for a while.  And it really hit me like a ton of bricks that things I was doing for my health ended up hurting my health.  I don't think those are bad things, (except maybe brewer's yeast--it was the one exception I made to my "no supplements" policy, and now I'll never take that again either) but I was eating too much of them and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables, so that's where the idea for the two-week fast started.  Now the idea is to make brown rice and vegetables the staples, and gradually reintegrate the other stuff in smaller quantities. 

[shotis]

Hi Nestor
Congrats on your weight loss.  I too have put myself on diet ie eating less, stopped using refined food stuff or sugars, calorie counting at times but do not indulge too much.  I must say this has worked for me cause I have lost about 8lbs. I do gym as well whenever i get a chance.  Before I started my new i used to go the gym about 3 times a week due to the busy schedule I go once a week on a saturday.

To say the least I feel good about myself and people are commenting on how well I look. and my children have seen a change in me as I am no longer moody, I have energy to play with my son.

It sure is good thing that you are doing.  I have never attempted convetional dieitng regimes simply because I will be setting myself to fail.

Continue with the good work.

[TabooPrincess]

Less input...more output...

No science.  Simples!