My plan to become slender and willowy and alluring is not working out and the reason seems to be that though I go for days and days eating only celery and RyKrisp and a soup made from birch twigs and lichen, I black out occasionally and when I regain consciousness I am crouched over the half-eaten carcass of a gazelle and my hands and face are red and sticky and I’m disgusted, of course, and yet very rare gazelle does taste good when you’re hungry, and the exertion of chasing one and bringing it down does make a person ravenous.

- Garrison Keillor, A Puritan’s Path To Weight Loss and Eternal Happiness

I spent the weekend cleaning closets and trying to distract myself from the attractive treats calling me from the kitchen. Aside from the occasional lapse (where I’d duck into the refrigerator for a slice of cheese) the weekend was mostly successful. The closets are clean and the treats are (mostly) still there.

Riverdaughter is right to focus on exercise but, it’s nearly impossible to control weight just with exercise. Walking a mile burns about 100 calories (this varies according to your weight) so most of us will have to watch what we eat too. And I know from experience that the RyCrisp diet doesn’t work at all for me.

Other things that don’t work for me are:

1. Toast & Cheese for breakfast
2. “Just One” Cookie
3. Dessert
4. Afternoon snacks

The list of things that do work for me is equally simple (in theory):

1. Don’t eat between meals
2. Don’t take seconds
3. Walk 6 miles a day
4. Drink 2 liters of water a day

I can eat whatever I want for my meals as long as I follow those 4 simple rules . . . . Which leads us to the fact that the rules are simple to say but take a daily commitment to work.

Going forward, developing a plan that works — defining a simple list of rules is the first step. My rules work for me but, after blogging about Food and Eating for 3 years, I know they don’t work for everyone. Maybe you’ve already got your list. However, don’t panic if you don’t — your commitment will begin with a daily commitment to develop a plan for yourself.

Have you already made your commitment or are you ready to make a commitment to a healthy lifestyle?  Have you got a plan that works?  Or are you in the development phase?

It’s been a week of non-stop projects but, I’ve still managed to walk nearly every day (and the one day I didn’t I spent raking leaves*)

Today (Just Today) I’m going to walk 3 miles, drink my fiber supplement and finish that one web page I’ve been putting off….

What are you going to do today?

* Which were dragged to the back of the back yard. NOT to the landfill.

Outdoor walking is a challenge.  In the summer the weather is clear but, it’s hot.hot.hot and that can make what should be an enjoyable experience almost a threat.  In fact, that’s when I first invented my idea of walking “just around the block” 5 or 6 times a day — that way I could walk while at work without my clothes getting drenched in sweat.

Well fall and winter are challenges too.  Today it’s chilly and damp.  The dog is desperate to go outside (he’s dancing at my feet and slapping me right this minute) but he’s only about 7″ tall; I can’t take him out in the rain! Or can I?

Heck if I know.  This little guy is my first experience as the primary owner of a pet.

(fiber and water are in my plans too)

So I did weigh myself this morning (and  I will walk 5 miles & take my fiber AND drink 2 liters of water by the end of the day.) — it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I feared:  “It’s OK.” (as they say on Deal or No Deal) I guess because in spite of not health not being my focus, mister and I are careful about what we eat and we walk everyday.  And the fact that he hid the Halloween candy on November 1st didn’t hurt a bit either.

I feel like I’m waking up from a long, long sleep.  And after such a rest, I’m sure I’ll be successful at anything I do.  Right?

I am — but that’s not stopping me from getting back on the rest of my program.  My bracelet is back on (reminding me not to eat between meals and not take seconds.) And I’m getting ready for a walk.

What’s on your plan for the day?

Putting the election (and the loss of the affections of many friends and even some family ) behind me, I’m turning my focus to health issues. And one of the things I’m going to focus on is the danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). I’ve believed for a long time that HFCS is the rocket fuel of Diabetes. And it seems that my totally non-scientific evaluation was correct:

Eating a diet of High-Fructose sugars seems to reduce the effectiveness of insulin:

From the print magazine, Life Extension (Dec. 2008) - Metabolic Danger of High-Fructose Corn Syrup:

. . . . Fructose, on the other hand, is more rapidly metabolized in the liver, flooding metabolic pathways and leading to increased triglyceride synthesis and fat storage in the liver. this can cause a rise in serum triglycerides, promoting an athegrogenic lipid profile and elevating cardiovascular risk. Increased fat storage in the liver may lead to an increased incidence in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and this is one of several links between HFCS consumption and obesity as well as the metabolic syndrome. (7)

. . . .

In Fact, the Effect of HFCS on insulin resistance has been shown to have an impact on the prevalence of diabetes. In 2004, investigators conducted an ecological correlation study, in which they compared the relationship between food consumption of refined carbohydrates and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the US from 1909 to 1997. They found that during this period, the use of corn syrup sweetners, which were almost non-existent at the turn of the century, increased by more than 2,100%. During the same period, the prevalence of diabetes skyrocketed. After controlling for total energy intake from other foods such as fats and proteins, only the increase in corn syrup and a decrease in fiber intake correlated positively with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. (22)

Scientists have therefore come to realize that all sugars are not created equal, which has been borne out in a number of studies. In one study, investigators looked at whether reduction in insulin sensitivity was caused by glucose or fructose components of the diet. They took two groups of young healthy men and fed one group a high-glucose diet, while the other received a diet high in fructose. At the end of one week, high-fructose feeding was accompanied by a significant reduction in insulin sensitivity and insulin binding, whereas no significant changes were seen in the high-glucose group. (23)

I’m a diabetic and I’ve long noticed that my blood-sugar shoots up dramatically when I’ve eaten something with HFCS.  Part of the reason I’m making this conversation an on-going series is to remind myself that this isn’t a joke.  That I’m flirting with serious trouble if I continue to think that “just this one treat” won’t hurt me.

Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll weigh myself and use Nutribase and the tools of The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goals.

I know - I’m here, I’m NOT here, I’m back and I’m gone again.  I’m so sorry.  I had to leave town rather suddenly and I should have posted that news here.  We were at a cabin in Wisconsin and almost completely cut off from civilization.  But I’m BACK.  This time for a while.

One thing I did while I was gone was keep a notebook of intentions and plans.  And it worked really well.  Every evening I wrote down a list of goals for the next day and the stuff we needed to buy to accomplish those goals (we had a horrible plumbing emergency and among other things we had to replace a shattered bathroom sink and the copper pipe for cold water) !!

So now I’m off for a walk.  And when I get back I’m going to work on my eating notebooks up-to-date.  See you later for that!

Meanwhile?

I didn’t sleep well last night. Maybe it was the nightmares about collapsing banks.  Or (more likely) it was the fact that I only walked a little over 2 miles yesterday. Here’s the thing:  The rules I’ve set for myself aren’t arbitrary ideas grabbed from the headlines.  Each one is on the list because they have an overwhelmingly positive impact on my life.

My tools are Walking & Fiber & Water & NOT eating between meals & NOT taking seconds.  And I weigh myself everyday and log what I eat & walk & weigh.

What are your tools?  And …. What are you going to do today?

I’ve been noticing how often I walk into the kitchen and open the refrigerator. Like once an hour. (shaking my head) I’ve been home since the first of July, so that’s a lot of time looking in the fridge. Too much — and it probably explains a lot about my inflatable body.

There are a lot of elements involved in achieving successful weight loss. Of course, the traditional (and still true) “eat fewer calories than you burn” & “exercise, exercise, exercise” are at the top of the list. But, motivation is wound around each of those elements. And getting started trumps them all.

To get started, I used to immerse myself in a stack of diet books - especially the first couple of chapters - building enthusiasm by reading the inspirational messages. And that (if you’re feeling discouraged and helpless) is a useful thing to do.

But the best thing to do (this will shock you) is just do it.

Go the the bathroom and weigh yourself. Right now. And write down the number (It’s probably not as bad as you think). Or go to your closet and pull on that pair of jeans you haven’t worn since the weather got hot. Does it zip up? Can you snap it together? Last week I went out to lunch with family and I had to put on my industrial strength underwear to get in my slacks. THAT was a wake-up call.

And that did it for me.

So, yesterday I still started toward the kitchen a million times. But as I reached for the handle my hand shook just a little. And (almost every time) my hand dropped away. Oh, I opened the door a few times; once even picking up a bag of sour dough bread. But, that number (my weight: written down) and a picture of my tummy poking out of the gap in my jeans pulled me up short before I actually broke my promise:

Just 4 Today, I’ll drink my fiber supplement twice, drink 2 liters of water , walk 2 miles (yesterday I walked 6.42 miles), NOT eat between meals & NOT take seconds.

Meanwhile?