What will follow is a day by day post in my attempt to lose 50 lbs. If I cannot pull it off- the only option I feel I have left is to somehow get the gastric bypass surgery.
I feel like I have been dieting my whole life. I am one of those fools who thought he was fat even when he was thin. I was actually thin and out of shape- just sedentary by nature preferring books and movies to going out and doing things. I played AD&D for WAY TOO LONG- finally gave it up in my early 30's. About the same time, I looked in the mirror and realized that I had become my nightmare- I was fat.
Over the next 6 years, I would engage in America's new favorite pastime, Dieting. No? I am sure others will disagree, America's favorite pastime is Football. I would beg to differ. Dieting is the most published, studied, and participatory thing almost all Americans have done, are doing or soon will be doing even if it is just thinking about doing. I can go on and on about this and I probably will but for now let's just say that I joined or rather rejoined the fray.
Now I won't claim to have been on every diet. I have been on some of the most famous diets though, Phen-Phen, LA Weightloss, South Beach, Herbalife, Atkins, Canadian Airmen's, and a slew of magazine, newspaper and even one ill fated web-based diet where I treid to give up wheat. The last one is making its rounds via web ads- it's the one where there is this sketch of this fat then thin woman announcing that you can lose weight via this one little trick. Of course if you really want to know the one little trick and how to pull it off you will need to either backtrack all the info she and her partner gathered and implemented- in which they lost weight or you can skip it and just fork over $40 for their book. Neither of these people fall into the obese, or extremely overweight category.
The one thing I have noticed is that the only people who were extremely overweight and lost it, seem to have sold their souls to a diet plan or a certain restaurant chain. Yes, HE was obese and then lost it- but you cannot convince me that all he ever ate was tuna subs with no cheese for all the meals or some such. It's possible that he came up with this by himself and pulled it off but it looks to convenient for Subway's business model..
Of course, the universal truth is that almost all diet plans work- they will get you to lose weight IF you follow them to exactness. Most rely on a calorie count per day- they may simplify it like Weight Watchers down to points or over complicate it like LA Weightloss with all kinds of terms, diet books where you track what you consume with bubbles you color in. Most cost too much money and many many of them are unhealthy. I believe that I have broken my body because of those that were so abnormal that I ate unmentionable things to lose weight.
In closing, let me differentiate between the 2 dieting extremes.
1. Dieting extreme to lose weight so that you fit into the ideal weight class of sexy, desirable, fit people who only exist in health clubs like the Rush or magazines, movies, TV and photoshop.
2. Dieiting extreme in order to avoid certain death. Many of the real American obese fall into this category.
I fall into neither, although I have been in both.
When I was in my teens I belonged to the first extreme. I thought that my "baby fat" minor flab made me fat. So I worried about it not knowing that the chips were stacked against me. I had several inherent conditions that were largely unknown at the time that would make it next to impossible stop the rapid decline of my fitness and diet. I will devote a blog or two to them next.But it is those conditions that put me in extreme number 2.
Most Americans do not fall into either extreme. Many Americans are however more overweight than the media venues portray- just look at the magazines at the checkout and then look around you and take note how fat people generally are. We are fat, us Americans. Especially in certain regions like Tennessee. We are not morbidly obese, but many me carry around to much bell fat while the women have it riding their hips and buttocks and thighs.
Should we all lose the weight- the extra weight?
Yes, but for our overall health and wellbeing, not so we can be more desirous to others or match that photoshopped actor or model.
This is my story however and it may be yours.
what follows is a daily account of my dieting and thoughts and feelings about it and the whole phenomena.
A couple of things to note- I will be typing this on multiple computers including my netbook with its cramped and crappy keyboard so there probably be errors- live with it, I know that I am.
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