Guest guest Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 Carol: I would recommend " converting " your roomate or getting the hell out of there (or finding a new roomate). With temptation all around you, you'll find it much more difficult to stick to a CR diet. The only way I maintain my discipline is to keep " forbidden " foods out of the house. That way at least I'm always eating the most healthy foods except for an occasional treat. When I attend a social event I sample everything (but try to keep to sampling only) because it's too difficult to go cold turkey 100%. Welcome to the group!!! on 7/31/2003 1:36 PM, Carol, getting conscious at 12steplists@... wrote: > My situation made much worse > by having an overeating roommate who buys a lot of fast foods and > cakes/icecream/pies and then encourages me to eat more than my share. sigh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2003 Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 Going from overeating to CR is definitely possible. I'm in the mist of it myself - hopefully heading toward the later end It's a continual process of improvement. The little changes you make in your diet will eventually amount to large changes. The files section of this group contains lot of good info. I would recommend any of Dr. Walford's books as well. Don't attempt this without close supervision of your doctor. Make an appointment and explain to them that you have made up your mind to change your lifestyle and become healthy. Follow their advice and keep going back to them regularly throughout your weight loss. I can only offer you advise that worked for me. I got Dr. Walford's book 'The Anti Aging Plan' and started immediately reworking my diet to focus on the " ON " (Optimal Nutrition) side of CRON. By removing calorie dense/nutrition poor food and replacing them with nutritionally dense choices, you will automatically eat less calories and thus start to lose weight. Start small and identify the greatest offenders, those food that are totally empty calories. Replacing those types of foods will net you the biggest gains at first. As you read thru the files on this group and any of Dr. Walford's books, try out the different foods suggested. I found experimentation to be a great resource when totally reworking your food lifestyle. You have to find ways of preparation that are both convenient, feasible and " work " for you. I also found (and still do) it very helpfully to keep track of every calorie I ate. I used Dr. Walford's Windows program but you can just as easily use a spreadsheet or even index cards. It will be a pain but it accomplishes three things. One, it makes sure you aren't eating too many calories. Even though you are eating better foods you can still find yourself going overboard (at least I did at times). Two, it makes sure you are eating enough calories. You have to remember that reducing your calories by too much will start you on a road to failure. Slowly reducing your calories via the nutritient dense foods will keep your body from doing a " starvation revolt " . Three, you teach yourself about proper portions. Learning how many extra calories one can consume each day, just by having a " little extra " shocked me. Learning from your caloric budget each day will improve your ability to plan out meals. Along with focusing on creating a new eating philosophy for myself I also started an excerise program. Nothing fancy at first, simply walking one half mile as fast as I could. It took me 20 minutes and I was wasted. Six times a week, I would walk. I increased my time gradually, only 10 seconds per day. When I would get to a time span that was taking up too much of my time, I would go back to 20 minutes but pick up the pace and start my 10 second increments again. Eventually I started doing wind sprints, very slow jogging, for a few seconds then back to the walking pace. You don't have to confine your activity to walking. I found that just being active at something that upped my heart rate for 20+ minutes was very helpfully. Variety will keep you from becoming bored too. I also started doing light weight lifting. Again, nothing fancy and definitely nothing heavy. Dumbbells are perfect. I used the same philosophy I had with my walking. Small improvements every time I lifted weights amount to large improvements over time. I feel combining aerobic excerise with weight training helps to greatly minize muscle loss when reducing calories. I'm still using the small improvements method for my current excerise regimen. One last tip that you might want to try, keep a weight loss journal. Don't just make it a record of your weight on such and such a date. Write down your thoughts about your progress, your failures, your fears/hopes, your goals, etc. I am so happy that I put down my thoughts and feeling during my journey. I can go back and read those entries to gain knowledge and insight about myself. I also get inspiration reading about many of the ordeals I faced. It definately pays not to forget the road you have taken. Being able to read my " trip notes " was a boon for me. I hope my reply, though much longer that I intended to write, helps in some way. Mark Boggs, aka PM1K > I created this address for a couple 12 step groups, but really don't > need an overeaters group to somehow make me happy on 1600 calories a day > but a health-oriented, CR group to make me happy on maybe 1200 a day. > > I see CR as a philosophy that will help me transcend over eating (i.e., > eating 1000 calories of junk food on top of12-1300 of healthy stuff). I > think it's better than merely trying to control the urge to use food to > satisfy just about any need or soothe any frustration that arises > (though that awareness remains necessary). My situation made much worse > by having an overeating roommate who buys a lot of fast foods and > cakes/icecream/pies and then encourages me to eat more than my share. sigh > > I did use CR on my hamster who I let eat all he wanted his first year > and he got a bit fat. Read about CR last year and after that restricted > his food just enough so he was slim but healthy and he lived to be > almost 2.5 years, which is towards the maximum for a hamster! > > At 55 and at least 70 lbs overweight I can physically feel that heart > attack or stroke could claim me momentarily (as it has 4 overweight > friends, 3 younger than me, in last two years.) Unfortunately, the fear > of death hasn't been quite enough motivation to get me going. ;-( > > So I've joined 2 CR and will see if either or both help > motivate me! (though only occassionally will I post to both, as here.) > > Thanks for listening! > > Carol who is trying to get conscious, difficult as it may be in a pretty > unconscious world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 2, 2003 Report Share Posted August 2, 2003 > Carol: I would recommend " converting " your roomate or getting the hell out > of there (or finding a new roomate). With temptation all around you, you'll > find it much more difficult to stick to a CR diet. The only way I maintain > my discipline is to keep " forbidden " foods out of the house. **This I know, but easier said that done since I have really cheap rent and an " underearner " problem (too much volunteer work/writing projects) exacerbated by the recession. Anyway, did make a chart today that will stick on wall next to my bed where have to look at it. Four Columns DATE WEIGHT AM # CALORIES #STEPS (i.e., number of extra steps do as exercise, walking, dancing or whatever) Of course my danged printed refuses to print right now...grr.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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