Ignoring the Extreme
I've read a lot about people losing this way or that way. Who hasn't? Extreme diets, exercising, and photos of chiseled bodies are everywhere. Such extremes can only be held out for so long.
One blogger only drinks water. Only. Water.
This same blogger says she still counts calories with one "cheat" meal a week and another one I came across that was pinned as "very inspriational" says she keeps her calories "really low" to keep the weight off even though it's been a few years
Now, I know water is good for you and I like it, but - only drinking water? For the rest of my life? No thanks. And I know there is no way that I will be able to live on 1200 calories the rest of my life while "allowing" one cheat meal per week. I also know from observation of "thin people" that they don't eat that way. Thinking about calories, and how to get the most nutrition from them, I can do. Counting every bite, every day - not going to happen.
There was another blog of 3 women that take pictures of every meal they eat and count the Weight Watcher points. This is not to say they don't have some good points and ideas, it's just the extreme lengths they go to in exercise and eating seems like it would be difficult to maintain, and, well, not much fun.
Maybe these people and others like them help motivate some, but I think those types of things kept me "stuck", feeling like I would fail before I even tried. I've lost weight on Weight Watcher before. I know how to lose weight with extreme exercise and low calories. I also know how to get yourself injured and sidelined for over a year and to gain it all back and more. The kind of determination it takes to stick to extreme measures doesn't last. Not in my world, anyways. Weight loss and maintainance shouldn't be a marathon in will power. I want to be healthy. I don't need to look like a swimsuit model, thank you very much!
So on with my secret weapon to help me:
I've found an awsome podcast. The show is called "Fat 2 Fit Radio." These guys, self-admitted recovered yo-yo dieters, are the voice of reason and stick true to their philosephy
"If you eat and exercise like the thin person you want to become, you will eventually become that person."
So all you have to do is figure out how many calories you will need to maintain a healthy weight. The Basal Metabolic Rate calculator on their site is very helpful. When I finally figured this out I wasn't so hungry and I'm no longer prone to binging. You can eat more than you think. A big thing I learned is to NEVER eat below your basal metabolic rate. It is the number of calories your body needs if you were in a coma. A COMA! Well, I'm a whole lot more active than that! I realized I'm not "sedentary" at all. No wonder I would get ravenously hungry trying to eat at a lower calorie level.
Most diet plans set people up for failure and gaurentee repeat business because of the extremely low calories. The Fat 2 Fit guy's goal is not the speed of weight loss but permenant weight loss, "slow and steady wins the race."
I think we have been so conditioned by society that we think we have to give up so much of what we love in order to be thin and that we have to punish ourselves in some way in order to lose. I'm not exactly saying that it's easy, but it's a whole lot easeir than trying to stick to a 1200 calorie diet! One listener to their podcast said,
"Being healthy is hard, but being overweight is harder."
So true.
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