Dieting 2

Lots of times people go to a weight loss group or system, set a goal, get weighed weekly, enjoy losing the weight, and then reach their goal. Usually, they gain back the weight because they have not dieted with a realistic idea of the maintenance involved. A person may have to consider the speed at which they can diet in order to get the proper maintenance plans in place. In early 2006, I gained a lot of weight quickly due to stress. Prior to that, I had been able to maintain myself in fairly good shape by jogging. The stress caused me to stop exercising and eat a lot of fattening and unhealthy food. I had to do something because I got high blood pressure and was starting to have some disabilities. The way I have dealt with weight loss is to realize I can't do it all at once. I had to take control a little at a time. It's been a little over a year since I got started.

I started by dieting. Another thing I started doing immediately was taking a weekly hike at Laurel Summit, which goes from about 2700-2900 feet. The highest point I've been at on the summit is 2930. The people in my life had to understand that I could no longer eat fattening food with them and that I could not go to restaurants very often. People had to understand that basically I had to prepare my own food and that there wouldn't be a lot of opportunity anymore for sharing food with others. People also had to accept my absence during the hikes unless they wanted to join me. I realized I could not start whole hog on the diet, a major high-intensity exercise program, and the like all at once. I had a demanding job and I just didn't want to suddenly cut everyone out of my life. When my roommate would get frustrated with me, I had to explain that I was becoming disabled, and that it was going to be much more unpleasant living with a disabled person who couldn't do much than for me to change my lifestyle.

One reason I have the opinions I express on dieting is that I am finding out how complicated lifestyle change is. It takes time to work on all these things. There were a number of things I just basically could no longer eat. If I ate one during the week, I might eat another one, and I might eat one of something else and then I would lose no weight or I would gain weight. I had to experiment a lot also. I started out eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones quite a bit, which can become very boring, especially for a vegetarian. But I needed the total control at first. Then I started experimenting with whole grains and beans and trying to cook things from scratch. It has worked for the most part, but I've had to learn a lot about portion size and measuring things. I still experiment, but there are still many foods over the months that I have found I really can't eat anymore on a regular basis. I finally am to the point now where I can work harder on putting together the rather large amount of exercise I am going to have to do to slim down and stay at that weight.