Oh what a fun subject - NOT.
A bunch of us were talking about weight control and diet.
What we're doing right and what we're doing wrong.
This was brought about by this article:
Baseball Fans Are Warned About Hot Dog Consumption
People, us smokers have warned you about this for
years, and most of you just blew us off. They've taxed
and regulated ciggies into the ground, fat is next!
I REALLY take pity on you if you are an overweight
smoker! Republican or democrat it doesn't matter -
start voting out incumbants until this country gets back
in track!!
I digress. Let me get back to the subject at hand.
I weigh 125, and I'm 5'7". A good weight I'd say for me.
But in the summertime, spring, and fall it is a
struggle not to lose any weight. I realize not
everyone has this problem! During the springtime
I am busy with yard cleanup, and getting the garden
in shape. During the fall it is leaves, windows, and
other fall cleaning tasks that burn off energy. During
the summer I have the garden, plus all that heat and
sweating outside just burns off calories I think. I
was asked about eating habits and exercise to maintain
this healthy weight and keeping the body in shape.
So basically I'm not telling anyone what to do, but
rather sharing what I do and have done over the years:
First off I get plenty of exercise with the above mentioned,
plus daily year round I am outside for at least 1/2 hour,
rain or shine, briskly walking dogs all over the property.
This means up and down hills, over rocks, etc. I am
so not a paved road bicycle person! I'm not into
treadmills, working out, jogging or stair climbers.
Basically the only down time I have is when I am on
vacation somewhere. I can remember being sick and
missing about 3 walks in almost six years of living here.
As far as diet, where to begin....I have never really liked
food. Never developed much of a taste for things. I
was well into my 20s or 30s before I cared for pies, for
example. I do not make or cook a lot of things, because
I don't know how. The reason I don't know how is because
I never developed a taste for them so why learn? I
can recall making about 3 pies in my lifetime. Cakes
usually for special occasions only. I ONLY bake anything
else in December, before Christmas. I then bake
everything for the year.... it all goes in the freezer what
I don't use for the holidays. I don't know how to fry
very many foods - eggs, bacon, and potatoes are probably
it. I don't LIKE fried foods except the above mentioned.
I actually order my fish baked 99 times out of 100 at
a restaurant. I don't make fried chicken, and have no
clue how to make mashed potatoes (although I love both,
but because I don't know how to make them I don't
get them often).
We fix salads with almost every meal. We limit the
carbs. Even though I grow our own corn, we usually
break the ears in half and each eat half with dinner,
and that's it. No more than one carb with a meal
in most cases. Also we make almost everything from
scratch - no easy meal in a bag or box.
I do like junk food, and I don't fight the urge to deprive
myself, not by any means. I've gone years without
eating a potato chip, same with ice cream. My weakness
is cheese. But if I want a Dorito for example, I'll buy
a bag. I might eat the whole bag then buy another bag,
then eat two chips and the rest goes to waste. I've
gone days without chocolate, but I don't eat a lot at one
time when I want some. I won't deprive myself of a
donut either, but they are not bought very often.
I drink soda daily, and not that diet crap either. But
I usually limit my intake to half a can a day. Oh and we
never ever buy the low fat or no fat crap that is overpriced
and tastes like crap. If we want the food we buy it.
My dairy comes strictly from cheese consumption, with
occasional hot chocolates. I have to watch myself with
cheese very carefully! Salt - we do use salt. But not
with cooking. I personally add salt to eggs and to potatoes.
We use other spices generously.
I guess what I am trying to say is I pay attention to my
body. I think there are times we do need fat. Also there
are times we do need sugar. There are some meals where
I crave a boiled egg and peanut butter!
Oh and portions - I eat very small portions. If I don't finish
a meal at a restaurant too bad, I don't feel guilty. I eat what
I can and that is it. I actually do better with smaller frequent
meals than a big meal. But there are times when I go
many hours without eating, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
I personally feel that fasting sometimes does a body good.
Personally I don't like fast food. I can tolerate Sonic. Also
we are not pork eaters, with the exception of the occasional
bacon with breakfast, or pepperoni on pizza. McDonald's
to me tastes greasy and disgusting - heck it even smells
that way in the restaurant, and it is very hard for me
to even walk in the place.
Sometimes in the summertime when it's hot I don't feel
like eating during the daytime. When this happens I
drink Ensure to get adequate vitamins and calories.
I am not anal about any of the above, and I couldn't care less
about what someone else eats. I also do not believe for
one moment that health care costs would plummet if everyone
stopped smoking, drinking, and eating fatty foods. I
don't believe in telling anyone else what to do. Just sharing
what works for me to maintain my own weight. I try
very hard to maintain the weight I have, if I stopped eating
fat and sugar I really don't know where mine would
bottom out, possibly ten pounds less. That would put me
in a lower BMI and would render me unhealthy and in
the event of sickness or disease I would really be screwed.
I think we all need some padding in the event of illness!
