Friday, December 4, 2009

I’m still uneasy about posting all of this personal info but as a result of doing it, I have to admit that today has been great. I’ve had calls and emails from some of you offering your support and others even pledging to get in shape with me. Thank you for your help.
At first, I was thinking that it didn’t matter if any of you were really reading my posts; I just needed to “think” that you were, but now I can see that it does matter. I need to hear from you. If I were sending these posts out like a random message-in-a-bottle, never to be read, I don’t think it would help me to change at all. It has been my offering a degree of commitment and your accepting that offer that has made me feel strong enough to do this. So if you’re really out there, at some point, please make yourself known…and as often as possible. Feel free to hit me up about my progress anytime.
I went without junk food today for the first day in who knows how long. It was tough. About five times I found myself wandering around the kitchen wanting a treat. I ate a ton of fruit and even more veggies instead.
I’ve been thinking about how to manage my food intake and I have not figured that part out for sure. I hate counting calories and I am not sure I am going to have to. I think I will develop an eating philosophy that is based on nutritional rules-of-thumb and concepts such as the following: One friend of mine, when I heckled him about ordering a vegetarian sandwich for lunch, told me something very simple but it honestly blew me away. He said, “Well, I’d rather order the same sandwich as you, but I’ve just found that I can’t eat everything that I want and stay healthy.” Pretty basic rule for most skinny people, but for a fat guy, it provided me with an epiphany because I always eat what I want, every time. Another friend said, “If God made it, you can eat it. If man has messed with it, it is not very good for you.” I like that one too. And the last one I was thinking about today was from a friend who has lost a lot of weight and so far has been keeping it off. He said that it is not possible for him to eat “perfect” every meal, but he has just learned to eat the most nutritional thing available at the time. If he ends up eating lunch some place unhealthy, he still tries to order the best thing possible even if it’s the small burger rather than the usual XXL. All of these concepts feel more like long term lifestyles than fad diets. I’ve tried all the fads and they suck.
Well, thanks for reading and thanks for all of your helpful and caring responses. Hope to hear from more of you soon. I will be posting my new weight every Friday and I’ll try to blog no more or less than once per day.

4 comments:

  1. OK.. I'm on board, too! Here goes the rest of our lives, Brent. Thanks for the motivation:)

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  2. My mom always said to eat things as close to their natural state as possible, and that is similar to what your friend said. I went a period of time doing two raw meals a day, and it felt really good---fruit for breakfast (until noon if you need a snack), a big salad with some seeds or nuts for lunch (and find a good, healthy dressing that you love and leave the ranch behind), and then a normal dinner. Stop eating for the day by 6:00 and you will do even better.

    See....I know what to do! There are so many changes that can be permanent and manageable, I just need to do them!

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  3. Rachel,
    It's strange how we "know" what to do but...alas the flesh is weak...but group support makes us stronger! :)

    Thanks for your post

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