So Close....

Today I weight 149.5 pounds.

That's a pound less than I ever got to on Atkins eating cottage cheese and almonds and guacamole and eggs.

Now I realize I can eat one of those small size bagels with light cream cheese. That's about 180 calories. That plus an apple or coffee and skim milk is 250 calories. It's got some protein and fiber but is really not as filling as a piece of fruit and a bowl of oatmeal.

So I've lost 14.5 pounds since January 6--in under a month.

I should easily get to 15 pounds in a month.

I weighed 143 in graduate school--after I started lifting weights and eating Big Macs afterwards.

That was the first time anyone ever said I had a 'tummy'--even though he meant it in a nice way.

Before that 138 was my normal-skinny weight.

I don't know if I'll get there in the next few months. That's a 25-pound weight loss.

But it would be nice.

Basically, I'm eating about 1500 calories a day. I'll see how far that takes me.

It's not complicated.

• Drink water.
• Eat fruits and vegetables first. (These first two could be called "First, do no harm.")
• Prefer low-fat protein in limited quantities.
• Strictly limit fat and highly-refined or -processed foods.
• Eat regularly (three meals plus three snacks), but eat reasonable portions.
• Don't simply eat when you're hungry. Accept that human beings are almost always hungry, and it's not the end of the world.
• Know how many calories in what you're eating.
• Allow yourself small treats, but limit their size and balance them with healthier choices.
  

These are in order of importance, so you can always start with the easy stuff and see how far that gets you.

Try it. It works. But so does any common sense plan.

--E. R. O'Neill

On Scales and Weight

Scales are funny.

Or maybe it's weight.

Yesterday I weighed the same as today: 151 pounds.

But today my stomach is notably flatter.

And I fit better into my 'skinny pants'--you know, the pair that you keep despite not fitting into because you have the fantasy that one day they will really fit.

Well a couple days ago at 151.5 pounds, they were still snug.

And today at 151 pounds, they're loose.

It can't be that a half pound makes that much difference.

It's almost like the scale is only giving part of the picture.

Hence the virtue of having 'skinny pants.'

They keep alive that dream of looking fit.

And they're--in a weird way--a more objective measure of what you weigh and how you look than that damn silly old scale.

--E. R.O'Neill

Why Any Diet Will Work

Doctors have done research, and they find that low-fat and low-carb diets both cause people to lose weight (when followed).

Lots of people have some sort of success in losing weight following the most diametrically opposed diets.

Some limit carbs. Some limit fat. Some eat more fiber--whole grains, etc. Some eat less beef and more fish.

So what's the deal? Is there just one way of losing weight? Or can we accept that there are many different ways, and that many work, probably some better for some people than others?

Is that too messy and chaotic? Is there anything meaningful to be said about this plethora of routes towards health, happiness, balance?

There is.

Just one word: limits.

Or another, similar word: restrictions.

All diets limit or restrict what you eat.

And that is what we are loath to do.

In everyday life, we let the people selling us the food decide how much we eat.

We eat a box or bagful.

We eat whatever the restaurant puts on the plate.

At salad and soup and pasta 'bars,' we go back again and again--as if obligated by the hopes of getting the best 'bargain.' (It's never such a bargain for the waistline.)

Perhaps we try to place limits on ourselves. But we inevitably grant exceptions.

Perhaps it's because, in a bureacratic world, no one else gives us a break. It's rules imposed on us by others from morning until night. Get to work by nine. Only 15 minutes for a break. Make one copy for the chron file and another for the client file. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Is it any wonder, then, that we 'need' that 500 calorie Jamba Juice cocktail? Or that 500 calorie coffee frappe and that 300 calorie pastry beside? We just have such hard lives. And perhaps we're a little thankful we can afford to plop down five or eight bucks on glorified fast food.

Limits. Living within limits.

It seems harsh. Especially when we impose them on ourselves.

But in a world of plenty in which choice feels like self-definition, limits can be our only hope.

They don't have to be harsh. They just have to be tied to reality: if you eat more than this, you will gain weight. And probably hurt your heart and your lipids and who knows what else.

So, yes, follow a diet. Any diet. Any sensible diet.

Just put limits on yourself.

It's a better gift to yourself than 600 calories of sugar and fat from the fancy fast food joints.

--E. R. O'Neill

New Math.

So for a while I was counting calories.

And protein and fat and saturated fat and fiber.

It was a good learning experience.

It made me AWARE.

Just cream in your coffee bumps up the saturated fat you're taking in a HUGE amount--compared to eating steamed vegetables, even nicely prepared with lower-fat sauces.

Now I got a better scale for measuring my food.

Measuring cups were fine before.

I actually wanted a scale that measured in grams a while back--for coffee. It seems no matter what I do, how I measure, my coffee is black as pitch one day and the color of slightly rusty water the next. I swear I cannot master it.

With a gram scale, I can measure exactly 15 grams per cup, which is nice and strong without being sludge-like, BTW.

So with the gram scale--and BTW it was $14 at Ross Dress for Less, thank you--and a little math skill (a spreadsheet helps), you can figure out wonderful stuff.

Namely, you can figure out that yes, a half cup of low-fat cottage cheese is 90 calories, but 126 grams is exactly 100 calories.

This means you don't have to count. You just eat in 50- and 100-calorie-sized portions.

It's a bit more generous than only eating 1/4 cup of something.

Although when you see 100 calories of almonds and find out that it's like ten of the damn things, you begin to wonder--why bother?

But that is partly the point.

We don't think about how many calories is in our food.

We look at what seems like a nice filling portion.

But if you could see that 100 calories of cottage cheese is the size of a tennis ball, whereas 100 calories of carrots is two cupfuls, well you'd really think, 'Gee, those vegetables look awfully appetizing.'

A little more math, and you can make muffins and brownies from a mix that have not the 170 or 180 calories advertised on the box, but rather 50 or 100 calories--just so you can keep track.

Breakfast today? 120 g. of cottage cheese, 2 mini corn muffins, an apple, and espresso with 40 calories worth of milk.

That's 100 calories each for the first items and 50 for the last. 350 calories.

Obsessive? A bit. Moving towards greater simplicity? Definitely.

As someone who was thin for the first 20 or so years of my life, I don't really know how to control what I eat.

So this is just me teaching myself what people who had to care about such things always knew.

Know what's in what you eat. Eat reasonable quantities.

It's all about re-education.

As a philosopher once said, it's like a ladder you use to climb up that you don't need once you get where you need to be.

So my obsessiveness is short-term. Or that's my excuse, anway.

And who can argue with results. I weigh 151 pounds today, down from 164. My body fat has dropped from 20%--which it always was on Atkins, no matter what--to 19%. Okay, it's probably in the margin of error, but I'm happy.

And I'm heading down to 145, which I last weighed in 1993--over a dozen years ago.

Stay tuned.

--E. R. O'Neill