Planning to ship a couple of boxes to some friends in France, my wife asked me to help her weigh them to get an idea of how much this would cost. Having only a bathroom scale and the boxes being to big to fit on it, we decided I would weigh myself, and then I would hold onto a box — the difference between me, and me with the box, should be the weight of the box.
I stood on the scale and looked down.
200 pounds!
How can I weigh 200 pounds?
It’s true, I have been weighing in at about 190 pounds for the last several weeks, but where did the extra ten pounds come in?
Like so many others, I have a job that keeps me sitting sedentary for most of the day. The hours of sitting are moved along with mouthfuls of junk food — carbonated soda, salty chips, chocolate bars, and doughnuts.
I have a moving and rather odd shift that doesn’t allow for too many daylight hours in which I can be active. By the time I do get home, I’m often so exhausted that all I want to do is sit on the couch and vegetate.
Even on a day like today, when my shift gets off early and I start the day with plans of eating right and maybe hitting the gym on my way home, I am sabotaged by the local vending lady and her pies.
As a way to say thank you for using her services, she brought in a dozen or so lovely, delicious pies. Chocolate pies, lemon pies and scrumptious, coconut cream pies.
How could I resist?
It’s like this all the time. Folks go to Steak and Shake and pick me up a caramel vanilla milk shake. The boss brings in pastries for a Friday morning meeting. One of the supervisor orders pizza for her meeting. On and on, it is a steady stream of sugar, salts, and fats paraded in front of my useless will power.
Article comments
1 - DJRadiohead
Godspeed, Sir Brewster. I remember when I first tipped the scales on the wrong side of 200 lbs. It was a mindf*ck because my entire life I was a skinny kid. It never dawned on me I would become the fat guy. Unfortunately, I didn't and still haven't declared war on it. The Wife to Whom I Am Married and I are starting to get our heads around the idea that I need to do that. I hope you fight the good fight. I hope I decide to do the same thing. You're so right on the sodas.
2 - Orchid
Good luck to you, Mr. Brewster but be cautious about giving up too much too quickly and giving up in frustration. I know they're not good for you but diet sodas might help you fill the gap without so much caloric damage. Taking your own lunch is definitely a step in the right direction, especially if you spend some time moving around in the kitchen preparing it instead of vegging out. Also, try to set aside just 15 minutes of your lunch hour for some walking for starters. It's not such a great sacrifice and it's easier to push yourself to take some baby steps than an entire overhaul.
One thing you might want to read up on is how blood sugar levels affect your "willpower". Eating sugar in particular (or heavily processed foods) can cause you to have blood sugar highs and lows and the crashes you get after a high spike will diminish your capacity to resist rather severely. Once you've broken free of the sugar consumption cycle, it gets easier as your blood sugar levels will normalize. If you can avoid the pies and other goodies for a week, you'll find your "willpower" returning.
3 - Mat Brewster
I've returned under the 200 mark, but just barely. Good luck with your own battles, Mr. DJ.
Orchid, I've heard similar things before. I'm a total sugar junkie and I know half my battle is going to be with that. I was off soda for a couple of years, but then one summer I spend a lot of time with my dad who constantly stops at gas stations and get the super huge gallon sized sodas and I was addicted once again.
Thanks for the good wishes.
4 - DJRadiohead
I am about 12 hours or so into my "soda-free" zone. I was asleep for about 6-7 of those but I have survived my first personal challenge. Money in my pocket and the morning ritual of a trip to the vending machines. I've had an apple and a bottle of water thus far. I am underwhelmed but still on board.
5 - Mat Brewster
It's the soda free support group! I love it.
Call me when you need me to talk you through a rough patch.
6 - Nancy
Diet soda with the sweetner "Splenda" is a good sub for regular sodas as there's none of the aftertaste of artificially sweetened soda. Also try "Crystal Light" - sort of an unsugared Kool Aid in multiple flavors; there's also now low-calorie cranberry juice, courtesy of Ocean Spray, but go easy on it; Low calorie doesn't mean NO calorie. Sometimes a flavor in the water is what you need to fool the stomach into thinking you just ate something. DO 'push' water: 80+ ounces a day, it helps flush the fat, so to speak.
Try to stay away from 'bad' carbs: processed sugars, pastas, breads, etc. If you want carbs, eat fruit. Any fruit will do, even the higher sugar ones like pineapple, because they're really high in fibers as well which breads & pastries aren't.
Despite the claims of Atkins adherents, do stay away from extraneous fats. Remember the good, late Dr. A keeled over from clogged arteries. But DO try to eat more proteins: not necessarily red meat, but fish, chicken, shellfish, peanut butter even. It sticks with you longer & keeps you from those blood sugar highs & lows. If you suddenly go nuts & MUST have something sweet, try pineapple or strawberries first, followed by a large glass of water. Sometimes hunger pangs or sweets cravings are really a need for water, oddly enough. Oh - and ice cold crispy dill pickles (I love Vlasic's baby dills) make really nifty snacks if you gotta nibble on something. They're low calorie but full of taste, unlike carrots or celery, and the vinegar in them helps cut insulin from carbs, a tiny bit.
Much good luck to you. Better you stop it now at 200 than at 300 or 400....
Oh - and exercise. You don't have to run the 4-minute mile; just park a little further away when you go to the store. Two spaces to begin with will do. Don't bring in all the shopping bags at once; make two trips. Go the long way to the water cooler. Incredibly, I lost 38 lbs that way, lotsa water & parking on the far side of the parking lot.
7 - Nancy
Sorry - one more caveat: when you've gotten the immediate sugar addiction under control (it will take about 3-5 WEEKS, not days!) do try to cut back on the soda, which is really bad as far as water retention goes. Ditto added salts. Most of us is water, and fat tissue is like sponge: the more you have, the more it soaks & holds. If you ever go on heavy-duty Laesix (sp?) you'll find out you can 'lose' 10 lbs easy on a good day just thru liquid loss.
8 - Mat Brewster
Thanks very much Nancy. I bought myself a case of water and sat it right by my desk. Everytime I got a craving for soda I just chugged a bottle of water.
I'm definitely more of a little bit at a time kind of guy. I just don't have the schedule or will power to ramp it up into a big program. But cutting out my sugar intake, eating a little better, drinking lots of water and getting some exercise should get me where I want.
Anyone tried the South Beach Diet? I'm not really a diet program kind of guy, but my friend swears by it.
9 - MCH
Mark;
What was your normal weight?
I was a steady 160-165 lbs. all of my adult life, up until about 2 years ago (at 51 years), when I started over-eating and under-exercising after getting married (for the third time). I'm at 208 now and don't like it, so...am headed back down the scale.
Good luck in your venture.
Nancy;
Thanx for the tips...
10 - MCH
oops...I meant *Mat*
11 - Mat Brewster
I've been about 170 since college (1998) I hit 180 about 2 years ago but dropped back to 170 last year (Live in France without a car and much snack money) but have been steadily gaining since back in the states with an office job.
12 - Dan
Matt, I think you should seriously consider coffee. If you're going to start denying yourself things, Why make it harder by giving up the caffeine buzz. Coffee is an aquired taste-- everybody loves the smell-- but it doesn't take long, and I think that if you drink it without sugar, it's calorie free. I like lot's of creme though. I would recommend heavy creme, no sugar, for the beginning coffee drinker. It might surprise you how quickly you adapt. I think that it probably speeds up your metabolizm rate, so that's a good thing to consider if you're planning to bite the bullet on fatty foods.
13 - Mat Brewster
I really, really hate coffee. I hate the look. I hate the way it smells. I hate the way people are always trying to get me to drink it. I hate the way someone will tell me it's not coffee - it's mocha chocha frapa crap whatever and doesn't taste anything like coffee, and yet when I put my lips on it, it tastes exactly like coffee. And mostly I hate the way it freaking tastes.
Sorry for the rant there. I do appreciate yours, and everyones thoughts here. But I can't even begin to fathom becoming a coffee drinker.
14 - Dan
You are truly the very first person I've heard of who hates the way coffee smells.
I don't know what's up with why you hate the way people are always trying to get you to drink it. Or why people would be always trying that.
To each his own, I guess. Good luck.
15 - Mat Brewster
Yeah, I know, I'm weird. But I just can't stand anything coffee.
It's not so much that people are always standing around with a cup of java trying to force it down my throat. But when I go to a bookstore with friends everyone stops off at the coffee shop and when I mention I don't like coffee out come the -try this it doesn't taste like coffee- arguments. And it always does taste like coffee. After awhile that gets tedious.
But really, thanks for the comments and suggestions.
16 - Nancy
Don't urge coffee on him; caffeine is NOT good for dieting, contrary to popular myth. In fact, when you have gastric bypass surgery, or go on a heavy lo-carb diet, it's one of the first things they tell you to cut. It stimulates appetite more than anything else it might do to help. I personally don't like coffee either: tastes like an ashtray to me, and if I do drink it, I have to load it with so much sweetner & cream it becomes a very caloric dessert.
Matt & anyone else: a little at a time is a good thing. Get yourself used to a few little changes a week & that'll be good enough. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are good habits.
If you want a cookie, by all means eat one rather than obsess about it. The trick is to just eat ONE, not the whole box - a concept it took me years to master, lol! You want to reassure your brain that cookies have not gone off the market - otherwise, for some reason the inner man thinks they have, and you end up gorging on them.