It's January - time to obsess about fat!

[Little Nipper]

Somehow or other, the thread at Unk's on Buddy's sudden demise morphed into a thread about everyone's favorite January obsession - dieting. Since Greenspun went down last night some time, I am starting a more-appropriately titled thread here, in hopes the conversation can proceed without a hiccup.

Anybody here on a diet?

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Little Nipper

[AnitaS]

I'm not on a diet, and had I lost the 15 pounds that Cornboy claims he lost, I'd be just a few pounds short of a disappearing act.

I did the diet thing several months ago, and my metabolism STILL hasn't gotten back into the "store fat" mode. Water and beer work well to keep the hunger pangs away. No exercise works well, also. The body gets down to a reed, with no muscle tone and absolutely NO energy. AFTER that is done, one may resume eating and exercising, which is where I'm at right now.

IMO, there's just NO WAY that a body can drop fat [and even excess muscle] without going through this deprivation period. Of course if one needs to do more than crawl from the bed to the couch, it does have drawbacks. Heh.

Good luck, LN. You, too, Cornboy!

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[DigitalAngel]

There it is! The diet thread! I knew it. I knew it.

I'm on the chocolate diet. I eat only chocolate. So far, I haven't lost any weight, but I have such a great store of patience that no one cares.

Besides, I share all my chocolate.

et vous?

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[FrmlyZ]

Pine is fine. Ponderosa, hmmm.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/bitterroot/f...ric_plants.htm

Z

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[ToFuYumMmy]

I'm not fat

I'm "rubenesque"

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[Jack Booted Thug]

What do you mean CLAIM to have lost? It's gone.

However, it is not 15 pounds as Anita said. When I posted to the Buddy thread I said I had lost 12 pounds in 15 days but had hit a plateau. Now, however many days later, I have dropped 14 pounds. The goal is to lose 26.

However, I am not on a diet. Instead I am trying to get healthier. All this started because I had developed high blood pressure and a slighty elevated cholesterol level. I also smoke very heavily and being an office type my lifestyle was very sedentary.

I had been taking medication for both of these problems but what I was on wasn't helping to improve either of these problems. When I went to the Doctor in December she (yes my female cardiologist, very nice lady) was taking my blood presuure when she said, and this is a direct quote, "*GASP*, Oh My." Seems my blodd pressure had risen to new levels despite being on the full dosage for this type of medication. She tried to take it a couple of more times but I could have told her she was wasting her time. I think there is something about your cardiologist doing a gasp and blurting out "oh my" that is not exactly calming.

Well this really bummed me out because I actually thought I was doing better. I had faithfully taken the medicine, had lost about 5 pounds over 2 months, walked more and I felt better than I had when I first started seeing her. I moped for a day or two and drafted my obituary (done as a joke that I e-mailed to a friend of mine, I thought it was quite good) and the doctor changed my medication.

The new medication had more of a diuretic than the first stuff. You can see where this is headed. I literally peed off 6 pounds in the first 4 days. Yes LN I am drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated. I started taking fish oil every day for the cholesterol, I cut out candy entirely, I avoid the evil carbs as much as possible, I drink about one third of the amount of Coke that I did before and I started on the exercise bike, seven miles every day.

My last check up showed blood pressure 130/84, my total cholesterol had gone from 221 mg/l to 178 mg/l, my "good" cholesterol went from 21 mg/l to 35 mg/l. I as pretty impressed and vowed that I would get even healthier, even if it killed me. I now also do crunches daily and am considering getting a membership at the local rec center to have a place to work out.

I still eat the fried foods I used to, just not as often and not in as great of quantities, so I don't classify this as a "diet". I like calling it getting healthier because that sounds much more positive. Oh yeah, I also decided to have a more positive attitude towards people and life as I know it. This is causing major concern with my co-workers as they are convinced that something is relly, really wrong with me.

In the spring I think I will try to stop smoking. That will be a big ordeal for me. So right now it is one step at a time. First step drop 26 pounds (actually 31 when you add in the 5 pounds I lost before my new resolve). Then I can try to strike a blow towards cutting Phillip-Morris' profit margin.



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[Little Nipper]

Whoa, JBT! Mighty impressive results! I see you are doing a lot of things right and that does explain the rapid weight loss.

Good luck with your blood pressure reduction. Part of what inpired me to get healthier was a recent indication that my blood pressure had gone above the "normal" range. That's a red flag for me, given the medical history of my family. The rise was nothing dramatic, but I cannot afford to let it slide.

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Little Nipper