Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Susan’s Free Guaranteed Successful Dieting Plan!
I know. Losing weight is hard. When you get older, it’s even harder. You think that maybe the latest fad diet might do the trick, although in your heart you know that best-selling writer has no magic to offer for your weight struggle.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you can do it! Throw away your diet books, your internet print-offs, and the latest recommendation from a friend who is the worst example of a well-managed diet. (Don’t you hate people who tell you how to eat as they gobble down a cheeseburger and fries?)
My recommendations are not easy. They are not based on government dictates of a healthy diet. They will not feed your wounded spirit or reduce your over-active appetite. You probably won’t like them. But they will work. No measuring. No groups. No counselors. Just li’l ol’ me and my time-tested cooking and practices. So here goes:
- Don’t set goals for how many pounds you want to lose. The whole idea is that you’re going to change your whole relationship to food—for life.
- If you start to crave having some food that’s really bad for you (for example, a chocolate fudge ice cream sundae), put something sweet in your mouth, like one piece of Hershey’s dark chocolate. No fair making excuses that you get these cravings at least ten times a day. If you’re thinking about food that much, you need to find a hobby.
- Identify the foods you like and learn to cook them creatively. We often have stir-fry recipes, so lots of veggies there, with brown rice cooked in broth. We eat a lot of chicken, so you’ll find lots of marinade recipes online. (My husband doesn’t eat fish.) During this week we’re having an asparagus/cashew stir fry with peppers and brown rice; a homemade vegetable soup for our meal; “breakfast chicken” (which is a bit of a splurge, coating the chicken with a little ranch dressing and cornflakes) with brown rice and veggies; spaghetti and meatballs; and a lentil stew with lots of veggies and smoked turkey kielbasa. Most of these are easy to make or we make big batches and freeze them. We have seven batches of split pea soup and eight batches of vegetable soup in the freezer.
- Cut down on portions; this step has been critical for my weight maintenance. The more my age goes up, the more my portion sizes go down. Way down. But I don’t leave the table hungry, because I judge how my belly feels, not whether I feel like I want more to eat.
- Cook only as much as you need, or if you make something like a brisket, take only one serving and commit to freezing the rest. No seconds.
- Don’t cut out sweets completely. After every meal, we have our favorite tea and one—yes, ONE—chocolate chip cookie. They’re the big ones from BJs. It takes care of my sweet tooth.
- Exercise—yeah, I know, there’s no time. MAKE TIME! Okay, I’ll calm down. I take a brisk 35-minute walk, Monday-Friday, and work out at our gym three times per week, including some cardio. Don’t ask yourself if you feel like working out—you’ll never do it. Instead, write it on your calendar and even if you’re tired, go do it. You need to make it as regular as brushing your teeth. You do brush your teeth, right?
- Cut out as much bread as possible. We have a couple of little slices of French bread with our soup with butter, and my other bread splurge is one slice of pumpernickel at lunch. (I love it with a thin layer of hummus and a couple of little pieces of lox.)
- Eat fresh fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth. I love raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mango, mandarin oranges and such, with a little low-fat yogurt. I never eat no-fat anything. Too blah.
- Herbs, herbs, herbs! I grew up with a mother who only used salt and pepper, and sometimes garlic. As an adult, I discovered that cooking with herbs and other flavors is so much fun! Basil is one of my favorites; then there’s rosemary, thyme, oregano. I also discovered fennel, leeks, and shallots! Experiment and learn what you like; after a while, you’ll use the ingredients that please you most.
I could make lots of other suggestions, but the bottom line for weight loss and maintenance is—are you ready?—common sense and moderation. So boring. But so true.
If anyone wants to contribute other suggestions for practical weight management, speak up. Just remember: the best diet in the world has little to do with the guidelines.
It has to do with you.
Published in Culture
Yep! No question whom they cater to. Ah, for a yummy thick hot corned beef sandwich on rye with mustard . . [sigh]
Sorry. Got carried away.
My weight-loss program is very simple and one sentence. Anyone can do it: Burn more calories than you take in.
I think I’ll publish a book on it.
And Baltimore also has Kosher Chinese: David Chu’s.🙂
It depends on where you’re getting you calories from. Not all calories are created equal. It’s all lot easier to burn off calories from fat than sugar. You’d be better off from a weight loss stand point eating 2000 calories a day from red meat than 1500 calories from eating twinkies.
Ah, @thelonious, you’re no fun! ;-)
Stop viewing food as entertainment.
My husband says that. He used to work on cars and not take a break to eat–he just didn’t think of it. Food was strictly nourishment and eating could interrupt something more important. The cooking part can be fun, though, and he’s enjoying that in his retirement!
Susan, I think I hate you.
Or maybe it is simply the case that now I am on day six of a diet. And I hate everyone.
I don’t doubt it is wise to have one cookie, just one. Only that to me seems as unlikely as having one potato chip.
On the other hand, if you lived near me, I might be trying to get invited over for the nights you have the rice and stir fried thing-ees. Or anything with the cashews.
I’ll bring the chocolate chip, almond extract rather than vanilla cookies. And I don’t think you’ll stop at one.
@caroljoy, you crack me up–I mean I feel terrible that you hate me!! ;-) The cookie isn’t the same as chips. My husband has tortilla chips with lunch, and he gives me two. Seriously. I couldn’t have just one. Sometimes I have three!
I hope your diet goes well. If it makes you feel any better, I grew up in a family where everyone was overweight and struggled (and some still do) with managing their weight. I think I just had more discipline (and maybe more vanity), plus I was the only small-boned one. Anyway, thank you for making me smile and stick with it!!
Wishing us both great success on our stated goals.
My goal right now is to stay at my same weight for a while. (Something had me lose five pounds three weeks ago, and when my husband said he’d like me to go on a diet with him, I agreed. It feels goods just to have lost the five pounds.)
Already we are eating much smaller portions, and not really minding it. So it does seem hopeful.
I wish all of you success!
There’s more to it than that, and failing to understand the the bigger picture can make weight loss harder than it needs to be.
The body reacts differently to different types of calories. Carbs put the body into fat retention mode, where fat cells are instructed to store and retain calories (as fat) instead of making them available for the body to burn. Importantly, this condition persists for quite some time after a meal. So while the body technically has the calories it needs, it can’t get at them. This is why we often find ourselves hungry shortly after eating a lot of carbs. If we ignore our hunger, the body starts conserving energy: our metabolism slows, we get sleepy, etc. If we have the will power to push through this, and the body is still unable to get at the fat it has stored, it starts breaking down muscle and organs, converting them to sugar for the fuel it needs.
Eating fat has the opposite effect. It signals fat cells to “open the gates” and allow stored calories to be burned as fuel. The goal of a high-fat/low-carb diet is to stay out of “fat retention” mode and get into “fat burning” mode.
(Disclaimer: I’m not a nutritionist. I’m just a guy who has been doing some research and learning that a lot of what we “know” is based on trash science and increasingly contradicted by more robust studies.)
This is a helpful reminder after the four course meal of wonderful food and drink posts. The last time I decided to drop 10 pounds was the last time I ever ordered a whole pizza for myself, and I corrected the steering problem that had my car veering right into fast food drive through lanes.
This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the February 2019 Theme Writing: How Do You Make That? There are plenty of dates still available. Tell us about anything from knitting a sweater to building a mega-structure. Share your proudest success or most memorable failure (how not to make that). Our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
March’s theme is posted: “Unexpected Gifts.”