So, I've been overweight for quite some time, and, yet again, I'm taking another shot at this problem. There are so many diet techniques, and many of them actually work, but it requires a great deal of discipline. It's frustrating that I consider myself to be well disciplined, but I have so much trouble dieting; is diet something special, or does one have to train discipline in multiple areas? Whatever the case, I'm sitting here drinking water instead of tea, wanting very much to eat, but out of snacks. My problem is that I have so many problems, you know? I have to work on cutting out the sweets, portion control, the long view, and healthy eating all at once. Of course, the long view technique may handle all the problems in one fell swoop, since the best thing for me to do right now is stop feeding myself, as I have plenty of fat stores :) Aaaanyway...
I'm also working on a concept that I like to call Bicycle Dollars. The ulterior motive for biking to work is to eliminate a vehicle, and the costs associated with it. There are many estimates for the approximate costs of owning a car, but my favorite is a general cost-per-mile. The cost of owning a sedan driven 20,000 miles a year is 35 cents a mile, so I am giving myself 25 cents for every commuter mile in Bicycle Dollars. Commuter miles are defined as miles spent traveling to any location that I would need a car to get to; this excludes joyriding, but includes pretty much everything else. With a 17 mile total commute every work day, I would be generating $4.25 per day in Bicycle Dollars. Assuming I travel a significant number of my days by bicycle, I would generate $1000 per year, which would justify the purchase of various pieces of essential gear for greater pursuits, such as winter riding, or a motor for long-distance trips. I imagine once I equip the motor, my range will be greatly increased, but that represents a substantial cost from what I've seen, and also greatly increases the risk of theft. I have a lot of decisions to make there, but if I only spend what I've "saved" from not driving a car, I shouldn't put any hardship on the family.
I am looking forward to my biking future, but not my food future :( I'm sure I'll adjust soon enough, but right now, I just want a sammich!
1 comments:
I'm needing to lose weight too, for reasons I'm not quite ready to make public yet. But I probably will be soon (within a couple weeks).
That said, while there are an infinite number of ways you can amend this, there is one VERY simple formula you can use to start losing weight. It's one of those things that's almost TOO simple, which is why people talk about carbs this and healthy that.
Simply put: if you use more calories than you intake, you'll lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight.
For the sake of weight only, exercise is simply a method to burn more calories (i.e., you'll burn more running than walking, but you'll burn more with walking that sitting on your ass playing Fallout 3 like I do).
Some places say you should "exercise for an hour a day," and the problem is in that context, people equate "exercise" to doing hard running or a thousand pushups or something. But if you spend your entire day sitting in a chair, then simply walking for an hour straight will help you out. You just need to do literally anything more active so more calories are burned than consumed.
Same deal with eating healthy. It's not just a "non-fat" thing... the reason non-fatty foods help you lose weight is because there are a lot of calories in fat, which means you're consuming more. The new super burger they have at Wendy's is something like 2300 calories BY ITSELF. And a normal adult is going to be burning only about 2000 calories per day in the first place. In theory, if you eat just a single one of those burgers and nothing else, and have an average day, you'll be gaining weight as a result.
The difficulty comes from calculating how many calories you actually consume. You ride your back, but how hard do you ride? You eat, but how many calories do you consume? How actively do you play with your daughter? How much do you burn when playing guitar? The problem is that life doesn't have a cool counter that you can compare against the blunt totals on the nutritional labels.
Note I never said "it just comes down to calories," because it doesn't. But if you're already attempting to eat healthier and exercise, you're off to a good start. Just find a way to burn more (pedal harder, run a lap when you get home, do some situps on weekends, ANYTHING), and eat fewer calories. A pound of rice and a pound of beef are going to have wildly different numbers of calories despite the same weight.
Oh, and I got an interesting, blunt tip from a Cracked article I once read: "No weight loss comes without pain." You'll feel the pain as your stomach complains about lowered caloric intakes. That's where your willpower comes into play, whether that means avoiding food altogether or downing some yogurt or celery or something. Keep burning more than you intake, and you'll be dropping pounds in no time.
Now, where did I put that pint of ice cream...?
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