Eating More Plants - Hoorah!

Last week I succeeded eating more “plants” than usual. Granted, my main staples were bananas, potatoes, and broccoli. This is where anyone reading slaps their forehead that I made such poor choices. Bananas have so much sugar, and potatoes are startchy.. Well, sure, but that’s still better than I have been eating overall. An entire banana is two servings, so one could argue that one can easily “overeat.” Whatever. That just means I got more servings in. I think the real culprit for potatoes is the stuff people put ON them. I had boiled potatoes with spices and minimal toppings to keep them moist or a little more flavor. Potatoes are still better than white rice or pasta, so there. I am down a few pounds since the beginningof the month. I’m still paranoid every day I step on the scale it might go back up, so that helps keep me a bit motivated.

Taking a small step is better than attempting all-or-nothing and then giving up as soon as one makes a tiny less than perfect choice. It feels more sustainable than being motivated by fear. I didn’t write about the fear motivation idea. Rently had some iffy test results and healthcare providers reminded me that at least 40% of all cancers are preventable by diet and a reasonable weight. Fine, so if I succumb later it’s all my fault. Great feeling. Eat better or get cancer. Not that anyone makes it out of this life alive. Being told one has a 200+% chance of getting cancer can be quite the attention-getter. Feels like even if I don’t have it now, it’s only a matter of time wating for it to drop. What can I do in the meantime besides fret? Lose weight, eat more plants, all that good stuff. Chemoprevention too, but we’ll get to that later.

Various Weight Loss Ideas

The dude that mentioned 600 calories of pureed chicken & coffee said a couple other interesting things, like how broccoli is super filling, so I ventured to ask him a tiny bit more, only on the off chance of something that sounded more paletable to me. He did not. Among other things, one should never exercise more than 40 minutes at one time, and multiple exercise sessions must be no less than 6 hours apart. This was in response to the question is it ok to have a 15 min walk here and there, like on breaks. I’m happy this system works for him, but hard pass from me. I have enough healthcare professionals saying walk, no don’t walk, do strength-training, no, avoid it at all costs and only do walking. Eat yogurt – no, dairy is not needed. Eat ¾ of your food as fruits and vegetables. No, eat at least half calories from lean meat. My point here is only to say that I give up. I try to have a semi-open mind to some of these thigns, like I said, in case there are hidden gems. Like broccoli is very filling. That’s good to know. I like cucumbers, but I swear, every time I have one, I’m hungrier than I was beforehand. So hey, broccoli probably is pretty filling. But all these extreme this and that and nothing you do is right . . . I give up. Get the weight off as quickly as possible – diet now, eat normal the rest of your life; it’ll somehow work out. Gastric surgery is the only way to go. Slow steady lifestyle changes are the way to go. Anythng else is dangerous. I agree with some things, and I don’t on others, and I shouldn’t get on a soapbox of which things strike a chord to me. I just think it’s sad there are so many vastly different “healthy” ideas by professionals, as to destroy all trust in anything and make one feel like they have to test it out and figure it out for themselves. One plan probably does not fit all; even flexible ones. I’m the only one who’s got to live with me and my quality of life due to my weight. I know what foods I can tolerate and which I’d seriously rather avoid and substitute. I cannot let these guest lecturers live inside my head making me feel guilty and awful about myself no matter what choice I make. My surgeon has a website with several life-style changes they advocate, and I’ve read and will seriously consider all that I am able to. To a point. Let’s just say their ideas were a little less extreme and probably in the right direction. And attempting a direction still counts; even if I am not 100% successful following every single item every day. I tend to gravitate in all-or-nothing perfectionism and it gets discouraging. 80% on track, or even starting out 50% in a new direction, can still be positive change. I don’t have to do this overnight. That’s just me.

All Ailments Caused by Being Overweight

Anyone else had these lectures? If you just lose weight, it will all go away. Uh huh. I had no idea they’d even blame poor vision on weight. By now it’s too late for me on that one. I know weight doen’t help, and probably does exacerbate things, but . . . then there’s the issue with how quickly one should lose weight and what one should do in the meantime if one has a lot of weight to lose.

Talked to a gentleman at work today who is becoming a certified nutritionist and advocates eating 600 calories a day living off coffee, protein powder, and pureed chicken. Said load up on celery and you’ll never have to exercise. Not that he indulges in celery, personally. He said a lot of interesting things that I’m not sure I’m ready to buy into. I do resist celery because it seems bitter to me. But his take was that you only have to suffer for a shorter amount of time and then go back to eating whatever. Not sure I buy into that either, as I’ve always been taught the slow and steady lifestyle changes, but whatever.

I know I need to get healthier, but I really wish there was a better way of motivating myself instead of fear. Fear of this, that . . . the newest one is cancer. You're going to get cancer because 40% of cancer incidences are caused by being overweight and no doctors want to treat you when you brought it on yourself and it’s all your fault. Yeah, that’s a fun thought to carry around all day. Even if it’s true or partially so, is that the ideal way to make yourself afraid to eat anything questionable?

I’m not a coffee person, but I suppose I could do shakes for a while. I was always under the impression quick fixes like that weren’t good for you and wasn’t the point because you’re not going to stay on them forever. As soon as you stop, the weight comes back anyway. But if it’s “lose weight or die” and if you’re at fault, I guess you can say a certain amount of suffering is earned or somehow necessary for penance.

I know, eat to live, not live to eat. Maybe the idea is if you deprive yourself of desirable food for long enough you will forget you miss it and never want it again. I’m sure one’s tastebuds adapt to a certain point but . . . coffee and pureed chicken, huh? Eeek.

Surgeon eenie, meenie minie . . .

Finally, my activity and weight-lifting restrictions are lifted from a procedure last week. The good news is my sedentary week didn’t lead to any weight gain, so I’ll take that win. I know I'm a wimp, but everything hurt. It hurt to fold laundry. So I just got the ice packs back out and gave up.

Now I get to worry and fret that at the surgical consult coming up, they don’t roll their eyes at me like everything is my fault for being overweight. Even if I start severe caloric restriction right now, there’s only so much progress I could make in a few weeks. I researched surgeons all weekend and even though I could read their qualifications and years experience, the one I worry I could not assuage is if they’ll treat me seriously as a patient when I’m overweight. I don’t know if some providers think overweight people are non-compliant or otherwise don’t take care of ANY of their health since it would seem obvious they don’t care about their weight enough to be in better shape in that regard. I’ve had a few snarly providers, and while they didn’t say that directly, I start to wonder what else it would be. Doubtful they don’t like people wearing blue shirts, or athletic shoes, or who have certain color hair or height . . . if they know so much, they might occasionally get tired of patients being ignorant. Being overweight may scream to some of them that I don’t care about any of my health. But I guess it’s up to me to get rid of the weight so no one has the opportunity to think that, huh?