Eating right

I know that I need to lose weight and I *WANT* to lose weight. I am
prepared to exercise, even though I loathe it, and I am desperately trying
to "eat right".

My problem is that after not "eating right" for 48 years, I am finding very
difficult to do.

I am not a person who enjoys eating. Really. When I am hungry I will stuff
the closest, and most convenient thing in my mouth. This usually translates
into a sandwich. The idea of preparing food when I am hungry is not an
option and the idea of preparing food when I am NOT hungry is a little
revolting.

If I were to think about my "favorite" foods they would tend to be (aside
from convenient), probably fatty and usually unhealthy. I have never eaten
vegetables other than corn, potatoes, overcooked canned peas, a raw carrot
or two in a salad along with some celery and iceburg lettuce. I simply do
not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.

My question is how to do you eat things that you hate? I can't bring myself
to do it. Any suggestions? I need help and advice because I am not making
any headway doing this by myself.

THanks in advance

DIVa

What do you like? It is quite possible to health-ify (I know, not a word
many foods.

I know you said you don't like anything, so what do you eat? Perhaps it can
be modified.

As for exersize, it all depends on what you do. I wouldn't last 5 minutes on
a stair matster, but playing ultimate frisbee with my friends? I could play
for hours .

--
-mlle

I will only add, may God bless you.
"Diva Martine" wrote in message
...
I know that I need to lose weight and I *WANT* to lose weight. I am
prepared to exercise, even though I loathe it, and I am desperately trying
to "eat right".

My problem is that after not "eating right" for 48 years, I am finding
very
difficult to do.

I am not a person who enjoys eating. Really. When I am hungry I will
stuff
the closest, and most convenient thing in my mouth. This usually
translates
into a sandwich. The idea of preparing food when I am hungry is not an
option and the idea of preparing food when I am NOT hungry is a little
revolting.

If I were to think about my "favorite" foods they would tend to be (aside
from convenient), probably fatty and usually unhealthy. I have never
eaten
vegetables other than corn, potatoes, overcooked canned peas, a raw carrot
or two in a salad along with some celery and iceburg lettuce. I simply do
not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.

My question is how to do you eat things that you hate? I can't bring
myself
to do it. Any suggestions? I need help and advice because I am not
making
any headway doing this by myself.

THanks in advance

DIVa

Hello Diva,

I too was like you for the first 39 years of my life. I never really was
much on vegetables and ate more fast food than you can shake a stick at.
After getting into an accident and putting on more weight on my already
obese body, I just felt like crap and knew if I didn't do something I would
die soon. I wanted so much to see my children grow and see their children
grow and decided I can do this.

You can do it too. But you have to really want to do it. Your never too
old unless your dead or have really bad health problems, which might hinder
you beyond your control. I found that I can tolerate raw carrots,
cauliflower, and broccoli with some lite ranch dressing to dip them in.
Also I've cutback on bread, and use one slice of whole grain bread with a
couple slices of turkey w/ light mayo makes a good lunch for me. For
breakfast I usually have a 3/4 to 1 cup of bran cereal without the sugar and
add a sweet and low to make it better tasting. Eating out I usually have
either a salad, chicken with veggies, soups, fish and veggies, or a veggie
plate. After you do it a while it becomes second nature. I don't crave
junk anymore and I really have to force myself to eat more food when it
comes to my vegetables and fruit. You can eat so much vegetables where you
could never be hungry it seems.

Get a cardio workout from an elliptical machine or stairclimber. If your
not use to exercising yet, start walking. As you increase distance, speed,
set a goal of say 3 to 4 miles as a maximum, then start jogging or running.
Keep setting goals for yourself. You'll see that your endurance increases
and you might be able to do the machines I mentioned above. Keep pushing
yourself to exercise and after awhile it will be second nature and you'll
feel great. It's when you stop going to exercise and get content on it,
that you lose the second nature and start gaining the weight back and such.

I wish you success in whatever you decide to do.

Sincerely,

Paul
300/203/175
"Diva Martine" wrote in message
...
I know that I need to lose weight and I *WANT* to lose weight. I am
prepared to exercise, even though I loathe it, and I am desperately trying
to "eat right".

My problem is that after not "eating right" for 48 years, I am finding
very
difficult to do.

I am not a person who enjoys eating. Really. When I am hungry I will
stuff
the closest, and most convenient thing in my mouth. This usually
translates
into a sandwich. The idea of preparing food when I am hungry is not an
option and the idea of preparing food when I am NOT hungry is a little
revolting.

If I were to think about my "favorite" foods they would tend to be (aside
from convenient), probably fatty and usually unhealthy. I have never
eaten
vegetables other than corn, potatoes, overcooked canned peas, a raw carrot
or two in a salad along with some celery and iceburg lettuce. I simply do
not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.

My question is how to do you eat things that you hate? I can't bring
myself
to do it. Any suggestions? I need help and advice because I am not
making
any headway doing this by myself.

THanks in advance

DIVa




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On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 22:54:12 -0600, "Diva Martine"
wrote:

I know that I need to lose weight and I *WANT* to lose weight. I am
prepared to exercise, even though I loathe it, and I am desperately trying
to "eat right".

My problem is that after not "eating right" for 48 years, I am finding very
difficult to do.

I am not a person who enjoys eating. Really. When I am hungry I will stuff
the closest, and most convenient thing in my mouth. This usually translates
into a sandwich. The idea of preparing food when I am hungry is not an
option and the idea of preparing food when I am NOT hungry is a little
revolting.

If I were to think about my "favorite" foods they would tend to be (aside
from convenient), probably fatty and usually unhealthy. I have never eaten
vegetables other than corn, potatoes, overcooked canned peas, a raw carrot
or two in a salad along with some celery and iceburg lettuce. I simply do
not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.

My question is how to do you eat things that you hate? I can't bring myself
to do it. Any suggestions? I need help and advice because I am not making
any headway doing this by myself.

THanks in advance

DIVa

I don't make myself eat things I hate. If you eat things you hate and
make yourself do exercise you hate, you'll struggle to stick to it
even in the short-term.

Foodwise, like Jay Jay said, write down everything you eat for a week,
then look and see where you can make changes to 'save' calories.
Think about expermimenting with different things, vegetables you
haven't tried before, new fruits, etc. And have a go at doing some
cooking, there are lots of simple, quick, easy recipes you can try -
it could save you calories and money.

Exercisewise, try different things to see if you can find something
you like doing. Try and incorporate extra bits of activity into your
day (walking more, going to the shops by bike, taking the stairs
more).

What I'm trying to do it is make lots of small changes to how I eat
and live, rather than trying to transform myself and my bad habits in
one big go overnight.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do,
Clarrie x


--
245/224/135
"never give up on a goal because of the time it will take to acheive it - the time will pass anyway"

email/msn: clarrie grundy aatt hhoott mmaaiill ddoott ccomm

Ignoramus wrote:

If you are on a reduced calorie diet, you may find that all food
tastes delicious to you. This is not a joke. I can hardly think of
anything now that does not taste good to me. Anything. I used to hate
beets and hot buckwheat cereal, now it tastes as good as anything
else. That you do not like this and that, is a sign that you are
overeating.

This is so true! If you had told that I'd be eating winter squash with
ff cottage cheese and apple for lunch most days I would have said "ain't
gonna happen". I never ate cottage cheese in my life and now it is so
yummy! Same with *many* other foods. I didn't want baked, dried out
fish, so I learned a way to sort of steam it on seasoned tomatoes and
other veggies that we have every week now.

otoh, the bowls of pasta and butter I used to eat for lunch most days is
now totally bland and tasteless to me. I don't want it anymore!

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

Diva Martine wrote:

I simply do not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.
...
My question is how to do you eat things that you hate?

There's a big difference between actually disliking a food and just
being out of the habit of eating it and not liking change.

For real dislikes all that can be done is avoidance. But real
dislikes are FEW. For example no matter how many hundred times I
have tried to enjoy bell peppers, parsnips and moldy cheese it
does not help. I don't like these things and that's that.

But humans can't really dislike wide categories of food with that
sort of permanence. More than a handfull of specific dislikes and
you have gotten into the range of attitude. It's a mental issue
and so it has a mental solution.

Maybe your parents were poor cooks and served you mush instead of
properly cooked veggies. Cook them crispy and it will be a
different experience.

Maybe your parents allowed you to be a picky eater as a child.
If so, decide that you are now grown up and that child no longer
rules your mind. It will take a while but push your attitudes
towards adult eating patterns, and seriously decide for yourself
that your chosen healthy foods are exactly that: Adult eating
patterns. Yup, radical and a lot of work, but effective.

Then there's the college dorm trick. Graduate high school, go
away to college, enroll in a cafateria plan, be forced to eat
seriously gahd-awefull stuff, notice that the veggies are the
least ruined tiems, and develop a taste for veggies.

Whatever you do, make it a balance between brute force and the
easy way. Don't just allow your tastes to stay the same because
it's easy. Work them to change. Don't overdo it by jamming
every appropriate but hated food down your gullet that you can,
either. Because that will trigger a large reaction against the
plan in you. No, take it slow, take it easy.

Slow but sure wins the race! If it takes everal months to repair
your bad old eating habits, well those months will happen even
if you do not put in the effort.

Ignoramus wrote:

I feel about junk food this way, but pasta tastes great to
me. Potatoes, not as great as before, but this could be because of
rationalization. Easier to eat less of it if Iconvince myself that it
does not taste good.

OH! I adore pasta! I just don't want/need 3 cups of it swimming in butter
anymore! Give me a half cup piled with zucchini, garlic and tomatoes and
a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Half a potato is nice once in awhile - I
don't pine for them.

Yesterday I was making salads for supper and spotted a ripe pear in the
fruit bowl. Diced it up on the salads - very nice! There never were
pears in the house before, and I'd *never* have considered it for a
salad. Heck, we never had a fruit bowl on the kitchen table before!

--
Walking on . . .
Laurie in Maine
207/110 60 inches of attitude!
Start: 2/02 Maintained since 2/03

SnugBear wrote:

Yesterday I was making salads for supper and spotted a ripe pear in the
fruit bowl. Diced it up on the salads - very nice! There never were
pears in the house before, and I'd *never* have considered it for a
salad. Heck, we never had a fruit bowl on the kitchen table before!

Nice observation. I was just thinking yesterday that my bowl of washed
apples and bananas was a nice thing for those "10 seconds or less" meals
I've been eating lately. Grabbing an apple as I walk by is a great way
to catch a quick snack. I do love a fruit bowl!

Dally

Diva Martine wrote:

I know that I need to lose weight and I *WANT* to lose weight. I am
prepared to exercise, even though I loathe it, and I am desperately trying
to "eat right".

My problem is that after not "eating right" for 48 years, I am finding very
difficult to do.

That makes sense. You don't get to skip this step, though, you just
have to practice it until you get better. Luckily, you get a fresh
chance to practice three or four times a day. :-)

I am not a person who enjoys eating. Really. When I am hungry I will stuff
the closest, and most convenient thing in my mouth. This usually translates
into a sandwich. The idea of preparing food when I am hungry is not an
option and the idea of preparing food when I am NOT hungry is a little
revolting.

I really hated this paragraph. I read the whole thread to see if anyone
else jumped on you about this. No one else did so I guess I'll put on
my curmudgeon hat and do the deed.

OF COURSE it's an option to prepare food. It's also an option to PLAN
meals. In fact, planning meals and snacks was a crucial part of my
success because healthy foods never seemed to magically appear unless I
PUT THEM THERE. I have no idea why you would sabotage yourself so badly
by refusing to prepare meals. Why would you do this to yourself?

If I were to think about my "favorite" foods they would tend to be (aside
from convenient), probably fatty and usually unhealthy.

That's nice. (I said that in a "who cares" sort of voice.) Be prepared
to eat your favorite foods less frequently if you want to stop being fat.

I have never eaten
vegetables other than corn, potatoes, overcooked canned peas, a raw carrot
or two in a salad along with some celery and iceburg lettuce. I simply do
not like a lot of food (most food), and I never have.

Why do you eat? You sound pretty confused about this. You've got a
human body, right? Your body requires some basic maintenance (exercise)
and fuel (food), right? What's the big deal with eating to fuel your
body? Not every meal has to be an entertainment event. Eat when you
need fuel and choose foods that will do a good job fueling your body in
appropriate quantities.

If you're bad at this, so what, you're going to practice 4 times a day
for the rest of your life. I assure you that you will get better quite
quickly.

My question is how to do you eat things that you hate? I can't bring myself
to do it. Any suggestions? I need help and advice because I am not making
any headway doing this by myself.

I don't eat things that I hate.

Are you confusing "hate" with "not much fun"? Again, why are you
eating? It sounds like eating is supposed to be some sort of orgasmic
experience for you. Are you eating for the mouth-feel of things? For
the blood sugar rush? For some emotional/obsessive reason that doesn't
involve fueling your body? Are you honestly trying to say you just
can't force anything but Twinkies down your throat? Sounds like just
another excuse to stay fat to me.

Dally
244/178/170

If you are on a reduced calorie diet, you may find that all food
tastes delicious to you. This is not a joke. I can hardly think of
anything now that does not taste good to me. Anything. I used to hate
beets and hot buckwheat cereal, now it tastes as good as anything
else. That you do not like this and that, is a sign that you are
overeating.

I think you are quite right here.
When you are hungry and there are only vegetables around, then you
must have those.