I haven't been a reader of WHEE posts for very long, and I tend to skim more then read, so if I'm misinformed please let me know, but I haven't noticed much in all the discussions about weight loss concerning "will power".
So being laid up this morning, after hurting my back yesterday while making a sandwich for lunch, and unable to go for a bike ride, I thought I would get my two cents in here today, while I wait for the Pitt (my alma mater), North Carolina game to start at 1 PM.
And if Ed wants to take a break this afternoon, he can. I suspect this topic might generate some interesting dialogue.
I'm just wondering if this post will automatically show up on WHEE, just by adding the WHEE tag. I guess I'll soon find out.
In my opinion, keeping track of what you eat in a day, subscribing to eating healthy scenarios, etc. doesn't make a difference. If you don't have the desire to lose weight, and the will power to follow through, coupled of course with a daily dose of healthy exercise, you're not going to be successful.
I for one don't subscribe to the eating healthy theory. I love to eat, especially good, rich foods. It's what makes life enjoyable for me, and depriving me of that would only make things worse. But to compensate I do try to add in lots of fruits and vegetables as well as a healthy dose of exercise, which I believe have both been important in my battle with lymphoma. But that's another story.
Although I've never been truly overweight (my max weight was around 180 pounds before my diagnosis with lymphoma in March '02), I was able to get down to 147 pounds in a relatively short period of time, eating whatever I wanted, while conscientiously trying to restrict how much I ate of everything, and significantly increasing my exercise level.
Now I'm up to 160 pounds, mostly resulting from a trip to France in '03 (the food is to die for there), and a bad bike accident in '05, which put me off the bike for about 3 months, and I'm finding as I get older, it's getting harder and harder to to get back to that 147 pounds, despite the fact I do keep trying.
Now at 5' 10", 160 pounds, some of you might wonder why in the world I would want to lose more weight. (I get asked that question quite frequently.) Basically it's because I'm a competitive [more avid now that I'm older] cyclist, and I'm a better hill climber the lighter I am. And yes my speed does suffer on flat ground at that weight, but I can still usually keep up, but mostly I'd rather be a good hill climber that speedster.
So I think I can speak with authority, having been there before, when I say if you really put your mind to it, you don't need all the tricks and gimmicks. You can lose those extra pounds quite easily without them.
The real trick to losing weight is simply burning more calories than you consume. And if you have a slow metabolism, which might make that goal more difficult, you just need to exercise more, and increase it. I never claimed it would be easy.
For me, the desire just hasn't been that great lately. Like I said before I love to eat [and drink wine], and I especially love chocolate chip cookies, which I can't seem to get enough of. Plus 160 pounds really isn't that bad a weight for me.
Now I know this might all seem to be an over simplification of a much more complex issue to some, and it certainly wouldn't do the whole weight loss industry a lot of good, should more people subscribe to my theory, but I believe it is a better and healthier alternative, and maybe even less expensive.