Month: May 2014

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Diet lessons learned again…and again

Diet lessons seem to require repetition before I really learn them. It seems I’m not alone. I can’t count the times I’ve heard someone tell me how easy their diet is, and how they no longer crave their forbidden foods, only to see them fall off the wagon a bit further down the road.

What happens between “It’s been two whole weeks and I don’t crave sugar at all” and “Yeah, I haven’t been doing very well lately”? In my own experience, life happens; holidays happen; cravings happen. Just about the time I think I’m free of the temptations of junk food, I get invited to a birthday party or a team lunch at work.

To succeed more than you fail I think it’s important to know how your body is going to react over time, and to accept that temptations will keep coming. I think of it similar to holding my breath. It’s easy to hold my breath for 10 seconds. It’s really not too difficult to hold it for 30 seconds. But, at some point my body starts to focus on what it is missing. In a similar way, my body can go without it’s favorite foods for a while, but it will eventually notice the lack. It will compensate by craving them and finding excuses for me to “need” them.

Two weeks of success is easy. It might take effort, but it’s easy to exert the effort for a few weeks, especially if the numbers on the scale are moving down. But what about when those numbers stop or reverse for no apparent reason? How do I stay motivated? What about when someone at work brings a pile of treats that I happen to love? I lose some of these battles and get a fresh realization of where I would be if I made no effort at all. The negative consequences give me the strength to keep trying.

I have a few things that help me.

  1. I bring my lunch to work every day.
  2. I don’t eat anything at work that I don’t bring with me, period. Once the food I bring with me is gone, I am done eating until I get home.
  3. I am unable to use moderation with certain foods, so eliminate them from my diet. Yes, that is what I said.
  4. I find foods that, for me, make suitable substitutes for higher-calorie foods that I like. For example, I blend cauliflower in a food processor to a consistency similar to mashed potatoes. The taste of cauliflower isn’t as good as potatoes, but it is good enough to keep me happy.
  5. I have certain foods, like Lindt 70% dark chocolate, that I use to keep me away from other sweet foods. That way I don’t feel like I’m doing completely without foods I love. These foods are incorporated into my daily plan, so eating them is not “cheating” and as long as I keep within my limits, I don’t worry about them.
  6. I plan ahead. If I’m going to be out of town, I make a plan for what I’m going to eat. If I have a company lunch that would difficult to miss, I plan to have a good time without throwing my goals out the window.

I have a very long road ahead of me. Accepting that temporary troubles will come has kept me focused enough to stay on that road.

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Just because you don’t know doesn’t mean you won’t know

I read an interesting article yesterday about the differences been a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. It underscored some things that took me years to discover—that improvement is possible if you swallow some pride and give a strong effort while you suffer through the learning curve.

Talent will only take you so far. After that, if you aren’t willing to put in the effort, you could find yourself eclipsed by others who have less natural ability but a stronger work ethic.

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Walking on water, without a doubt

I was thinking about Peter today, and what he might have been feeling when he saw Jesus coming toward the ship, walking on the water. It seems that he had a surge of faith when he asked if he could come out on the water with Jesus, but once he got out there, he started thinking about how it was happening. He began to fear and he began to sink. He didn’t use his own power to stop onto the water, but that didn’t keep him from worrying about the dangers, as though they were his responsibility.

I think of similar things, even in the midst of great blessings and miracles. I start to over-think instead of just trusting in the power that put me where I am. It’s not always easy, but sometimes I need to be still and know that He is God. He can find a way to make things happen.

Matthew 14:27-31
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

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The poison ivy deception

“This isn’t poison ivy.”, said my friend’s young son confidently as he softly kicked his shoe and shin around in the low mass of leaves. The look on his face was intended to calm our fears. After all, he was kicking those leaves and nothing was happening. In his mind it was a pretty good test. He didn’t have enough experience with poison ivy to know he was wrong.

We had been walking the path around a small lake when I started to notice the 3-leaf pattern in much of the vegetation. I was pretty sure it was poison ivy, but I couldn’t see any of the characteristic white berries that generally come with it. I expressed my concerns to my friend and his son overheard me.

It wasn’t long before I found the confirming evidence. Several clusters of pale green berries were clearly visible in the leafy mass. I hope my friend bathed his kids when he got them home. Poison ivy looks so benign, but it can be the source of great misery.

My first experience with poison ivy came a few days after a fishing trip. Itchy “bites” started showing up on my shins. Over the course of several days, they showed up in increasing numbers, and red lines started to connect them. They were only on my shins, and as the lines developed, they actually looked like scratches. The itching and burning got worse, and I was baffled at the cause. The only thing I could think of was the fishing trip, several days previous, where I had waded through some bushes in shorts. But there wasn’t any poison ivy in Utah, was there?? Oh yes, there was.

Several weeks of misery passed and my legs started healing, aided by a steroid shot from the doctor. I finally went for a walk up the canyon, near the stream where I had been fishing. Now that I knew what to look for, I could see that poison ivy was everywhere. In dozens of fishing trips I hadn’t ever had a problem, but in previous trips I had generally stayed on well-traveled paths. This last time I had waded through the bushes in an effort to get access to a fishing hole that was otherwise impossible to reach.

Poison ivy is deceptive. It looks so ordinary, almost inviting. There are no thorns to serve as a warning. It does not sting if you touch it. It is common and plentiful, thriving in places people like to visit. It is often found on the edges of popular paths, inviting the ignorant to wander through it. Of course I see spiritual parallels in this.

I have heard the tales of numerous smokers who started their habit with innocently at 12 or 13 years old. They didn’t intend to find themselves, decades later, slaves to the expense and the smell of cigarettes, but that is what happened.

The kids in my school who became parents in high school, and some even in junior high, weren’t expecting to be parents so soon. They saw the fun they could have, but somehow didn’t see that misery could be the consequences of the same actions. What seemed fun was actually very serious business.

College kids gleefully tore open the envelopes of their first credit cards, their minds taking them into undiscovered paths of possibility and status. The paralyzing sting of debt was nowhere in sight, though it lingered for years after the pleasurable experiences are gone.

But, some people still insist on kicking at the danger and stating that it isn’t dangerous because they haven’t experienced the pain of its consequences. Like poison ivy, addictions and vices can be deceptive.

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Working out is not essential to weight loss

In the past year I have heard variations on this sentence probably 100 times:
“I would love to lose weight, but I can’t make it to the gym.”

In my experience, going to the gym has very little to do with weight loss. It isn’t that regular exercise doesn’t help. It’s that eating less on a regular basis helps a lot more. It is my experience that people who concentrate on “eat less” will lose more weight than those who concentrate on “move more”.

My anecdotal evidence is proof enough for me. A few years ago I decided to ride my bike to get in shape. For two months I faithfully rode hard for an hour each day, five days a week. I would weigh myself every morning. After two months I was much stronger, but I hadn’t lost any weight, period. Back pain forced me to quit riding, and without the regular exercise I eventually gained weight. In my case, the exercise was helping me maintain my weight, but it wasn’t enough to help me lose any. I’m not sure how much exercise it would have taken, but I didn’t have it in my schedule.

Since the beginning of the year I have lost 37 lbs. During that time I haven’t been to the gym and I haven’t been on my bike. I have concentrated on “eat less” and it has worked for me.

Does that mean I discount the benefits of exercise? Not at all. Now that the weather is beautiful I have been anxious to get out on my bike again. It will make me feel stronger and overall, better. But, weight loss is not the benefit I seek from exercise. I can still lose weight even if I never get on the bike.

In case you are wondering, I have been using myfitnesspal.com to track what I eat, and to keep me within my calorie limit.

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Glass can be fragile but dangerous

Glass is brittle and breaks easily when it comes in contact with hard objects. This weakness isn’t without a defense mechanism, or a vengeance mechanism – the ability of the fragments to cut. People can be like that.

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Rust and diligent maintenance

Quite a few years ago I bought a hammer for an outdoor project. When I was done I cleaned up my tools, but overlooked the hammer. It lay in the grass overnight. When I discovered it in the morning, rust had already marred the shiny surface with patterns from the damp grass. The hammer was fully functional even with the rust, but I was disappointed. I take pride in keeping my tools in great condition. Using the hammer after that was a reminder to be more watchful when cleaning up.

Some of my tools date back to my junior high days (late 70s) and they still serve me well. This is because I don’t misuse my tools, and I always put them away when I am finished. It does take a little more time, but the result is, they are handy when I need them, and they last forever.

On my mind these days is another kind of maintenance. Since the beginning of the year I’ve been keeping track of what I eat and watching as the weight slowly, but steadily, comes off. I’ve been surprised at how unpopular this concept is. Some people don’t want to be denied anything, and others don’t want to have to keep track of their food intake. It does require attention. I would prefer not to have to pay attention. And yet, the amount of time is much less than I would have supposed. I guess it’s a matter of what you value. If you value the benefits of a healthier body, the maintenance is the price to achieve the goal.

It’s easy to keep rust off tools. It’s a matter of paying attention. Lose track of them and it’s not so easy.

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Old friends and memories

There is a sadness associated with old friends. They are wonderful to have, and I wouldn’t trade the memories, but where those friends were once constant companions, helping to make the history I hold so dear, they now have lives of their own. Some are seen more regularly, but usually only on special occasions. Families rightfully take our attention, and those carefree school days are gone. So many memories. So many things we shared. We didn’t intend to abandon one another, but dealing with life has a way of taking friends to other points on the map. We desire to correspond, but with so many other things competing for attention we may drift apart for years on end. Eventually a meeting comes, and when it does, it is as though no time had passed at all. The faces change. They look older, and sometimes wider. The bodies are no exception. But even as the shell is transformed, the personality is unchanged. We still recognize those beautiful people that carved niches in our hearts. Old friends. Eternal friends. How we long to spend time together. We plan. We exchange addresses and phone numbers. In the end, obligations turn the pages of time. Years pass before we meet again, but the reunions are always sweet when we get together.