Eat Healthy For Life, Not Weight Loss

sometimes its just difficult to loose weight, when i decided to loose my extra pounds, I totally eliminated coffee and soda, no fastfood and junkfoods. i even minimized the food i ate but i didn't loose weight. I just started to loose weight when i started dieting, cutting my food intake to almost 70 percent.

Night shift is tough...I worked night shift for several years and it really takes a toll on you physically.  I think it's great that you've been able to eat healthier even while working night shift...You may not be losing weight, but you probably would be gaining more weight otherwise...And feeling healthier is what really matters.

Thanks for commenting.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

since I've start working on night shifts almost 3 years ago, i had problems in dealing with my weight gain, as much as possible I wanted to deal with it the natural way and  this year I am trying to live a healthier life by healthy eating like what you have mentioned, foods less in sodium, more fruits and veggies and less cabs, etc. though i didn't achieve weight loss, i feel healthier now.

You go, girl!

Atomic Mom - The Blog ( http://atomicmom.typepad.com )
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Great advice Assia.  Thanks for sharing.

:-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

Hello!Thank you for the  good discussion!

Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible – all which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and incorporating them in a way that works for you.

Choose the types of foods that improve your health and avoid the types of foods that raise your risk for such illnesses as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Expand your range of healthy choices to include a wide variety of delicious foods. Learn to use guidelines and tips for creating and maintaining a satisfying, healthy diet.Establishing new food habits is much easier if you focus on and take action on one food group or food fact at a time .My advice for other women trying to eat a healthier diet are don't be  the food police and listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry. You may really be thirsty, so try drinking a glass of water first.                                                                                               Assia Mihova, A member of the NTC Tasters team                                                                                                                         

Thanks Linda.  I agree...The earlier we recognize the importance of eating healthy, the better.  And...it's also never too late to start. 

Thanks so much for your comments.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

I think the moral of the story is that PREVENTION or EARLY INTERVENTION is key.  There may be more reasonable things you can do if you start early.  Once you are trying to turn it around when it's somehow gotten so far advanced, it's an onerous task...

I try to be kind to myself on this topic, but the fact is that when I was overweight as an 18, 19, 20 year old, it was 'slightly' overweight although you would have thought I had to travel by crane the way I hated myself over it.  I'm pretty sure I hated myself right up to the next size.  These days, (and for awhile now), I try to love myself with the goal of a healthier physical form. 

If I knew then what I know now....  I wouldn't have squandered my current position because of some false perception of what I had IN HAND at the time. 

So again, the moral of the story - start now, do these things now.  Don't let hopelessness take you to a place where it's so much worse and the journey to turn it around is so very difficult. 

JustLinda fabulously imperfect Nothing to See Here... Just Linda ( http://justlinda.net )

Thanks for commenting everyone...I totally agree with everything you are all saying.  And I do understand that the obese and the morbidly obese have a much more difficult time losing weight and making healthy food choices than the average overweight person...I hope my posts don't come off as me thinking this is an easy thing to do.  Even so, I think it's important that you are all speaking about how much more difficult it can be, because people in similar situations will benefit from your experiences.  So, thank you.

But, just for the record...I thought you should know...I'm not a thin person preaching about the simplicity of eating healthy.  Here's a little bit of my story...

About 2 1/2 years ago I had known I was overweight, and it was "seriously" affecting my health.  At the time I was fine with "looking" overweight, so I didn't really look at my weight as a problem...It wasn't until I realized I wasn't "just" overweight, and that I had actually crossed over to obese -- That was when it first hit me that my weight was actually putting my life in danger, and if I didn't make changes it would continue to get worse.  At that time I needed to lose over 50 pounds to get, not thin, but at least to a healthy weight.  I still need to lose about 10 pounds to get to that "healthy weight" place, and I guess that's why I write about healthy eating so much...I want to help as many people that I can with my posts on healthy eating, but it also helps me to reinforce what I know I need to be doing for myself.

It hasn't been easy to lose the weight...I chose NOT to go on any radical diets, I've just been focusing on making less bad food choices and more good ones...Truthfully, I have times when that is less difficult and other times when it feels impossible (probably because I'm somewhat of an emotional eater too).  Anyway, just thought you all should know where I'm coming from.

Thanks again for all of your heartfelt and inspiring comments. 

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

I have lost over 140 pounds and have about 50 more to go.  how did I do it?  I call it the "Blood Sweat and Tears Method"  Eat less, exercise more.Work on the issues that I soothe with food.  Try to gain insight into why I overeat.   

It really does not matter how we lose the weight. It is fantastic that we did it! It takes time and patience and working to keep the motivation up all the time. It takes consisency and honesty and vigilance.

I work with a fantastic nurtitionist and I am an Athena cyclist...but what I have discovered is...that  try as they might,with all the good intentions that you can fit into one person,  any one who has not been this heavy really has NO IDEA what it is like.  My nutritionist declared the other day "You are obcessed with food!"  I laughed and asked her..."Did you just figure this out after all this time?"  She said no, she was just now saying it out loud.  i have been obsessed with food since probablay 2 years old or before that.

Most people who are so heavy have emotional issues that relate to food...using  food to soothe their fellings of...fill in the blank.  It is a relationship that has developed over the many years and is very difficult to change.

Linda and I are at the same point, although we got there differently...how do we develop a different relationship with food?  How can we put food into its proper place in our lives so that we use  it as fuel rather than comfort? How can we keep our motivation up so we can do this consistently?

I tend to lust over food and we have been trained over time, by the super sizing and by the time and money spent  to make food more palatable by increasing its fat sugar and salt content. 

It is an uphill battle for those of us with llife threatening overweight.  But it can  be worked on and it can get better...

Cece-one of The Two Whos http://www.thetwowhos.com

Something I find very unfortunate is when people claim they want to eat healthy foods for weight loss and that leads to eating processed 'low fat' and 'light' foods and sugar substitutes. Eating well, with as many fresh foods as possible, for life is definitely the answer.

lisa from lisa is cooking

http://lisaiscooking.blogspot.com/ 

I had weight loss surgery.

I'm 45 and had struggled with obesity for more than 2 decades, having struggled with weight ALL my life.

The platitudes that I have read over the years... don't drink soda, don't eat fast food, move your body, small changes matter, etc. are all things I tried, did, and wanted to believe in.  But none of them had any effect.  Not really.  When you're already morbidly obese, it takes some pretty drastic measures.  Parking further away from the mall and eating from an 8" salad plate for dinner isn't nearly enough.

Not to mention that when one is already at critical mass (I use that quite literally), one's body is working HARD against her success.  Denying the appetite is NEVER going to succeed.  Trying to deny a body screaming for food (even particularly addictive types of food) is like trying to deny a body screaming for oxygen.

My surgery was last May.  Now, in my new reality - all these suggestions and approaches WORK and make sense.  Now I am able to eat less, move more.  Now I am fine with having just a small amount of whatever treat.  Now.

But those same things - try as I might before - just weren't realistic. 

I'm not saying that weight loss surgery is the only answer - I would never say such a thing.  But I am saying that many of the people who are advising the obese are doing so from a place where they don't understand. 

For me, now, it's very easy to say "Oh, yes, here are the things I do that work well...."  Back then?  Yeah, I incorporated those things to no avail and using a tremendous amount of (unsustainable) effort. 

In my research leading up to my surgery decision, I read a statistic that was quite eye opening.  If you are morbidly obese, there is a 2% chance that you will overcome it through the traditional approaches of intake and exercise. 

I needed better odds than that.  The burden of climbing that particularly steep hill with all my bulk was leaving me hopeless and lacking any progress for my efforts. 

I guess I think all that advice is good and fine for the average person.  Someone who is morbidly obese needs more drastic measures of some sort.  I chose surgery as my approach.

JustLinda fabulously imperfect Nothing to See Here... Just Linda ( http://justlinda.net )

I know that there is not just one answer to the being more healthy eating more healthy discussion.  I have ..and I continue to watch people ...eat more healthy and still pack on the pounds.    There are many things that need to be done to lose weight so you can become  more healthy.  Eating clean and eating healthy is one facet.  Calories in and calories out is another.  Exercise is another.  Getting away from all the highly  processed food, wrapping our mind around smaller portions when we want to super size everything and have been conditioned to do so....eliminating all the high sodium in our diets...there is so much.

Again, it is the whole approach that works.  For those of us who are or have been morbidly obese, some amount of dieting and re-education about food will have to happen in conjunction with eating more healthy.

Cece-one of The Two Whos

http://www.thetwowhos.com

Thanks for commenting.  It sounds like you're on the right track.  I think it's great that you are researching healthy ways to lose weight, in the long run this will help you choose healthy eating for life.  I hope you continue to feel positive and do well...Keep us posted.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
Also at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ )

I've struggled with weight (at least in my mind) for most of my life.  I know that most of the time I didn't actually have a weight problem.  But after the birth of my baby I did.  I was sure that all the weight would come off pretty easily and then it didn't and I was discouraged and disappointed and finally decided I had to do something about it.  In the last 3 weeks I've put myself on a self-imposed low-calorie diet.  I HAVE lost weight but, more importantly (I think), I've done a lot of research and have found out some interesting things.  Although I never thought I had a bad diet, I'm learning that the amount of fruits and vegetables that I SHOULD be eating is FAR more than what I have been.  I've learned about healthy foods that naturally burn calories and about ways to season foods without adding a lot of calories.  I'm learning about portion sizes and trying to drink more water.  Mostly, though, I'm feeling postitve and good!

www.sweetlittlebrowneyes.com ( http://www.sweetlittlebrowneyes.com )