Handling My Body
Feb. 17th, 2004 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanNow that I have your attention (*grin*), this is a ramble not about dieting, but about not dieting. It's in response to a question asked on a newsgroup I frequent, about finding a system that works for your individual needs.
About five years ago I realized that trying to 'diet' was a surefire route to failure for me. First off, I'm a foodie. I adore the taste, smell, texture, color of food. Saying Thou Shalt Not any particular type of food is seen as punishment by my brain. And the brain therefore will rebel.
Second, I'm severely hypoglycemic, and my 'tank' will run out with very little notice, often hours before an actual mealtime. So saying 'no snacks between meals' doesn't work, either. Too many people have seen what happens when I hit empty. It's Quite Ugly.
Fortunately for me, in addition to that I'm also lactose intolerant, with a very low sugar tolerance, and hyperactive to boot. So I can't have a lot of creamy/high-fat things, I can't eat a lot of really sweet things at once, and I have to _move_ every day.
So I did the only thing that made sense. I set up a regular exercise program (walking on a treadmill alternating with weights), I do all the 'found exercise' tricks I can (parking further away from the destination, using stairs instead of escalators, etc), and I eat whatever I want... in smaller portions.
For example, today for lunch I wanted pasta. One of the currently ostracized no-no foods -- short cut pasta with olive oil and grated cheese, mmmm. I had been planning to have tuna and carrots. I had a 6 oz serving of pasta and the aforementioned baby carrots, instead. And since I like carrots, it's all of the good.
I'm not at my 'idealized' weight, no. But there's ideal, and then there's 'practical for living in this world, without denying yourself what makes this world good.'
IMHO, anyway.
About five years ago I realized that trying to 'diet' was a surefire route to failure for me. First off, I'm a foodie. I adore the taste, smell, texture, color of food. Saying Thou Shalt Not any particular type of food is seen as punishment by my brain. And the brain therefore will rebel.
Second, I'm severely hypoglycemic, and my 'tank' will run out with very little notice, often hours before an actual mealtime. So saying 'no snacks between meals' doesn't work, either. Too many people have seen what happens when I hit empty. It's Quite Ugly.
Fortunately for me, in addition to that I'm also lactose intolerant, with a very low sugar tolerance, and hyperactive to boot. So I can't have a lot of creamy/high-fat things, I can't eat a lot of really sweet things at once, and I have to _move_ every day.
So I did the only thing that made sense. I set up a regular exercise program (walking on a treadmill alternating with weights), I do all the 'found exercise' tricks I can (parking further away from the destination, using stairs instead of escalators, etc), and I eat whatever I want... in smaller portions.
For example, today for lunch I wanted pasta. One of the currently ostracized no-no foods -- short cut pasta with olive oil and grated cheese, mmmm. I had been planning to have tuna and carrots. I had a 6 oz serving of pasta and the aforementioned baby carrots, instead. And since I like carrots, it's all of the good.
I'm not at my 'idealized' weight, no. But there's ideal, and then there's 'practical for living in this world, without denying yourself what makes this world good.'
IMHO, anyway.
