[Bill,
August 30, 2007]
Busy busy busy
Been so busy and haven't updated. Thanks for those who keep coming here in the hope I'll have written something. Let me try real quick:
1. Read The Death of the Grown-Up by Diana West. I bought it because it's a subject that I've been thinking about for years, namely, that our culture has entered a period of protracted adolescence, and that many of the changes we've seen in our country in the last 10 years has to do with the last of the Pre-Baby Boomers moving out of the workforce and other leadership positions. That is, there's been a cultural delay because of the previous generation, but that's going away. God help us.
The book was depressing, and I wasn't as convinced as I might have been. For one thing, grown-ups know how to spell embarrass and supersede. Diana West doesn't.
But the big problem was the book had no applicability -- she tried to talk about "what you can do" but the result wasn't convincing. The result is you just feel depressed and powerless.
Plus, I think she railed against the Beatles too long. Dead horse. Flog.
2. I weighed in at ... 209 pounds! What a surprise. That's down from 245-250 at the beginning of the year. Nearly 40 pounds with little to no effort, and no "dieting." Keys:
A. I started with the Shangri-La Diet. You eat what you want, but take a tablespoon of olive oil twice a day (and don't eat or drink anything for one hour on either side of it.)
B. Substituting Diet Coke for coffee. (Reduced food cravings.) That helped.
C. Reduced sugar intact -- but didn't eliminate it altogether.
D. I didn't think about the upcoming meal, but how it would impact what I wanted to eat the next day. I didn't gorge. The key is to focus not on calories, but on the "set point," that is, the weight your body wants to weigh. (You do that by the food you eat. Control the set point, and you control your weight. Fight the set point, and you experience pain and eventually, failure.)
E. These steps got me down to 230 pounds or so. Then, I gave up the olive oil calories and continued the same pattern. Lost a bit more.
F. Started smoking. Weight's been falling off me. Woo-hoo.
The plan: Get down to 200 even, then begin a more formal diet-and-exercise program. Including quitting smoking. I'd like to get down to 180 if possible. I may go back on the Shangri-La Diet.
Don't try this at home. The point is that normally after losing 40 pounds, I'd be in a lot of pain. Instead, it's been fairly effortless.
3. Other stuff ... but I gotta go. Talk to you later, hope all's well. Your pal, Bill
1. Read The Death of the Grown-Up by Diana West. I bought it because it's a subject that I've been thinking about for years, namely, that our culture has entered a period of protracted adolescence, and that many of the changes we've seen in our country in the last 10 years has to do with the last of the Pre-Baby Boomers moving out of the workforce and other leadership positions. That is, there's been a cultural delay because of the previous generation, but that's going away. God help us.
The book was depressing, and I wasn't as convinced as I might have been. For one thing, grown-ups know how to spell embarrass and supersede. Diana West doesn't.
But the big problem was the book had no applicability -- she tried to talk about "what you can do" but the result wasn't convincing. The result is you just feel depressed and powerless.
Plus, I think she railed against the Beatles too long. Dead horse. Flog.
2. I weighed in at ... 209 pounds! What a surprise. That's down from 245-250 at the beginning of the year. Nearly 40 pounds with little to no effort, and no "dieting." Keys:
A. I started with the Shangri-La Diet. You eat what you want, but take a tablespoon of olive oil twice a day (and don't eat or drink anything for one hour on either side of it.)
B. Substituting Diet Coke for coffee. (Reduced food cravings.) That helped.
C. Reduced sugar intact -- but didn't eliminate it altogether.
D. I didn't think about the upcoming meal, but how it would impact what I wanted to eat the next day. I didn't gorge. The key is to focus not on calories, but on the "set point," that is, the weight your body wants to weigh. (You do that by the food you eat. Control the set point, and you control your weight. Fight the set point, and you experience pain and eventually, failure.)
E. These steps got me down to 230 pounds or so. Then, I gave up the olive oil calories and continued the same pattern. Lost a bit more.
F. Started smoking. Weight's been falling off me. Woo-hoo.
The plan: Get down to 200 even, then begin a more formal diet-and-exercise program. Including quitting smoking. I'd like to get down to 180 if possible. I may go back on the Shangri-La Diet.
Don't try this at home. The point is that normally after losing 40 pounds, I'd be in a lot of pain. Instead, it's been fairly effortless.
3. Other stuff ... but I gotta go. Talk to you later, hope all's well. Your pal, Bill
So you're a grown-up. Congrats!
Meanwhile, I'm still working on it.
Since the beginning of the year, I've gone from my second belt notch to my fourth belt notch. I refuse to keep scales in the house, so I don't know how many pounds that amounts to. Key principles: cut out all candy; cut out most if not all pop; avoid french fries; pizza not so often; six-inch rather than foot-long sandwiches at Subway.