I had not seen my friend in about a year, and though I knew from texting that he was losing weight, I almost laughed aloud when I saw him in person. He had lost 45 pounds and looked like a completely different person. While I originally ignored his advice (I have always been overweight but figured I just was not trying hard enough when I was on a diet), as I began reading more posts on LoseIt and started CICO, I realized that my friend was saying the same thing I was saying in different words.
"Being overweight in and of itself isn’t an inadequate catalyst since it’s difficult to perceive yourself as the enemy to overcome. All the new health and fitness technologies made possible by the digital age are frustratingly inaccessible without an initial spark of motivation.... The key for me at first was to continually refocus on the Goliathan nemesis – that nameless, complex system of harmful incentives designed to make us eat unhealthfully. But as anyone who has failed at dieting before knows, motivation alone only gets you so far. Without permanently changing my underlying lifestyle and perspective, I was betting on no more than fleeting willpower and a string of lucky days to continue. At any given moment, I was a misstep away from going back to my old ways."
For me, blaming the sugar industry seemed a bit of a cop out—I wanted to lose weight because, well, being fat sucks, especially when your fat friend isn't fat anymore.
My friend advocates throwing money at the problem, in part because it gives you skin in the game. I don't fully agree—weight loss is not something you can buy, and it doesn't need to be expensive. Most of the apps he uses are gratuitous, and everything boils down to this:
Treating calories as part of a budget constraint (and who said econ majors don't learn anything?) and treating food consumption as more of a game than as a biological necessity allowed me to actually enjoy the process.
Or according to my friend: "Motivation was the ignition, but I have only been able to lose weight thanks to an emerging field of health and fitness technologies that enabled me to redirect my addiction from ‘food’ to ‘something other than food.’ Becoming neurotic about a literally insane web of techniques is by no means what I expected to happen or something I advocate for, but it’s the reality."
Losing weight is simple, but it's not easy, but as a wise animated fish once said: "Just keep swimming."
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2SHFcNm
No comments:
Post a Comment