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2008/08/14, 03:02 PM
Lots of great info here and there's certainly no harm in being informed, but I'm a realist. I'm not a pro athlete. I'm not a bodybuilder. I just want to be healthy. If you feel it's necessary to count calories, gram percentages, and measure every ounce of food you put in your body then do it. That's not for me. I'm not going to get obsessive about health, I don't even want to own a scale, and I have a lot better things to do than stress out over things like this. I just want to be healthier without the stress.
I understand that it takes a certain amount of commitment and I did that. Learning is the first step and it's sites like this that have been extremely helpful. I'm very grateful of the info here, but sometimes I think it's a little too convoluted and complicated for my liking. If you're one of the pro competitors here then I'm sure all this complication is necessary, but for an average Joe Schmo like me, simple is better.
I chose to become healthier and I've done that with just a few realistic lifestyle choices that I can do without a lot of grief. If it wasn't working then I would add a few more choices that might be a little more difficult, but over a couple of years I've lost weight, added muscle, feel a lot better and am very happy with the changes. These choices are not mind-boggling complicated and are things I can do for the rest of my life. Here's the REALISTIC choices I've made...
1. Exercise more.
Duh. Getting a home gym made a huge difference for me, but I started with getting a basic dumbell set. Working out at home simplifies the exercise commitment considerably. I'm not a big fan of cardio, but I'm doing about 8 hours per week of resistance training. I like doing it and it's made a big difference.
2. Reduced calories.
I'm not counting or measuring anything, but it doesn't take a genius to reduce portion size and read labels to avoid high calorie foods. Spreading out the calories over several meals works too. Fast food is mostly a thing of the past, but when I do eat out it's healthy choices now. It even includes an occasional visit to McDonalds or Wendys.
3. Less carbs, more protein. Cutting back sugar and alcohol was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Refined carbs not so easy, but switching to whole grain foods wasn't that difficult. I actually like cottage cheese and I think adding whey powder to my diet has made it easy to increase protein.
4. Supplementation.
Now I'm talking "food" supplementation, not "muscle building" supplements. I entirely understand that a healthy food diet is best, but that's not easy for me. I don't like vegetables. No matter how often you tell me how good they are for me, I'm not going to like vegetables and I refuse to do something for the rest of my life that I do not like. I take a multi-vitamin, fish oil and flax seed capsules. I also take a fibre supplement.
I am now also very fond of whey powder, and I think it's an excellent way to increase protein intake. Some think that supplements are too expensive. I don't know how much food costs where you are, but a $50 tub of whey is a pretty reasonable source of protein compared to how much fresh meat you can buy for $50. You still can't beat the price of canned tuna, but I think whey protein is a pretty smart and easy choice for protein supplementation.
That's it. 4 things. Perhaps I've simplified this a little too much and you can make it as complicated as you like, but at age 48 I just want to enjoy life instead of obsessing about it, or making choices that I am not going to like. I can stand to lose a few more pounds and I think sticking to this basic plan will make it happen. These simple and realistic choices are working for me, and I hope simplifying instead of stressing works for you too.
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