Recognizing that my belly isn't going to get any smaller on its own, I've resolved to bike to school. So far I'm averaging an hour and twenty minutes, which isn't dazzling by any measure, but it gets me there.
To reduce the amount of time I spend biking, I'm riding the bus back to town in the afternoon. I now know how to work the pull-down bike rack, and am no longer a source of amusement to my fellow commuters.
I'd like to lose about thirty pounds. Or so I suppose -- I haven't actually weighed myself recently. The prospect is simply too depressing. Oh, well, I'm doing something about it, anyway. Now let's see if I'm doing anything effectively.
Unfortunately, the most noticable effect so far has been little twinges that hint at the return of my carpal tunnel syndrome, which hasn't bothered me in years.
Well, we'll see.
The only route to LBCC is, alas, alongside Highway 34. Not the safest route, especially where the road narrows going over the ominously named Owl Creek Bridge. But, so far, so good.
I really must take a broom with me sometime, to clear the rocks and brush trimmings from the margins of that bridge, since the rough terrain makes it harder to stay out from under the trucks going by.
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "This is the post that will get all the comments after John gets squished."\\
[John says: Eight-Ball, you do know that you have the reputation of having the gift of prophecy, don't you?]
//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "I'm not superstitious, myself."\\
1 comment:
I'm can't tell you how to lose weight fast, but during the Year from Hell all the comfort eating got me up to 193, and I'm now down below 175 (which is where the comfort eating boosted me after 9/11, when everything but popcorn and chocolate tasted like ashes). I don't know whether I'll ever get lower than that, but here's how I got this far:
First: Stop comfort eating and eating for entertainment. (You can make exceptions during crises, of course. Psychological health is important too!) If you're not actually hungry, don't eat.
Second: Cut out sweets. DO NOT SUBSTITUTE DIET VERSIONS! Fake sugar increases your appetite (so does chewing gum) and has unpredictable side effects. A teaspoonful of sugar in your coffee is better for you than a half teaspoonful of aspartame. When you're actually hungry and want something sweet, eat fruit. Once you've gone cold turkey for a month or so, you can introduce small amounts of incidental sweet stuff, like honey in your oatmeal, and you'll be amazed at how much better it tastes than candybars did when you had refined sugar all the time.
Third: Work extra activity into your normal day. You've started this with biking to school, but do you ever take an elevator when you could take the stairs? Park close when you could park far away?
Four: Reduce the processed food in your diet. Make things from scratch if you can. It tastes better, and has more nutritional value. Most people have a time crunch, and have to have some easy meals in their cupboards, but read the ingrediants and get the best nutrition-per-calorie ratio you can. Avoid things that list "corn syrup" in their ingrediants. (You'll be shocked.)
Don't try to do this all at once. Once the riding to school is a habit, cut out the sweets; once that's a habit, start cooking more from scratch, etc. If you have a bad habit I didn't, identify it and tackle it in its turn. Dieting is a bad idea, because it's something you have to do consciously. Change your habits, and you'll never have to worry about this again.
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