The weight is just coming off easily without a diet

[just_some_guy]

It's weird, but I've been working on my emotional issues, separated from my wife and her terrible food habits, got myself into healthier frame of mind and working out on a regular basis.

 

I'm not working out that hard, just hitting and maintaining reasonable cardio targets and then doing weightlifting. Pretty much every other day I hit the gym or do something physical. It actually started working better after lowering my cardio heart rate targets a bit to something more age appropriate.

 

Diet wise, I'm not doing any kind of diet. Just trying to maintain simple rules, like eating more fresh vegetables, less fat and meat, and staying away from large portions and highly processed foods. I try to keep some simple rules, like fish at least twice a week, not eating anything that comes in a wrapper, not eating food that doesn't look like it did when it grew out of the ground or crawled or swam or flew. I try to keep the fats healthy, like avocado, olive oil, sardines, so the fats have benefits beyond calories.

 

But a donut once in a great while, or a little bit of chocolate or my once-per-day chocolate chip cookie are not off the list. Nor is a glass of wine or dinner out. But I try to make smarter choices when eating out.

 

Mentally, I think I'm eating less because my emotional state is in a better condition. I'm more in tune with being hungry or not, and not eating to "feel better".

 

The weight is coming off slowly and easily. I plateau a lot and that's OK. Just keep working on it.

 

I'm down a couple of pants sizes. I'm healthier, my muscles are more defined, clothes fit better, even though it isn't all that much weight. I'm just about down to where I was when I got frustrated with weight watchers and quit it. Best part is I'm not "trying".

[Neutrino]

Hi JSG, sorry to hear about your split with the wife - but good to hear you are back with yourself

 

I think the word "diet" is a redundant term. IMO to maintain long-term results while not feeling you are "making a sacrifice" you have to change your life-philosophy and naturally your life-style follows.

 

Like I wrote on the weight-loss thread, the minute you start thinking about what, how and why you are eating, controlled behavior makes more sense and you realize that eating is not a hobby....

 

Keep at it. The human body is a wonderful machine, but you only get this one and repair parts are hard to find !

 

Let me add - while you look much trimmer you have not lost a lot of weight, think about the fact that muscles weigh a lot more than fat (put red meat and oil in a glass of water).

[brainygirl]

Sometimes simply changing habits can cause weight to drop without feeling like one is dieting. I recently decided I needed to start saving more money, so instead of ordering pizza or Chinese food twice a week, my kids and I started making it at home. Its not like its health food or anything, but in the weeks since I've made that choice I've dropped 15 to 20 pounds. I didn't even realize I was loosing weight until a student asked me "because my pants looked different". Stepped on a scale and sure enough, was 20 less than the last time I stood on it.

 

Now I check once a week and have been going down for several weeks now. If I keep this up I'm gonna be skinny.

[just_some_guy]

Thanks for the comments. It is real encouraging. I'm trying to shift the underlying habits and work within the confines of my physical realities and limitations. One of them is that I am a big guy. My genes say so. Lean and big or big and fat, that's what I get to decide.