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There are many interesting things about writing a blog. For one, when I’m completely honest, my successes are there for the world to see, and so are my failures. For another, I’m able to learn from the feedback of dozens (or hundreds — or thousands!) of readers.
At my personal finance blog, my public life is pretty easy to handle. I started the site well into my financial recovery, and though I’ve made some mistakes, most of my progress has been slow and steady with no major failures. I can’t recall feeling embarrassed about having to post anything.
But my path toward physical fitness is just beginning. I’ve made some large strides, but I’m also stumbling along the way. Sometimes my failures are embarrassing, and I find it difficult to write about them. Yet if I’m going to be successful at this, if I really am going to get fit (slowly or otherwise), I need to face my failures and move on.
For the past few weeks, I’ve written a lot about my progress. I really do think it’s amazing that last Saturday I ran twelve miles and then biked another 29. But there’s another side to this — the dark specter of over-training.
“Don’t overdo it,” many of you have warned. “Remember — it’s get fit slowly.” And while I listened to your advice and acknowledged it as wise counsel, I continued to push myself. There are consequences to such foolishness.
Fortunately I don’t have any major injuries. Yet. But my shin splints continue to be a problem. They’re just getting worse. As Mac’s wife, Pam, suggested, I’ve been stretching my shins and calves several times a day. I’ve also been gathering advice from other readers and other sources. (Look for an actual post compiling this advice sometime in the next week or two.) But the shins still hurt. It’s a problem.
“You may need new shoes,” some of you have advised, and not just because of the pain in my legs. And while I listened to your advice and acknowledged it as wise counsel, I didn’t do anything about it until today.
I was sitting at my computer chatting with Mac via IM, complaining about my shoes, when he wrote, “Dude. Stop what you’re doing and go get shoes.” And so I did. (More about that experience in a few days, too.) The new shoes are amazing. I took them for a three mile run tonight, and it felt like walking on air.
But most of all, friends and readers have been warning, “J.D., exercise will get you fit, but you won’t lose weight unless you change your eating habits.” While I listened to this advice and acknowledged it as wise counsel, I continue to eat like crap. And guess what. Despite having exercised what seems to me to be an insane number of hours in the past month, I’m actually gaining weight. Why? Because I’ve lapsed back into old habits.
See that garbage can next to my desk? See what’s inside it? The remains from a box of Red Vines. And on the floor of the car? A Hostess Sno-Balls wrapper. And what did I have for breakfast twice this week? Chocolate cake and milk.
Wow.
I was scared to confess this stuff, but it feels good to get it out. I’m struggling with my diet. I’m not blowing it completely — most of my meals are still a handful of protein, a handful of complex carbs — but I am blowing it several times a week.
“Food is more difficult than exercise,” Mac told me today.
“Yeah,” I said. “Way more difficult. I know I should eat more fruits and veggies, but I just don’t like them. I like meat and salt and sugar.”
“The sugar is the real problem,” Mac said.
Yes, it is.
I hope I don’t sound like I’m down in the dumps or giving up. I’m not. I’m just trying to come clean, trying to address some problems. For six weeks (early march to mid-April), I was able to adhere to a fixed diet pretty rigidly. I lost weight by doing so. I need to get back to that point again.
And I need to scale back my exercise a little, or at least let it plateau. There’s no sense pushing myself to run 30 miles a week yet. I’m not ready for that. I need to remember that slow and steady wins the race.
“Posts like this are unrelatable,” Samantha wrote of my weekend exercise extravaganza. “I’m just trying to get in better shape and lose a few pounds.” You know what? Posts like that are mostly unrelatable to me, too. I mean, I know I did that stuff, but it’s not sustainable. I’m getting ahead of myself. What I need is balance.
Mac
33 responses so far ↓
1 elisabeth // May 15, 2008 at 7:25 am
I, too, am a salt and fat carb craver (full fat Cheez-its especially!), and while I like fruits and salads, I can’t seem to get into the habit of making them for myself.
That’s where a wonderful husband comes in — every morning, he makes two plates of fruit, one for himself and one for me. At dinner, he makes the mixed green salad, and even grates carrots since I don’t like carrots but grating makes them easy to eat… so, all I have to do is try to control myself during the rest of the day. My goal is to get more able to think “piece of fruit” instead of “candy bar” for lunch, or to go for the vegetable curry, not the cheese and potato options at the indian restaurant…
2 Red // May 15, 2008 at 7:26 am
Eating IS way harder. My current goal is to not eat anything off an end/coffee table. That would cut my sugar intake by 80%
3 Karen // May 15, 2008 at 7:42 am
Actually, my dad controls his weight with exercise despite bad (or at least weird) eating habits- he is in the fitness center for 2 hours a day, 7 days a week, usually at 6 in the morning or whenever they open. He’s kind of addicted to it. But then he comes home and eats something sweet, and then something salty, and then something else sweet, and then something else salty, and his favorite restaurant is the Chinese buffet…
I think he’s out of his mind.
It’s the same as driving to the gym so you can walk on the treadmill- it just seems a lot more efficient to me to eat less than to spend excessive amounts of time exercising.
4 Samantha // May 15, 2008 at 7:43 am
well, definitely after this post i’ll keep being a regular!
i understand how it is: whenever i start out, i always go for extremes, but thanks to this blog (seriously!) the whole idea of taking it one step at a time has helped me lose 6 lbs in 5 weeks. i’m on the opposite side of the spectrum- i HATE exercise and find food a little easier to control. a tip for making healthy things taste good: add a very very tiny amount of the delicious unhealthy thing you’re craving. for example, i looove salty fried fish and tartar sauce type things. so what i did was take some canned in water tuna, a little bit of miracle whip, lots of dill weed and salt, and then tossed a ton of salad leaves in there and a tiny pit of poppy seed dressing. the dressing was really the worse thing in there at 90 calories/tbsp. but it totally satisfied my craving w/o sacrificing calories. i think the whole thing (it was in a big bowl too!) came out to like, 225 total. it’s all about experimenting.
you can do it!
5 Anne Keckler, Personal Trainer // May 15, 2008 at 9:13 am
I believe I’ve admitted before that I’m not a runner, and I haven’t really researched the sport at all. But you wrote:
I’ve been exercising my shins and calves several times a day
and it made me wonder how exercising your shins and calves could be different from other resistance exercises. The general rule is to allow for rest and recovery a minimum of 36 hours between workouts. People used to think abs were different, so they’d work them every day, but it turns out that muscle is muscle! Every other day is best.
So what is the rationale for exercising your calves daily?
6 J.D. // May 15, 2008 at 9:22 am
7 Leslie // May 15, 2008 at 9:56 am
I am with you on the exercise is easier than the eating thing. I successfully lost 40 lbs. and kept if off for a year. My eating habits have fallen apart lately due to stress and it is amazing to me how quickly a few lbs. have popped back on (despite keeping up with my exercise routine).
I would love to hear any info you have on preventing shin splints. My sister wants me to do a triathalon with her but I get terrible shin splints when I run so I avoid it when I can. Nothing I do seems to help much with the shin splints but I don’t want that to be what keeps me from completing a triathalon…
8 greenman2001 // May 15, 2008 at 11:22 am
I’m curious: you did great for six weeks, then you slipped, then you kept on slipping. I’d like to hear more about that first slip. What were the circumstances, what were you thinking, what were you feeling, what was the context, what did you do next, think next, how did you feel after that?
I’d also like to remind you that this is the second time you’ve mentioned slipping up with chocolate cake. The first time around, you solicited lots of feedback from readers, you thanked them for their help. Am I right in assuming that you completely ignored all that advice? That you kept on buying chocolate cake, kept it close at hand in the house? What’s up with that?
When you say that exercise like last Saturday’s is unsustainable, what exactly do you mean? Are you referring just to it aggravating your shin splints, or is there more to it than that? Because I’m not buying that you consider it unsustainable. I think if it weren’t for your shin splints, you’d have concluded that a day like Saturday was proof that your approach to fitness works: hard work pays off, focused energy and attention gets results, goal-setting works, so on and so forth. The idea of practicing a healthy behavior INDEPENDENT OF ANY IMMEDIATE OUTCOME doesn’t really show up here (although it’s a constant refrain in your finance blog). The chocolate cake is always close at hand, along with a reason to eat it: I worked hard today, I moved closer to my “goal.”
You and Mac both seem to have the idea that if you simply keep practicing new habits, the old habits and the impulses that drove them will simply wither away. Am I right about that?
Here’s another question to consider: what if it were the case that you, JD Roth, were a person who would ALWAYS choose to eat a Sno-Ball if it were available? What if this impulse NEVER went away? What would you have to do to protect yourself from this impulse? In other words, what if your basic belief — practice a new habit long enough and the old habit will disappear — was actually wrong? Would you be doomed to failure? How could you ensure success despite such a fundamental handicap?
I’m rooting for you and Mac. In fact, I’m sure that you guys are both going to reach your weight targets, one way or another. It’s post-blog that I worry about, because I feel like you’re superimposing habits on top of a context that doesn’t support those habits. Metaphorically speaking, you both want your desire for chocolate cake to go away by itself, and you’re hanging on until that happens.
9 WeightLadder // May 15, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I certainly push it… I have an additive personality… I know it now and I try to use it to my advantage… If I can become addicted to exercise that would be great… But you need to start slow and keep up the stead progress… And remember to hydrate when you exercise excessively. Your body needs water, salt, and potassium when you sweat a lot. I found that out the hard way.
http://www.weightladder.com/2008/05/06/importance-of-maintaining-adequate-hydration/
10 Josh // May 15, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Wow. I’d love to see your response to Comment #8, JD.
I think the shoes should help a lot with the shin splints. I also get terrible shin splints when I run. I haven’t forced myself to go buy new shoes yet though.
An article on prevention and treatment would be great.
11 J.D. // May 15, 2008 at 3:23 pm
When I slipped, there was no one single trigger. Not this time. Kris baked some cookies in mid-April — I ate a couple one evening. At the end of April, we spent a long weekend in central Oregon. I snacked on red vines, etc. here and there. But none of this was extreme. Yes, I was “cheating”, but I was also being careful to not have too much. I’d have one or two cookies. One or two red vines.
Then on my weekend “cheat days”, I’d have too much. I’d have a milkshake and a candy bar and whatever. Some of the food tasted good — some did not. We’ve also had a lot of meals out lately. When I get wrapped up in the conversatoin and the cameraderie, I have a tendency to forget to eat slowly, to save half to take home.
So, there’s no one trigger — just a gradual erosion of will.
Also, I am not buying chocolate cake. I do not live alone. Kris bakes at will, and I have no control over that. I do, admittedly, have control over whether I eat her chocolate cake, but I do a poor job. Very poor. Since catching myself on Tuesday morning, I’ve ignored the chocolate cake — just like old times. I can do it if I remember that it’s important.
When I say that my Saturday exercise is not sustainable, I don’t just mean because of the shin splints. I mean that it left me drained on Sunday. And Monday. Some of this is normal, I know, but I’m also pushing myself too fast. I can feel it, both physically and mentally. It’s time for me to say “this is a good spot — let’s plateau for a while”. Since Mac and I have a 10k race in a couple weeks, it makes sense to cool it for a bit. Early June, I can start increasing my activity level again.
You’re right, though, that I do hope by practicing new habits the old ones will wither away. This has happened in my financial life, and I hope that it can happen in my fitness life. It already has to some extent. I crave exercise. I’m bummed that I’m not out there today. (I still may go for a ride later, though.) But with food? I’m having trouble.
Right now, I have to admit though that you’re right: I beleive I will ALWAYS choose to eat a Sno-Ball if it were available. I don’t see that impulse vanishing no matter how much spinach I eat. I don’t think that dooms me to failure, though. And maybe I’m wrong. If you’d asked me two years ago, I would have told you that if I had $5,000 in my bank account, there’s no way I could leave a comic book store without buying anything. Yet I do. Every week. My comic spending has trickled to nearly nothing despite the fact I can afford whatever I want. Maybe I can make that happen with food choices, too.
So if it’s the context that needs changing before we change our habits, how do we do that? What exactly does it take to change a context? I think you mean we need to shift our world views, just as I shifted mine with money, just as I feel I have with exercise. (Running is a blast, and I really look forward to it as part of my life now.) Are you saying we need to make this change with diet before we can make effective changes to our habits? If so, how do we do this? (That’s mostly a rhetorical question…)
And why is it that Mac and I both find change to add exercise so much easier than the change to remove bad food choices? For me, I think it’s partly because “good” food choices often seem so dull. Spinach salad? Whee! I’ll eat it, but it does nothing to excite me. A banana? Ho-hum. I’ll eat it, but I’d rather have chocolate cake. Soy sausages? Okay, but can’t I have those chicken wings?
This is what I mean by getting ahead of myself. I have a lot of work to do yet. I’m trying to act like I’ve reached mental fitness and that physical fitness will follow. The truth is, I still have a lot of mental work to do yet, too.
12 typome // May 15, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Yes, provocative comment from #8. One good way to eliminate bad habits is to be conscious of it instead of just eating mindlessly. Maybe you’re reading blogs while eating that chocolate cake, or writing something while eating the snow- balls. Might as well honor the yummy taste of a chocolate cake and eat it with all your attention and enjoy every bite of it while it lasts, and just limit it to once in a while. Perhaps when you stop viewing these “bad things” as bad things and instead as once-in-a-while treats, they won’t be so bad in your mind anymore. Conversely, eat your veggies and grains consciously too, knowing that they are doing your body a heck of a favor, and don’t eat them mindlessly or with a grudge.
13 Leah // May 15, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Not all health food is as boring as spinach salad and bananas, you just have to find the things you enjoy eating that are also healthy. But it’s still not easy - I’ve found healthy foods that I really like, but I don’t stop craving the fattening and sugary foods that I also like. I just try to eat the healthy foods more often, and smaller portions of the unhealthy stuff. It doesn’t always work, but I’m making progress.
14 Deb // May 15, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Hey dude,
I LOVE your blog (thats first)
secondly, i bet every person reading your blog can relate to the difficulty of passing up yummy treats and going for the veggies instead. Its difficult on many levels and we all go through it (man, i can eat bowls of pasta… yumm….)
Im sure someone has told you this already .. but basically Sugar craves sugar. the more sugar you eat, the more it wants. It takes about 4 days to really get rid of that “craving” feelings… but once youre over that hump, its a bit easier.
those are just my 2 cents.
Good luck !!!!!!!
15 The real Mr. Funk // May 15, 2008 at 6:10 pm
JD, Don’t think of it as “chocolate cake and wings” versus “spinach salad and a banana”. Do what I do- my weakness is curry, but it doesn’t have to be a vindaloo. The cravings are as easily quashed with a spinach dhal, or if I’ve had a tiny or nonexistent breakfast I might get a Mater Paneer (Indian cheese and peas - the best damned curry money can buy) and I split the takeaway servings. No matter how delicious it is, I know that half an hour after I eat, I’ll be satisfied with half - and slightly bloated with the whole thing.
Don’t have a banana if you’re craving a slice of chocolate cake. In your case you’re likely to have a banana and the chocolate cake, if it’s available. Have a small chocolate cookie instead. If you keep that up, you’ll really only want the cookie.
I’m sure the missus wants you looking hot (and alive in 25 years). Ask her to bake less often, or maybe make some whole-wheat bread. For me when I want to cook, it doesn’t have to be fattening to get the fun of cooking.
16 The real Mr. Funk // May 15, 2008 at 6:12 pm
s/really only want the cookie/eventually really only want the cookie
17 Brooke // May 15, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I can relate. I love sweets and carbs.
Two tips that I’ve found helpful:
1. When you go out to eat, as soon as you get your meal ask for a to-go box. Then before you take a bite put 1/2 of what is on your plate in the to-go box. Then you get another meal for later. (Just don’t forget it on the table when you leave like I frequently have done.)
2. Get a little notebook and start writing down everything you eat or drink. Write the calories next to it. You don’t have to be so precise about the calories, but don’t underestimate them. If you know how many calories you need in a day then you can still budget for a little of something sweet.
18 greenman2001 // May 15, 2008 at 7:41 pm
This is a rich topic. Thanks for responding.
And thanks for providing a little more information about the chocolate cake issue. One of the things I admire so much about you and Mac is your fearlessness in talking about these personal issues.
Back in March, JD, when you started riding your bike again, I asked you why you weren’t riding to the gym or the grocery store instead of driving, and you told me that you couldn’t afford the safety equipment necessary for riding in the dark (this was during daylight savings). If you recall, I responded that this was not a darkness problem, it was a money problem. I hesitate to tread on delicate ground here, but your chocolate cake problem doesn’t sound like a willpower problem so much as it does a relationship problem. Kris sounds wonderful, but I’m not sure she’s doing you a favor by baking this stuff. Maybe that’s more your problem than her’s, but it’s definitely a problem. I suppose it might go away all by itself if you ignore it, but that doesn’t seem likely given your love of chocolate cake.
We can talk about each of the specific contexts you raise here and come up with strategies for changing those contexts. But I’d like to suggest a general rule: if you create confrontations in your life between your willpower and your impulses, your willpower is likely to lose. If I’m right about this, then the solution is not to enhance your willpower: the solution is to avoid the confrontation so that you can practice good habits without pressure. When you look at each dilemma you raise here in that context — going out to dinner, dealing with Kris’s fresh baked sweets, staring down a Sno-ball at the end of a 20-mile bike ride — it gives you an entirely different set of tools for coming at the problem.
You ask a supremely important question: “what exactly does it take to change a context?” You tell me: what did it take for you to quit the box factory and turn to blogging for your livelihood? Changing jobs — changing careers — is a context change. It enabled you to find time to exercise, among other things. You couldn’t find time to exercise in the old context; in the new context, you have time.
What you describe here is not a “gradual erosion of will.” You point to a number of contexts in which your will breaks down completely. The cheat day, for example, is a context in which you lose control over your impulses. Addressing this doesn’t require a change in world view: it requires letting go of the cheat day. I say that, but of course it is a complicated issue: if you’re hungry from extreme calorie expenditure, if you’re ordering take-out, if you’ve got a fresh chocolate cake baked by the woman you love in front of you, if you’re hanging out in a restaurant with good friends — all of these “contexts” make “letting go of the cheat day” extremely difficult. But by addressing each of these issues one-by-one, in an organized way, you’re taking willpower out of the equation.
I’m willing to bet that in the early years of your financial recovery, you forbade yourself from walking into a comic book store. Yes, the old impulse withered away, but not without concrete steps that didn’t undermine the effort.
Last: I’ve told you that I don’t read diet books, I read cookbooks. The reason is simple: I want to be able to cook delicious healthy food for myself. You speak here about healthy food as though it is, by definition, boring. Healthy=boring. This is not a problem with healthy food: it’s a problem with your way of approaching how you feed yourself. You HAVE GOT to learn how to cook delicious healthy food for yourself. You have to provide yourself with the knowledge and the tools — just as you’ve done in your financial and exercise life. You have to provide yourself with the time to cook. There is really no other way. This is what it means to take responsibility for your own health. Expecting a handful of unadorned spinach leaves to be delicious is not a problem that belongs to some essential quality of spinach: it belongs to you and your inability, or unwillingness, to prepare the spinach in a way that you find delicious. This is going to take time and effort.
19 J.D. // May 15, 2008 at 8:14 pm
You see, during my financial recovery, I never did forbid myself to go into comic book stores. I’ve always allowed myself to buy what I want. The key has been to redefine what it is I want. Before, I wanted it all. Now I want very little. Sometimes I think i want a comic, but a few minutes in the store is enough to convince me I don’t.
At Get Rich Slowly, I advise against setting yourself up for failure. And entering the comic book store is certainly setting myself up for failure. However, doing this has also allowed me to develop willpower. As I’ve become more financially fit, I’ve realized that I often prefer the feeling of not spending money to the feeling of spending money.
Similarly, I’ve learned that I like to exercise as opposed to sleeping in.
However, I haven’t got there with food. I crave the chocolate cake. There are periods — weeks sometimes — during which I’m able to resist the temptation. But ultimately, I always arrive back here.
And again, I want to stress that I’m not in a tailspin here. It’s more like my engine is sputtering. I’m not sitting around eating chocolate cake and Red Vines all day. But I am eating them more often than I want to be. And even while I’m eating them, I know I shouldn’t, that I’ll be angry with myself later.
I do think you’re right that the cheat day is part of the problem. I’m allowing myself to eat whatever the hell I want and as much as I want. I need to screw that down a little. Maybe I can let myself have some of what I want, but I don’t need to go overboard. There’ll be time enough later.
Also, I think your point about learning to cook healthy food is well-taken. That’s something I should prioritize. (Also, I should add that I like spinach. That was a bad example. But you get the idea.)
I really do think this is mostly a matter of willpower. To the extent that I need to incorporate healthy eating into my view of myself as a person, both now and in the future, it’s also a matter of context. Somehow I’ve got to learn to enjoy healthy eating, make it something worth choosing.
20 Shanti @ Antishay // May 15, 2008 at 8:33 pm
JD - your posts are always so inspiring
Even if you’re struggling, the fact that you’re facing it and writing through it makes all the difference. You remind me of one of my heroes, a user from YouTube whose lost about 250 pounds and still going strong. You need to see his latest video because it’s AWESOME and he’s just so honest and real and inspiring… and entertaining 
I just got debt-free as of YESTERDAY (!!!!) and am now working on the next self-improvement venture: weight. I’m not that heavy. No one tells me I’m fat, and most people tell me I’m very pretty and whatever. But I’m not happy with my weight. I miss running. I miss my old clothes!
Anyway - since Jan 1, 2008 I’ve lost almost 20 Lbs and I just started vlogging (youtube username: anitshay) about it to keep me inspired. After 4 months of just eating better, I’m finally getting into exercising again because I won’t lose any more weight until I exercise more. And now that Seattle is *finally* getting sunny, I’m happy to be running again
Don’t give up! I know you’re not, but it’s easy to feel like you’re failing when you’re not on track. You’re doing this for the LONG HAUL though, and your current eating is just a bump in the road in the big scope of things.
I’ve been meaning to ask you for some advice because it’s come up in the blog a few times: how the heck do I buy good shoes that make me feel like I’m “running on air?” I have been thinking that I need new shoes for months now and I haven’t yet gone out and done it.
I’ve had my current shoes for almost 2 years now (the wear is probably like 6 months total) and they’re starting to collapse. I have fallen arches, and the arches in my shoes stop the bloodflow to my toes and really hurt my feet where the arches should be, despite having been well worn-in by now. Should I go to an orthopedic store? Some special shoe store? I bought my last pair at foot locker and it was an uninspiring experience. Any advice you have would really be appreciated! Perhaps your shoe-post later will detail this?
Thanks!
21 J.D. // May 15, 2008 at 9:08 pm
22 Andrew is getting fit // May 16, 2008 at 12:04 am
I found that I had to drop the cheat days. Having a cheat day meant that I could never really abandon the old unhealthy way of eating as I was always looking forward to my unhealthy day rather than focusing on making a lifelong change.
Now I eat what I like but in moderation. It’s not always easy and I do struggle occasionally but it’s 95% healthy most of the time.
23 em // May 16, 2008 at 6:11 am
I used to run, and suffered from ridiculous shin splints due to having flat arches. My coach always sent me to the pool a couple times a week to do this shin workout: wear flippers, and sit on the pool edge with your legs dangling in the water. For timed intervals, point and flex one foot. (Start small, maybe two minute intervals or so - until you feel the burn). The bigger the flippers, the more drag you will have. This is a great, no impact way to work your shin muscles.
24 elisabeth // May 16, 2008 at 6:47 am
With food, I think that there are really differences in cravings and also differences in what habits can or can’t be broken.
When my nutritionist said that eliminating my lunch soda (full sugar, not diet) would be a quick way to “lose” hundreds of calories a week, I found it really easy to switch to brewed tea (hot in the winter months, iced in the summer…) and can feel smug about the tea-benefits I’m getting, too.
Similarly, I used to love a glass of wine with dinner. Now, I have a drug regimen that makes any alcohol a bad idea (my liver has enough to do handling the drugs!), and it was surprisingly eash to switch from wine to water with my meals — even though Dear Husband is still having a glass of wine with his dinner….
However, even though I recognize that it would be equally beneficial to reduce/eliminate other food items –especially fried foods, chips etc — it feels impossible, especially if I think of it as a “never again” concept. So, I’m focussing on reducing portion size, and hope that will be enough.
25 KC // May 16, 2008 at 7:06 am
JW,
Love your honesty! These are tough issues. I have a few suggestions:
1) I remember that one of your life goals was to be a vegetarian for some period of time (a month?). Why not try being a vegetarian now and do it as long as you can? Or don’t be a vegetarian but cut out meat by 75%. It’s debatable whether any meat is healthy, but it’s not debatable that many of the meat food choices you seem to make are very unhealthy. Plus, you’ll be saving animals and the environment
Smart Dogs really taste like hot dogs, and they are healthy. And Morning Star makes great frozen (fake) sausage links and sausage patties. And Boca Burgers and Garden Burgers are great.
2) Is there any way you can work on learning to like fruits and vegetables? I do think that a lot of our dislikes with food are mental. I know I’ve learned to like a lot of foods. I wonder if you can teach yourself to enjoy a full range of veggies and fruits, especially by trying them in different ways and by consciously choosing a different mindset about them.
3) I suggest revisiting the fundamentals of how you cook. Whenever I read a recipe that you post on one of your other websites, it seems to feature large amounts of butter, cream, bacon, etc. Maybe you can find ways to make your favorite dishes a little lighter/healthier.
26 Daria // May 16, 2008 at 7:54 am
I can’t avoid sweets everyday. I do exercise quite regularly, but its worthless without eating right. At work we have so many sweets and tasty fatty things laying just in front of me and people get offended if i not eat them. Every month we are having someones birthday in the office and a creamy cake is a tradition.
That really seems like the hardest thing to do on your fitness track to a health life.
My boyfriend has already lost about 5kg in 2 month when i have lost only 1kg. And he doesn’t like vegetables just like you. What he does is he drinks a glass of V-juice which is low in calories and is 1 serving of fruit and 1 serving of veg (I am sure you have something like this in USA). And he puts little bit of vegetables in everything he eats.
And that might be inspiring (it is to me), whenever he has a choice with something healthy or unhealthy, he tells to himself that he wants a great healthy body more than he wants to eat that cookie.
I am regularly reading your blog, so maybe if you go on the right track with your food, other guilty readers will do the same. Well at least for me it would be very inspiring.
27 greenman2001 // May 16, 2008 at 12:05 pm
My point, JD, isn’t that a cheat day is part of the problem. My point is that relying on willpower that you may or may not have is the problem. The cheat day is just the context in which your willpower gets challenged. If your willpower is up to the task, a cheat day won’t be a problem. Bill Phillips recommends a cheat day. Millions of people, or so I’m told, have followed his advice and lost the weight they wanted to.
You and I, I see now, disagree about this. You believe that if you test your willpower it will get stronger. I believe that participating in behavior that doesn’t move you toward your goal isn’t productive. I believe that healthy contexts support healthy habits, and maintaining unhealthy contexts undermines healthy habits.
One of the smartest steps you took toward a healthy lifestyle was not starting to exercise, it was changing jobs. I suspect that if you were still at the box factory, we might not be talking about how successful your exercise regimen has been.
I guess I don’t see how continuing to go in the comic book store is consistent with not setting yourself up for failure. But I don’t need to: it worked for you.
BTW, I keep waiting to hear about your vegetable garden here rather than in your finance blog. It seems, don’t you think, rather well suited to a blog about living a healthy lifestyle.
28 J.D. // May 16, 2008 at 12:24 pm
You’re right that changing jobs was key in setting myself up to succeed with fitness. It helped tremendously.
And you’re also right that — in general — I think that going into the comic book store, or keeping chocolate cake around, is setting myself up for failure. Or anyone. At GRS I advise people with spending problems to stay away from situations (contexts) that lead them to spend. That’s also why I don’t keep Red Vines in the house.
But I also believe that at some point, the willpower must be developed if a person is going to implement lasting change. That’s what happened with my finances. That’s what needs to happen with my fitness. I’m not there, though, and until I am, I think your advice is probably best.
29 Garrison // May 16, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Well JD I think you can clearly see that all of your readers have faith that you will get to your goals eventually and that bumps in the road in any endeavor are likely to happen.
My only suggestion to help get back on the better eating and weight loss because of it is going back to something basic. To loose weight calories taken in must be less then calories used. So I say make the effort to log whatever you consume in fitday (or whatever other site/journal you choose) BEFORE consumption.
For me the act of doing this really makes me think why am I eating this? Is it I’m hungry and need the calories/nutrition (and after your weekend workouts I’m sure you will be) or am I just bored and looking for something sweet. I definitely struggle with food more than exercise on my personal weight loss quest and as much of a pain it is to log food before I eat it, I find that it works (15 lbs down since Jan).
I look forward to the shin splint and shoe store post and hopefully a post next week about a triumph in overcoming your red vine/snow ball craving.
Good luck
30 mrs darling // May 17, 2008 at 6:17 pm
JD, we need to switch around. I have lost 33 pounds in four months from watching what I eat. Unlike you I watch calories and I dont exercise. I tell myself all the time that I need to exercise but I dont.
31 Mel T // May 17, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Hi J.D.,
This is a great post, I totally appreciate the sincerity and honesty in what you’ve written.
By telling us about your experiences and difficulties you’re creating weight loss accountability, and as a result you’ll be more likely to achieve your goals. Well done!
32 Sara // May 21, 2008 at 7:55 am
JD — Your comment at #19 surprised me. You’ve committed to weight loss seriously enough to start a blog, and admitted that willpower is a big problem for you (just like it is for pretty much everyone). Yet you think it’s unreasonable for you to ask your wife not to fix chocolate cake?
Weight loss is very hard, and although it’s not a popular sentiment, eating habits affect weight loss/body composition way more than exercise habits will for 99% of the population (the other 1% being hardcore athletes and people on the Biggest Loser, who exercise as a job). I think it’s very reasonable (if not an absolute necessity) to ask the people in your family and the people you live with to commit to making your diet the best it can be. Otherwise, how do you expect to be successful? Of course you have to develop willpower, but how does every other person trying to break an addition deal with it — firstly, limiting access to the temptation as much as possible. Alcoholics don’t hang out in bars, at least not when they are first becoming sober.
33 brooklynchick // May 29, 2008 at 7:09 am
I’m so glad you are slowing down the workouts - injuries can slow you down for weeks or even months - counter-productive!
In terms of food, I would encourage you to think MODERATELY. Personally, I have never been able to stick to a strict or
“perfect” diet for longer than three months. WW really has taught me to be moderate, to include treats, so that it is a “diet” I can do for life.
In terms of veggies, I really recommend you get some good vegetarian cookbooks. Preparing veggies with great seasoning and spices makes ALL the difference in enjoying them. And if you have to add olive oil/butter to make them yummier, you should - better broccoli plus olive oil than no broccoli at all!
My favorite vegetarian cookbook is Moosewood Cooks at Home.
Keep us posted - and keep being compassionate to yourself. If change were easy, we wouldn’t be such a fat country!!
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