reading? I’m guessing you have a phone or a laptop now (else how would you post). lots of good, free books available on the internet.
regarding the car - used car prices are still pretty high, if you decide to sell it then the sooner the better. maybe look into getting an ebike or scooter as a replacement.
So I’m going to preface this by saying that I’ve been very fortunate on my weight loss journey including how much free time I have to dedicate to cooking, and what I’ve done won’t work for everyone. Also I recommend not being hyper focused on weight and instead focus on being healthy.
I used to be very overweight, and was always overweight growing up. I’m 6’3" and at my highest in my mid 20’s was 330 lbs. I basically didn’t pay attention to what I ate at all, so I ate both too much and not healthy. 8 years later and now I’m around 215, and I have much more thought and time going into how I eat.
I decided that I wanted to change that, and after research I learned a few general things:
If you want to have sustained weight loss you can’t go on a diet - you need to change your habits and relationship to food. If you ever plan to go back to eating how you are now, you will return to the same weight and health. If you’re not prepared to have a permanent change to how you eat, you’re probably better off just staying the course because going back and forth can be very unhealthy, both mentally and physically.
Losing weight and changing habits are slow processes. It will take months or years to see significant progress, and it won’t be a straight line. Because it’s a permanent change there will be ups and downs along the way and over time, and that’s normal and fine. For me it’s been about 8 years and I’m still making slow progress, but there have been slips where I’ve gained 20-30 lbs back (pandemic was a bitch!)
My results are probably not typical. Everyone is on their own journey and dealing with their own hurdles, so don’t compare your results to someone else’s. Progress is progress, no matter how small. And improving your health is absolutely progress, even if the number on the scale doesn’t change.
EXERCISE. But not for the reasons you think. You will never be able to outrun a bad diet, you just don’t burn calories that fast while exercising. But it boosts your energy, mood, and for me also helped a ton with leveling out my hunger levels. It’s also probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health.
Sorry about the novel before I go into the question, but I’ve seen a lot of unhealthy mindsets and advice and I think it’s important to share that even with success stories there is struggle and it’s a constant battle and lifestyle change. It’s not easy, and anyone telling you differently is selling something.
So, on to what I do!
Best advice I’ve heard boils down to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Don’t try to follow fad diets. I haven’t seen any good reliable science that supports any super strict diet. The day to day doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as the week to week and month to month. Don’t beat yourself up because you went to a party and indulged, or spent a holiday week with your family and went a little overboard. But if you’re doing that every week, it’s going to have an impact.
For me what worked was a combination of counting calories and substituting foods. I started by logging everything I ate without trying to change anything, just to get a baseline (this was VERY illuminating, it’s shocking how easy it is to eat 3000-4000 calories when you’re mostly eating junk food). Try not to judge yourself here and make sure to log everything you eat, but don’t try to go insane accuracy. Again, aim for broad trends not the small details.
Once you have a good baseline, figure out where you can substitute out higher calorie dense foods with lower calorie dense foods. This usually means more veggies, less junk food. The goal here is to be able to still eat until you feel full, but to decrease the total calories. You want to be able to feel full, because if you’re constantly hungry you likely won’t be able to maintain it long term. A good strategy is to identify some foods that you like that are low calorie density that don’t require any prep. If you’re hungry and it’s not meal time, eat those. My foods were carrots, apples, and celery. I can eat as much of those as I want until I’m not hungry and it won’t have a huge impact on my daily calorie intake.
And honestly, that’s kind of it - rinse and repeat. Experiment with new foods and recipes that are healthier and keep looking for substitutions you can do. Like stew or pasta sauce? Increase the amount and variety of veggies you throw in. Start to learn which foods are high calorie density and which ones are lower. Look to eat a variety of foods to improve overall nutrition.
If you are lucky enough to have the time, learn to cook more. A lot of processed foods have a bunch of sugar in them, and that increases calories a ton without making you feel more full. Cook in big batches so most of the time it’s still quick and easy to eat healthy. Get a few recipe staples that you can cook without thinking or looking up the recipe to lower the effort for home cooked food. An instant pot is great for making large batches of healthy food - a beef and bean chili with tons of veggies over rice is super healthy, fairly low touch time, and you can make like 10-15 meals at a time. Air fryers are great for cooking 1-2 portions at a time of food you prepare in advance, so actual touch time is pretty low.
It’s really hard at first. It gets easier over time (months and years). I’m 8 years in and these things are much more natural to me, but if I’m not actively putting thought and effort into what I eat I still skip into bad habits.
Hope this helps, and best wishes to everyone on a journey for their own health and relationship with food!
You’re right about exercise. I’d go even farther and say don’t even bother with dedicated exercise if you’re just starting to lose weight, because it’s completely irrelevant to the weight loss part.
Happy to share! If you (or anyone really) wants more detail about anything let me know! I’m happy to share tips or recipes that I’ve discovered on my journey if it will help others!
This is quite frankly what we should be teaching in schools, it pains me so deeply that it’s not standard knowledge and that people still think temporary diets are useful for anything unless they’re prescribed by a doctor.
Moderation in all things. I eat healthy but not all the damn time. I eat donuts and drink Cokes but not every damn day. It’s not good to take something as vital to the human experience as food to extremes the way most people do.
In your situation, any worries about the car can be pushed back for at least a few months, so just make a calendar note to check on whether there’s anything wrong with it, then put it aside for now. With minimal driving it’s not getting worse, and may be nothing at all.
Follow all @backachu’s good advice, with this addition:
You have surgery tomorrow, so prioritize rest right now. Instead of thinking you have to hold onto everything, once you’ve written your list set aside several hours to let go of everything and rest. Something creeps back in your mind? Push it out. Repeat to yourself: “For my best outcome in surgery I need to be well rested. If possible I need to sleep. Resting is the most important thing I can be doing with my time right now.” If you can’t, don’t beat yourself up about it, treat yourself with the kindness you would show a friend. But if you can, it will help you react better to anesthesia and heal faster if you don’t go in depleted.
Not with a broken leg and ankle but I’ve been overcome before by situations like this. I know there’s a lot of advice in here already to manage the anxiety, but here’s a few things you can actually do:
Make a list. Write down everything that needs to be taken care of. Pets, bills, work, rent, school work…just write down everything that comes to mind. Write down deadlines and where you are going to come short.
If you are not on heavy pain meds, start communicating. There’s a good chance that some deadlines can be pushed back, work can find you extra hours, friends and family can spot you. Even creditors may be willing to help. You have a situation that is entirely provable with hospital records.
Depending on your life situation, you may be able to find government resources, charity groups, etc. Just by calling around you could find a connection inadvertently that can help. I found pro bono legal services once when an someone tried to sue me because a charity group i called knew someone from another group.
Adjust your list and prioritize what needs to be done first. I think just putting things down on paper/word doc takes a lot of burden off your mind. You know you won’t forget what needs to be done and it helps to have all the info in front of you when you need to communicate.
Sudoku. Optional, but highly advocate that or some kind of problem solving game.
SimpleTabGroups - organize your tabs
uBlock Origin - adblocker
Prvacy Badger - block trackers
I still don’t care about cookies - remove cookie prompts
Stylus - lets you create your own css based on url
Canvss Blocker - prevents finger printing but can break websites.
I still don’t care about cookies is a must have, it is so nice to never have to click those prompts again.
A password manager is also nice. I recommend keepassxc and it’s addon
Privacy Badger is kinda useless since ublock origin already blocks trackers. Same with canvas blocker if privacy.resistFingerprinting is enabled in about:config
Hmm, I can this if getting into a truck or tall vehicle that requires you to step up and then into. Otherwise I can only picture a ballerina or other extremely graceful person making an overly complicated but impressive maneuver. lol
asklemmy
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