AR_untangle

 So Amberlynn Reid is facing discouragement, again. She

is just not loosing weight at a calorie limit where she should,

given her size. Let's untangle some of her issues.

-- Calories: a decent calorie count is a necessary but not sufficient condition

for weight loss. If someone is eating to her calorie limit but it is all

chocolate-covered raisins, she will actually store fat because there is an

overabundance of quick sugars at her meals.  Calories only come

into consideration after other parameters of the diet have been established.

-- Healthy vs unhealthy foods: one needs to keep in mind that no food is

an island. It is not just the food itself that needs to be considered, but the context

of other foods that make up the meal. An italian sausage is a nasty thing, as any

nutritionist will tell you. But an Italian sausage in a garden salad, no dressing for

lunch, with a side of water, is do-able in a pinch. I say in a pinch because the sausage is not

doing the job a boiled egg would, but it is something satiating, with fat and protein.

-- Diet pop: take a break fomr the pop. If you must (it is summertime, after all) make

it carbonated water in a glass, at a party. Until further notice, and that's your birthday.

You don't even like it that much, if truth be told. Overweight people are pleasers, who do

things to fit in. and that has to stop. Um!!! pop! is an advertising gimmick, not reality.

-- Never snack. That too is an advertizer's game. Three meals a day, at set times. if

you miss one, that's it. Wait til the next one. Snakcing and catch-up are for growing children, 

of which you are not.

-- Hydration: you are de-hydrated if your urine is a darker yellow; otherwise you are fine.

Re-hydrating should not be done with water because the latter will only make things worse:

it will leech nutriments from your body. You can have a small amount of...wait for it...diet

pop but this works against on-the-scale weight loss.

-- The scale: weight is weight. There are expensive scales which inform one on body 

composition, but these are used by body-building enthusiasts. Not there yet. 

-- Time. There is subjective time, and there is objective time. If you drink a pop from hell, 

there will be a price to pay on the scale, in the near to medium future. If you freak out

that lemon shortbread bites are out of your life forever, that won't change anything

unless you act on it (and throw out those horrors). Maybe two days down the road. Your

body is great: it always gives you lead-time to adapt to changing situations...you cave-dweller.

--The way back: Sometimes, one just needs to give up control. The best back-from-bingeing

regimen I can think of is the so-called 'Military Diet':three days of fun little meals -progressively

loghter- followed by four days of maintenance. One weighs in after the three days for the

rush of the quick loss (water-weight loss; I'll take it!!). One weighs in again after the four

normal days. Free to do it again. I would also suggest keeping busy with non-food thins, and 

perhaps letting a friend help organize the maintenance days. A vacation from one's troubles 

can do a world of good!

Indeed, this is where exercise comes in. It may not help much for weight loss, but it is essential

for mental health!!