gzinkl
Posts: 3215
Joined: 3/23/2005
From: Chicago, IL
Status: offline
|
Congrats on setting some new impressive goals for yourself! hang in there, it's a long road, but a rewarding one!
The diet thing, that's the roughest part for me. There are a couple of ways you can decide to approach it.
1. Cold turkey. Swear this day you will never enter another fast food joint again; or
2. Most fastfood joints have "less evil" foods on the menus. McD's the salads with grilled chicken breast (go easy on the dressing, or no dressing), chicken breast sandwiches (grilled again, skip the sauce), yogurt parfaits (loaded with fruit, but alas, also evil sugar), fruit salads (skip the candied walnuts), even Burger King has some pretty good salads. They are all also very willing to give you a cup of tap water, or sell you a bottle of spring/purified water. Vow to order from the less evil menus, and only visit the joints periodically; or
3. Go slow. Body fat isn't an issue for you (and yet, I don't hate you, you bastard!), start one week with "no more soda (diet or regular)." That alone is a huge step in the right direction. Replace with water. The next week, try, "I can still have a burger, but no sauce, no cheese." The following week, eliminate the burgers; or
4. Change your philosophy all together (kind of like cold turkey). Ask yourself how processed the food item is before putting it in your mouth. If it's not found in nature or not a result of natural interactions (e.g., yogurt is a product of bacterial action and milk), don't eat it (this includes "sports" bars, but excludes you protein supplement); or
5. Start off with a fruit fast for 3-5 days. These suck, but they do have some redeeming values. Your diet becomes monotonous, but lets your body adjust to your new lifestyle. Some advocates would say you're purging your body of toxins. Whatever, it works. Drink gallons of water and eat all the fruit you want (keep the bananas to a minimum though). Another advantage is that your taste buds will change, and fruit will taste like candy after awhile. If you try to eat candy or sweetened cereal afterwards, it will be way too sweet, and you'll want your good fruit. Don't drink fruit juice though, you want the fiber (the exception being carrot juice (I know, it's not a fruit, but damn it's good for you); you can sweeten that with some orange juice--but just 1x day). You'll be ready for normal food at the end of the fast, so start eating like you should. It will all taste awesome after this experience; or
6. Start off by changing one meal for a week. Like breakfast. Your idea isn't bad. Substitute a bunch of egg whites for most of the eggs (add all the vegetables you want to your omelete, and just a little cheese if absolutely necessary). Make breakfast and lunch your biggest meals of the day, especially with all your biking. The next week, change meal 2, etc., until you've changed all 5-6 meals.
You'll need to plan ahead. It sucks--it sure is easier to go into McD's than to give yourself an extra 10 minutes somewhere in the day to make your food. Make it easier on yourself. If you can, at work, have "emergency rations" lying around. I have a huge container of non-fat yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, canned tuna (with flip-top lids; make sure there's seasoning around if you need it), protein powders, raw nuts, unsweetened, no-fat added peanut butter, and fresh fruit lying around my office (or in the firm's fridge!). These take no preparation, just a shopping trip. Be creative. Eggbeaters comes in flavors, and if your workplace has a fridge and microwave, you can cook the stuff in cups in the microwave.
Figure out where you can get good food at a moment's notice. This is challenging. Subway has cheap sandwiches, but they are skimpy on the meat and heavy with the oil. Order a turkey sandwich with extra (extra extra?) meat (get over the price increase) on whole wheat (which is a really whimpy whole wheat), load it up with vegetables (spinach is actually very tasty), avoid the cheese if you can, and use just mustard or vinegar for sauce. Their salads are disgusting, in my book. Do the same at Quiznos (who has better whole-wheat bread anyway).
Anyway, best of luck, man. It's hard . . . I struggle all the time (my brain knows what to do, but . . .). Each little step, though, results in big rewards -- even if they are much later. Keep us posted, and let us know what helps and what doesn't help.
My current role model, Jorgen de Mey, has a useful image: food can be divided into Good Guys and Bad Guys. The Good Guys help you get to your goals; the Bad Guys want to take down the Good Guys and beat them up so you go nowhere. Protect the Good Guys, it's up to you! :) (This is what he taught his young son, but then he realized the imagery worked for him, too!)
_____________________________
"If there's nothing else that's relevant, I'll be leaving now"
"Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground"
(in reply to JayCutlerfan)
|
Printable Version
Hey Guyz...Trying to Turn my Life Around....PLZ HELP!!!... - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread
