Men Don’t Diet
I don't drink to excess. I don't do drugs. I'm not a shopaholic. I don't gamble. After a very stressful day, like I had today, many would engage in self-destructive behavior like these, but not me. Food is my drug of choice, but I'm happy to say that I did not give in to temptation tonight, and I stayed on my diet.
I have been struggling with my weight since I was twenty years old. For the first twenty years of life I was a healthy weight, not slim or muscular, but healthy. Compared to today's teens, I was almost anorexic, but back in the 70s and 80s I didn't have a problem with over-eating. Something happened to me in college. I gained the 'freshman fifteen' and just kept going. In the ensuing 20 years, I have tried every diet and diet program out there with varying success. I have lost tremendous amounts of weight time and time again only to gain it back. Fact is that every reasonable diet works. If you follow a sensible diet plan you will lose weight. Keeping the weight off is the difficult part, and where I struggle the most.
Now I find myself, once again, starting ANOTHER diet. This time it is Weight Watchers. As I said, any diet will help you lose weight, but what I need most is the accountability that a plan like Weight Watchers provides. When I have to step on a scale once a week at a meeting, it keeps me honest. It's only been a couple of weeks on the plan, but so far so good. Weight Watchers is easy to follow and I've lost seven pounds.
The thing that I don't understand about Weight Watchers (and Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, Optifast, etc. -- I've been on them all) is why there are so few men involved. The last meeting was all women and me. The meeting leader suggested that you reward yourself when you reach a weight loss goal with a non-food reward. She suggested going shoe shopping! Let me tell you, when I want to celebrate the first thing I do is go to Nine West and pick me out a pair of strappy heels! Sheesh.
I once told a business client, who was treating my colleagues and me to a night out in Miami that I couldn't over-indulge at dinner because I was on Jenny Craig. After he stopped laughing, he asked me if I had to wear a dress at the Jenny Craig meetings. You don't HAVE to wear a dress, I told him, but I choose to wear a dress because skirts make me look fat. Seriously though, why are there so few men using these programs?
I guess men are supposed to be strong enough to just cut back on fattening foods and hit the gym when they want to lose weight. Going to group diet classes is just too girly. The thing is...it ain't working. I still see tons of obese men walking around the mall. There must be a market out there for men who need help losing weight but don't want to hang out with middle aged women talking about shoe shopping during Weight Watchers meetings. Hmmm... Maybe there IS a market for just such a service...
Maybe someday there will be such a place, but until then I will stay the course with Weight Watchers. I'll be there next Monday night wearing my Vera Wang and Jimmy Choos, figuratively speaking of course.
February 12th, 2010 - 01:46
The fact is, it’s very hard to find good, sensible food choices these days. The portion size in restaurants has gone from “generous” to just plain dangerous. The quality of the food has decreased as the proliferation of corporation-developed processed foods has also grown. What remains is factory made food ready for consumption, and as much of it as you can handle. Treat yourself, we’re told. So we do– every day.
Me? I see food as a treat but also as sustanance. I remember the searing intestinal pains I get each I eat anything fried or in a heavy cream sauce, or how I get dumb and slow when I eat anything that has a lot of sugar, or how anxious I get when I eat chocolate or take caffiene. It helps me to remember these things when the temptation arises. So, I feel better physically and emotionally when I eat things that are seen as “healthy:” Lots of vegetables. Lots of whole grains. Very little dairy, very little animal protein, lots of fibre.
Lastly, we Americans work longer hours and carry more stress than any other country out there. We sit on our asses most of the day, do the work or two or three people, drive home and are exhausted. All we can do is make dinner, sit in front of the TV and fall asleep. All those calories turn to stored energy, fat, never to be used. So are we surprised when we end up as fat body b-roll on the news?
Yes, diets work but only temporarily. Coldly modifying what you eat is only a part of it. If you feel you are depriving yourself of what you want, the diet will ultimately fail. You will slip back into destructive habits and put the weight back on. You need to change your entire perception of food. If you shift your perception of food to be neutral and pragmatic (“I like ice cream, but I don’t like how I feel afterward”) then you’re not depriving yourself, you’re keeping yourself healthy. And that feels good. The craving will pass, it always does.
If that doesn’t work you could always take up smoking…..
February 12th, 2010 - 11:21
As cliche as it sounds…you have to change your life stlye with eating. That or steroids and speed. :)
February 12th, 2010 - 22:24
Now you’re talking!
February 13th, 2010 - 17:38
Maybe all the guys are on Atkins. You could have hit on a new market: weight loss clubs for men only.
February 14th, 2010 - 12:56
Yup, tried Atkins too. The most restrictive diet out there. Very difficult to follow. Now I have to think of a name for a new men-only weight loss venture… “Hey Tubby! Loose Weight!” .com :-)