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Fitness Buzz: Angry Fat Men, Daylight Saving Time, and More

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I'm hardly a role model for much of anything in much of anything. However, I did engage in a several-year-long, 3-stage weight-loss program of my own devising.
It was quite simple: I cut my food intake by between 2/3rd's and 3/4th's. (More about that in a bit.)
I started, at 5'9-1/2", with a beach-ball-like 253 lbs (and a 53" waist), at the beginning of my first effort. Got down to around 225. Took a lengthy break, but without gaining weight. Then I took a greatly reduced second step. Same procedure, but stopped when I got down to around 210. Break time again. During my "diet vacation --" I went to the doctor for some other reason, and he remarked -- his words, "I'd grin a little if you got down to 185, and smile if you reached 180 -- and break out laughing if you hit 175!" I had been dreading making a third go at losing weight, but something about that doctor's words motivated me.
Now I ease up and down between 165 and 170 -- and am thinking of trying to get that down to around 150 (damned weight and BMI charts!).
So -- I lost just about exactly 1/3rd of my starting weight.
But what little I did eat, I savored bite by slow bite. Okay, sure, sometimes I was in a huge rush, threw together a sandwich, and ate it trotting down the street, but that was very, very rare.
At one point I did overdo the food reduction -- and ended up in hospital. When I went in, I didn't link my symptoms to my diet at all. The doctors hooked me up to an IV and did the normal tests -- blood, urine, chest X-ray, basic physical, plus a review of my medical history (at that hospital; it goes back to 1997 there). Imagine my great surprise when my internist came back and, after questioning me at length about how much I ate, told me the tests and my narrative confirmed her initial suspicions: I was STARVING!!!
Well, that shocked my socks right off, as you can imagine. So I increased my food intake (under her most excellent guidance) -- and enjoyed having MORE food to deliciously roll around my taste buds!
*Please* don't treat eating as a merely utilitarian, necessary exercise. It can be a wonderful time to chill out, even if you're alone -- I'm single, and almost always do eat alone.
Thoroughly enjoyed this story, US News --

Mekhong Kurt 9:20AM October 05, 2010

"...that eating food is something only done for sustenance between bouts of accomplishment..."
Why does this sound like such a typically 'American' point-of-view regarding food. That is, adhering to the 'Protestant work ethic', puritanical approach. As opposed to the European model.
You might want to check out what Michael Pollan has to say about this: 'In Defense of Food'.
In a nutshell, this diminishment of eating (as opposed to 'feeding') is part of what got us to where we are, obesity-wise.

schmadrian of VA 3:42PM March 09, 2009

I had to catch my breath .
Enviromental factors regaring obesity . How come fruits and veg have gone up by 76.5 % between 89 and 05? At the same time Bad Food has gone down by 26.5 % .
How come we are not discussing this health crisis? How did we download this complex issue onto the individual? Some economists are trying this method. The Fault Based Model doewnloads this and other factors get missed . Paid for science and media influences continue to conspire against the individual.
We are working on a Shared Accountability Model . Through shared accountability all aspects suddenly appear through the smoke and mirrors. In the 1950 's children drank 3 cups of milk to one cup of soda. A cup of soda was 8 oz , and it did not have High Fructose Corn Syrup.
Bad food is cheap . However , that cheap cost gets passed onto the Health Care System. It is no bargain and as an Angry Fat Man I am assigned labels. Lazy,unmotivated ,personal choices,lousy lifestyle, no accountability and generally defective.
Weight Bias and Stigma . This is the last accepted form of discrimination . Just ask the men with Male Breast Tissue,or Back Tissue.
Try Harder I am trying very hard to get the attention of mainstream people . I am working with 10 web pages and all have the same fishing set up. I am trying to hook and land Angry Fat People that have had enough . I am tired of being told I have alousy lifesttle and I am equally fed up with the media's approach. Surely by now the media must have found someone that eats AIR.
This article is a fantastic opportunity and I am thankful to the author. Yes, there are many angry fat people out there and I welcome all of them to my youtube site .
www.youtube.com/smurfp4444, or they can find me on facebook. I am also @ ning.com/ Shared Accountability Model/ Healthy Food Mariiage Model/ Extra TV/ Ellen/ U K Obesity Support/
For more on this effort stop by the Fort Frances Times and type in Paul Murphy.
Dear Reader,
I hope you too will become angry . Angry at watching a generation of children get Sickly. 30,000 U S 3 year olds 30 pounds overweight today. Angry over the 2,000 U S citizens that will be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Angry with a fractured response that is intermingled with BIG FOOD and it's response to the issue.
IS FOOD OUR NEXT TOBBACCO ???
AGAINST OBESITY ----------------NOT AGAINST OBESE PEOPLE.
Angry with confusing plans that are based on Phyisical Exercise only . Angry with states BMI'ing and stigmatize your children. Angry with PAID FOR SCIENCE .
At what point does Mainstream Media and our governments see the Obesity Crisis as a National Threat to security across the Globe? How many deaths are due to our confusing and Blaming response?
For those who took a few minutes to read this response ,I thank you. And I am Angry . Join me with The Shared Accountability Model.

Paul Murphy 10:35AM March 07, 2009

is to be so filled with joy over the work you're doing that eating food is something only done for sustenance between bouts of accomplishment---and between time spent on meaningful relationships.
Too bad that most of us aren't exactly "there" with our lives.

Muser of NM 5:15PM March 06, 2009