Sam’s Weekly Water Cooler Musings: On Slimming Down

I remember watching an Oprah segment ages ago where she was talking about weight loss (that was a topic she did about 10 times a year back in the glory days of her own weight fluctuations). She had someone on who was discussing the “little things” we could do to help with our weight issues. One of the “little things” was to park farther away when going to the store, when going to work, or when going to meet friends, so that you would be forced to walk farther to and from each place. For a while, I did just that, parking in the “second” parking lot at the mall, walking about half a mile in to work each morning from the farthest space in the lot, etc. Then I realized that wasn’t going to do anything for me if that was the only thing I was doing. Somewhere I had missed one of the key components to slimming down: real exercise and diet change. That was the focus of our water cooler musings this week.

If there’s one thing we have in common at the water cooler, it’s that we’ve tried everything, every fad, every workout technique, every diet in and out of the book, so I thought I would list some of the things we’ve done, individually and collectively.

1) Carbing up
2) Carbing down
3) Atkins
4) South Beach
5) Zone
6) Weight Watchers
7) Therapists
8) Lowfat and nonfat everything
9) Cutting out fast food
10) Eating organic
11) THE GYM (or at least the gym membership)
12) Parking far away (not just me)
13) Lifting weights
14) Running
15) Power walking
16) Fasting (very unsafe, we found out)
17) Cutting down portion size
18) Cutting out red meat
19) Fat suits (seriously)
20) Prayer

Every single person admitted at one time that they got a gym membership as either a new year’s resolution… and then stopped going…

The biggest one was actually the gym, or at least the gym membership. Every single person at the water cooler admitted at one time or another that they got a gym membership as either a new year’s resolution or for whatever other reason, and then stopped going at one point. The record for months of regular gym visits was Ravi (name changed to protect the guilty) with three months. Most of the rest of us stopped going much sooner, and chose to forfeit the rest of that money rather than actually go and utilize the options available for us at the gym.

Coming in a close second was Weight Watchers. Most of us knew what the points system was, had participated in at least one weight-in, and had subsequently forfeited our money there as well. It turns out we don’t want to be

It turns out we don’t want to be reminded of the weight we carry, only of the weight we lose after we’ve lost it.

reminded of the weight we carry, only of the weight we lose after we’ve lost it. Regular meetings deter that, especially if we actually gained weight from the last time we went (a sad reality for so many). We started with grand plans, but those plans fell apart under the weight of expectations and no willpower. See, that’s what we decided it boiled down to.

The culprit for most of us was whatever vices we have. For most it was sugar. Either sugar in snack foods, particularly the pre-packaged foods, sugar in the recipes we create, or sugar in candy form. When asked what candy bar was their favorite, and what their favorite ice cream was, most people at the water cooler answered right away without thinking. When asked how often they eat those foods, the consensus was every single day. That’s what killed me in the parking farther debacle. Sure, I could park at the end of the lot and burn some calories, but when I got where I was going, I would get a sweet 3 Musketeers bar and gain all of those calories back instantly. Of course I wouldn’t actively be thinking that, but it would be happening nonetheless. The other major vice was eating frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, and other frozen foods. These frozen foods have become easy alternatives to making our own foods, but when was the last time you looked at the ingredients, the fat content, and the calories in these foods? Easy to make definitely does not equal easy on your body.

We succeeded in making another list of what we should do with what we had learned, how best for us to slim down without too much fuss and muss.

1) Having a buddy system. If we get together with a friend who is fighting the same battle, it can help us out more than just trying to do it on our own. For example, calling up your buddy if you’re tempted to eat the whole family-sized carton of General Chang’s chicken all by yourself.

2) Becoming knowledgeable about nutritional labels and choose our food accordingly. Canned food is not our friend. Complex carbohydrates either. And high fructose corn syrup is to be avoided at all cost.

3) Avoiding the fads. Don’t follow the diet-of-the-moment, because just as soon as the moment is over, you will stop following it. And if it was so great, how could it get replaced by the “next best thing” so quickly? The best diets are the ones we’ve always had, the ones that have never been packaged into a book, a video, or a series of videos.

4) Exercising. Nothing can replace good old-fashioned exercise when you want to slim down, tone up, or both. Do your research, too, in order to figure out which exercises will work best for what you’re trying to do with your body. Not all exercise is helpful, for example, if you want to lose weight in your middle, or if you want to tone up your arms or legs. This is where THE GYM and a certified personal trainer would really come in handy, getting you on a regimen that you can eventually follow on your own, but not something so strenuous or so time consuming that you will give up on it.

Wow, we got a lot accomplished this week. We said we would check in with each other to see how we’re progressing with those four items in the weeks to come.

Sam

Sam’s Weekly Water Cooler Musings: The Archive