Weight Loss — No Easy Answers Here

Let me be brutal with you

Joe DeVilla
Nov 1 · 24 min read
Photo by AllGo — An App For Plus Size People on Unsplash

I have been fighting my weight all my life.

All in all, obesity has been as significant a cause of misery as anything else I have known. Other events may have caused more intense pain, but obesity is relentless; it just eats at you day after day, coloring every aspect of your life. Time goes by, and opportunities are lost; you grow accustomed to a more constricted life. As with drug addiction, you could say it is self-inflicted. But, assigning blame does not help. We need a solution, and, in the meantime, we need help.

Staying on a diet is extremely difficult; you need to treat obesity as seriously as you would a drug dependancy.

I have gained and lost and gained and lost a lot of weight, and I think I have learned a few things. I have tried many diets and a few drugs. I have read books and joined support groups. I have talked to my doctors and dieticians.

Here are the ideas that I have found most useful.


The Exercise Myth

Yes, I believe that if you compare a group of people who take part in physical activity to a group that does not, the physically active group will contain a significantly higher percentage of members who are fitter and thinner.

It is natural to conclude that exercise makes you lose weight. The problem is being thin is what lets you exercise. It makes it easier and more fun, and this is why the active group is in better shape. They were fitter to start with.

We are often told to exercise, lose weight, and get fit. Mostly, we are told this by people who do exercise and are much fitter than we are. They may need to lose some weight, maybe 3 pounds. We need to lose 60 or 200 pounds — not the same thing.

It is tempting to assume that exercise will make you lose weight. It makes sense. If you keep eating at the same rate and burn additional calories, you should lose weight. The calories have to come from somewhere. The problem is that you have to exercise a lot, you won’t do it, and you will eat more to compensate.

When you are fat, exercise is humiliating and painful, and it makes you hungry; you are not going to be able to keep it up. Who wants to be the last person picked for the team? Who wants to play a game when you are terrible at it? Who wants to be seen in spandex jiggling all over, with rolls hanging over your belt, and with man-boobs? Unless you are a masochist, this is unlikely to be a positive experience, and you will need to comfort yourself with some ice-cream, cookies, pizza, and Netflix.

What you need to do is lose weight, aka diet. And yes, once you are down to a reasonable weight, you should try very hard to find a physical activity that you enjoy, or at least do not hate. Ease into it, set modest goals, make it easy to succeed. It is not a punishment; it is just routine maintenance, like eating and breathing.

Always keep in mind that you are exercising to be stronger, healthier, feel better, and look better. You are not exercising to lose weight. For that, you have to stay on your diet.

It is very likely that, once you are fit, thin, and look fantastic, you will come to enjoy going to the gym wearing progressively tighter and skimpier outfits. So, you can look forward to that.

Stop telling fat people to exercise; you are killing them.


Fat-Shaming

If you humiliate or harass people because they are overweight, you are, at best, misguided; at worst, you are a bit of a monster.

Now and then, if you have the right relationship and do in it just the right way, you may be able to motivate people by pointing out they need to lose weight. This is not likely, and they already know they are fat.

Be honest if your fat friend asks for your opinion. Don’t lie; don’t lose their trust. Be careful; you may be all they have.

In general, your comments will not affect other people’s weight. You may, however, hurt and depress them and derail their own weight loss efforts.

If you are known for having an empathy deficiency, keep your mouth shut.

Don’t be a monster. Just shut-up.

I am one of the yo-yo types. I have been skinny and fit, I have been obese, and everywhere in between. Friends and family have at times told me I should lose weight, get back on my diet, etc. In my case, I think these comments have had either a positive effect or no effect. I believe this is because I have never doubted they had my best interest in mind, and they knew when to stop. Telling me once or twice is one thing, over and over is something else.


Ashamed of Being Fat

Much the same but different from “fat-shaming,” to be ashamed of being fat on your own with no help from your friends is also good and bad. If your shame motivates you, great. If you are wallowing in it, cut it out.

Of course, if you are fat due to disease or injury, I don’t mean you. But, don’t come up with mysterious glandular conditions as an excuse. Yes, I know you are absolutely positive, and you found it on WebMD. If you think you have such an illness, see your doctor and believe what she says.

The reason you should be ashamed of being fat is that you are doing something wrong or failing to do the right thing. You may not be hurting anyone else, but you are hurting yourself. Being fat limits your possibilities. It makes you uncomfortable, causes you pain, and makes you spend way too much time reading this kind of article. If you want some more guilt, it also hurts those who love you and overburdens our health care system.

On the other hand, losing weight is so damn hard, that being ashamed of your body is like being ashamed of having leukemia or not being able to run a 4-minute mile. One you have no control over, the other is impossible for most people.

I feel ashamed; I know I should not. I just go back and forth. I do not have a metabolic disorder; I am one of the lucky ones, and I should have hope. I can beat this, I think.

I have been thin and fat multiple times throughout my life. I can tell you with not a trace of uncertainty that being thin is tremendous, and being fat is miserable. I have always felt great when I have lost weight but, I have never thought, “Wow, it’s great to be fat again.”


You Should Be Terrified of Developing Diabetes

My family emigrated to the United States from Latin America when I was twelve years old. I have a brother and a sister; all of us, including my parents, were of healthy weight before coming here. Within five years, all of us gained a lot of weight, a couple of us becoming obese.

I blame this on the American diet and TV. Our food here was dramatically different. We ate ice-cream, pizza, Captain Crunch, pancakes, and bacon. We even ate tacos and enchiladas; I had never heard of either of these things before I got here. We also watched way too much TV and stopped walking everywhere.

My dad, my sister, and I developed diabetes after age forty. My dad lost feeling in his toes, developed sores on his legs, and went blind. He injected insulin twice a day but died by age fifty-seven from multiple organ failure.

My sister injects insulin four times a day. She has developed neuropathy in her feet, walks with a cane, has severe vision problems, and has had two toes amputated. She has also needed open-heart surgery and was almost denied the procedure because of the higher infection risk for diabetics.

I have diabetes but have managed to keep it under control with diet and Metformin. We shall see.

You should be terrified of developing diabetes. If your doctor tells you, you are pre-diabetic, and you need to change your lifestyle, diet, and lose weight, don’t talk back; just do it.

If you already have diabetes and take insulin or other drugs and have managed to get your A1C down, don’t think you are off the hook. You still need to thin down and stay skinny.

Be afraid, be very afraid.


I Eat What I See

Some people say, “You are what you eat.” I say, “I eat what I see.”

I have some will-power, but I am not a Shaolin monk. If you put a bowl of potato chips on the table and wait me out, it may take a while, but I will come by and grab some. Once I have eaten a few, I will eat some more. If you don’t take the bowl away, I will finish it off for you.

I could have been reading an article about weight loss and gone to the kitchen to get coffee. Somewhere along the way, the idea to sit down, watch the news on TV, and get some chips comes into my consciousness. I don’t know what happens, but somehow eating chips becomes very attractive. As if doing so will solve some problem or that if I do it right now, I will get away with it somehow. So, I will get the chips, sit down, and eat.

I will do this aware that I am screwing up but seem to have little control over my actions.

  • I will tell myself I should not eat chips, but go ahead and do it.
  • While I am eating the chips, I will ask myself, why am I doing this?
  • After eating the chips, I will ask, why did I do it?
  • I will tell myself that I will not do it again.

And, then, just like in Groundhog’s Day, the next day will come, and I will be at it one more time.

There is only one solution that works for me, don’t buy chips, don’t come near chips, don’t look at chips. Just like a junky, I may have to go as far as giving up my friends because I cannot afford to associate with known chip eaters.

No chip eaters allowed in this house.


Living With an Addict

We all read and hear about the devastation of lives and families caused by drug addiction. More people die because of obesity. Just because food addiction is more socially acceptable, like smoking used to be, that does not mean it is healthier.

Yes, I do believe in personal responsibility, but if your partner is an addict, you have to accept what is right before your eyes. She cannot control it, it is a sickness, and it owns her. First, the woman ate the chips; then, the chips ate the woman. If you genuinely care, you have to help her. No, you cannot do it for her; she has to try, but she won’t make it without your help.

Support her weight loss plans. If she wants to go on the Blue Cheese Diet (not real), help her do it. Don’t tell her it will not work and offer your favorite alternative. If you do, she will hate you.

If you think her diet is extreme, please don’t tell her she is overdoing it. She is not. The proof is she is still fat. If you are seriously concerned, get her to see her doctor or join a support group. Let them tell her.

If you live with an alcoholic, would you keep vodka around the house? Would you open a bottle, pour yourself a drink, and deny any responsibility if she also takes a drink? No, of course not.

Food addicts have to be helped just like alcoholics. If you live with an alcoholic, you may have to give up drinking and minimize social activities where your partner is around alcohol. It is more difficult with food addicts. You are not going to give up eating, and almost all social activities involve food.

Make sure she has the right food. It is not enough to not offer her the pasta. Do not give her a choice, get the salad, and put it in front of her. Keep her busy munching leaves and sipping ice-tea while other people eat burgers and fries.

Half or more of the American population is fighting their weight. Do not be ashamed to do the right thing. Nobody is going to look at you strangely because you order the salad. If they do, it is because they know they should have done the same thing. And remember, make this normal, make this natural. Fat people have feelings too.

Do not ask her if she wants ice-cream, cookies, or chocolate. If I see you doing it, I may have to hurt you.

The same food that is healthy for those who are overweight is good for you. It is also good for children. It is not that much of a sacrifice for the whole family to eat healthy stuff. If you can’t live with a diet change, how are you going to deal with the hospital visits, a blind spouse, or a spouse who cannot fit in an aircraft seat?

Stand by your fatty.


Cocaine

Sugar has been found to have similar addictive properties to cocaine. Keep this in mind before you start using. Keep this in mind before you get your kids hooked.

So how do you know if it has sugar? If it tastes sweet, it has too much sugar. Sadly, lots of foods that do not taste sweet also have high sugar content. Start by giving up anything that tastes sweet. Sorry.

By the way, artificial sweeteners are not your friend; they remind your brain that it likes sweet things. Try to give these up too.

It will not take too long, in three months or so, your taste for sugar will start to fade. Those things you liked so much will start tasting too sweet. So sad.

No sugar tonight.


Addiction

Are you a food addict? What makes an addict? The American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) lists several criteria where if you meet at least three of them, you should view yourself as an addict. Here they are adapted to food addiction:

  1. Tolerance. Do you eat more and more over time?
  2. Withdrawal. Have you experienced emotional withdrawal when you have to give up certain foods (e.g., felt deprived, cheated)?
  3. Limited control. Do you eat more than you would like? Does eating a little lead to eating more? Do you regret how much you ate the day before?
  4. Negative consequences. Have you continued to overeat even though there have been negative consequences to your mood, self-esteem, health, job, or family?
  5. Neglected or postponed activities. Have you ever put off or reduced social, recreational, work, or household activities because you are too fat or unfit?
  6. Significant time or energy spent. Have you ever hidden or minimized your overeating? Have you ever thought of schemes to avoid getting caught?
  7. Desire to cut down. Do you think about cutting down or controlling your overeating? Have you ever made unsuccessful attempts to do so?

So, what’s your score? If you are an addict, you need to deal with your problem in those terms. When diet programs tell you that you can eat anything you want as long you follow their planned portions, you need to know this is nonsense; it is criminal nonsense. No, you cannot eat a tiny bit of chocolate or a small piece of cake. Would you ever suggest to an alcoholic to take just one drink? Would you encourage a cocaine addict to do just one line, or maybe do it only on weekends and special occasions.

You have heard the phrase, “Once an addict, always an addict.” If you are an addict, you need to face up to this. You will always need to control what you eat.

You will always be on a diet. Get over it.


The Pep Talk

Nothing about dieting is fun, and it will never end. On a more positive note, if you succeed, you will be ecstatic. Maybe you have fought this fight before, and you know what success feels like. And then, perhaps not. You may still have those clothes you can no longer wear. Some of us have never succeeded, or it was so long ago we have forgotten. Let me tell you; it feels great.

Us humans, we are vain creatures. The psychological burden of walking around feeling ashamed of our appearance is huge. We are also social creatures. Not being able to participate in some activities, being looked at with pity or contempt, feeling unworthy of romantic relationships kills us.

The list of diseases linked to obesity seems to grow by the day. These conditions are not fun. You do not want to be diabetic, have a stroke, heart attacks, or dementia. I have seen the results first hand among my relatives. There is not one among them that would not have done something differently to avoid developing the disease.

But, you need to know you can succeed. You also need to know that you will fail, and you need to try again. Not every diet or method works for everyone. If you fail, try again.

Maybe it was not your time yet. You have to feel bad enough to know you have no choice. You have to feel good enough to have the strength to go through with it. It’s a tricky balance.

A heroin addict goes into in-patient treatment five times on average before achieving lasting success. Giving up sugar is harder, so do not despair if you do not succeed. I do not know how many times people start diets before reaching their goals. I have the awful feeling it is hundreds. You are not alone.

In the following sections, I will give you some diet ideas. Who knows? Some may be of use to you.

If at first, you don’t succeed, try a few hundred times more.


Diet Theory

I know this is old-school, but I am here to tell you, it’s all about calories. It is also all in your head. Well, maybe not all, but a lot.

There are two things you are trying to control; one is your metabolism, the other is yourself. You can control your metabolism by controlling what you eat, how much, and how often. To control yourself, you need to know what you are doing and receive some feedback to see if it is working.

The basics:

  1. You have to cut calories, cut them a lot, cut the right stuff.
  2. You have to give up snacks, i.e., eat infrequently.
  3. You have to be able to do it and not get sick or die.
  4. You have to be able to know that you are doing it.
  5. You have to see the results.
  6. You have to do it forever.

Cut calories. If you are overweight and getting heavier and you maintain your current caloric intake, you will continue to gain weight. Too simple, right?

Your body has evolved systems that try to keep your weight constant. If you overeat, it may metabolize your food less efficiently or raise your temperature a little. If you eat too little, it may slow down your metabolism to compensate. It is a sad thing, but your body is very good at doing this. You can reduce your calories a lot and still not lose any weight.

You have to cut the right calories. Eat less sugar and refined grains — no white stuff.

Do not snack. Let your body process your food before eating more. By continual snacking, you are tricking your metabolism into thinking there is an infinite supply of food, and it will never start burning stored fat.

Do not get sick. Eating is just as important as not eating. Unless you are truly special, do not eat less than 1000 calories per day. Drink a lot of fluids. Eat your vegetables. Eat beans and nuts. You need some dairy.

Know what you are doing. Your diet cannot be haphazard. You cannot just eat smaller portions but eat whatever is in front of you. Have a list of the foods you eat and stick to it.

You need to know for a fact that you are staying within your calory limit and eating the right things. Otherwise, if you fail to lose weight, you will not know why.

See results. You need to see results. You should try to lose 1% of your weight per week. If you lose less than that, you are likely to give up. You will feel like you are going through a lot of effort and emotional pain for nothing. There is also the problem that if you weigh 300 pounds and lose 1 pound, you will not be able to tell.

You should weigh yourself every day. It will serve as a brutal reminder of your problem. In time, it will be the happiest moment of your day.

If you are the kind of person that tries to trick the scale by leaning one way or another, holding your breath or whatever, go ahead, do your worst, and write it down. You will have to beat it next week.

Forever. You need to be able to keep this up. It will not be easy, but it should be simple. It usually starts great. You lose quite a few pounds in the first week. Then it slows down, but you keep going.

Then your weight plateaus and you will think about giving up. It may be natural, and you need to wait it out, or it may be that you have become lax in your diet. You must keep your menu simple so that you know what you are doing. Watch your eating closely. You will start losing again.

And then, you reach your target weight. No, do not celebrate by eating out or gulping down a 1/2 gallon of ice-cream. That is not your fate. Add 200 calories to your daily diet and keep going. If you keep losing weight, after a month, add some more calories to your diet. When you start gaining weight, you need to back off a bit. Remember, this is a life sentence — no possibility of parole.

Six simple rules to guide your day and one cookie to break them all.


Keep It Simple [Stupid]

You need to keep your diet simple. If you come up with some complicated scheme involving a rotating schedule with percentages of this and milligrams of that, you will fail.

If you use an app, you will fail. If you try to record everything you eat, you will fail. If you do anything at all, you will fail.

Make your diet about doing nothing. Start by establishing a list of what you will eat, and only buy those things; do nothing else.

If you are not losing weight, it is because your list included ice-cream and cookies. If your list had only one item and the item was cabbage, I swear you would have lost weight. There are many other items you could add to your list. I go by the rule — if I like it, I can’t have it. (Not true, I like zucchini, onions, chicken, etc. Not as much as ice-cream though.)

If you have specific dietary requirements like low sodium or reduced cholesterol, you will need to check the labels and the food guides and identify what you can eat. Once you find foods that will work, stick to them. Having to fret over this will drive you and those around you crazy.

Complexity will also cause you to lose control of your diet. If it works, great. But, if it does not work, you will not know why you failed. There will be too many factors to consider.

Diets are more likely to fail because of how much you eat rather than what you eat. You need to know how much. You know you are eating mashed potatoes, but was that one cup, 2/3 of a cup, 1/2 a cup, or what?

The best approach is to eat foods you can eat tons of without worrying about it, e.g., lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, zucchini, onions, etc. The next best is to eat things that come in pre-measured portions, e.g., a yogurt cup. The hardest thing is to do is to eat food that you need to measure or weigh every time you eat it.

Dieting is hard; at least, make it simple.

Not easy does it. Simple does it.


Oh, to be a fanatic

I have often thought about how great it would be to be a fanatic. If I were only obsessed with fitness and health. I would follow the strictest diets with absolute discipline. I would fill every spare moment with the most brutal exercise programs I could find. I know people like that; I’m just not one of them.

None the less, I think there are things to be learned from people who obsessively pursue fitness goals.

  1. They are methodical; they have a routine. Sometimes I think they are the routine.
  2. They think and talk about it a lot. Just ask them, and then try to escape.
  3. It is integral to their personality; it is who they are.
  4. They are not ashamed of their struggle; it gives their life purpose.
  5. They confess their failures. They even exaggerate them.
  6. They never give up.

Don’t be a fanatic. Just act like one.


Sustainability

No, I am not talking about organically grown food, walking to the grocery store, or bringing your own bag. All beautiful things, no doubt. I am talking about being on a diet forever.

Once you accept that you will always need to control your eating, that you will always be on a diet, you start to see things differently. There are things you can do for a minute, a day, a week, maybe for a few months, possibly for a year. But, this is something you will have to do for the rest of your life.

You need to consider the following:

Cost. You have to be able to afford it. You cannot rely on expensive custom meals delivered to your doorstep or prepared for you by your personal chef; unless you can afford this, of course.

Availability. The ingredients must be readily and routinely available. Don’t come up with something that requires you to drive thirty miles to a local farm and pick yourself. It sounds fantastic, but you can’t keep it up. If you rely on seasonal ingredients, you better have preselected some alternatives and found a place to buy them.

Effort. The preparation has to be easy. Unless you have all the time in the world and would like to spend it cooking and, remember, you have to do this for the rest of your life, keep it simple.

Taste. You have to like your diet at least a little. I have accepted that I do not love my diet. I have accepted that there are many things that I want to eat but cannot. I do not, however, hate my diet. I can deal with it.

Forever is a long, long time.


Eating Family Style

Unless you live alone or live with someone with precisely the same diet requirements, you will have to come to some arrangement. Your family will have different diet preferences and possibly some additional health-related needs.

The problem lies in that if your children must have ice-cream, your spouse must have cookies, and everybody wants pizza, you will end up eating some too. Maybe you are a master of discipline, and you can resist all these things; I cannot.

My next statements may not be politically correct, but my suggestion is to make sure the compromise does not involve you giving an inch. Insist on everyone eating only what you can eat. They can eat more of it, but it must be the same food. You can call me an absolutist, but you can take dieting seriously or not. You want to die, or you do not. Your family loves you, or they don’t.

Who do you love?


Well, I tried, let’s talk about a compromise.

The science is on your side. A diet that is good for you is, at least in terms of ingredients, good for everyone else. Whether you are fighting diabetes or heart disease, or want to minimize your risk of cancer or dementia, or want to reduce inflammation, you will benefit from a diet high in green leafy vegetables, colored vegetables, fruit, nuts, and reduced animal products. You can sell this.

If members of your family require low sodium or reduced cholesterol diets, it will not hurt you to incorporate this into your diet.

Some will benefit from eating grains. However, grains are not great for losing weight. It may be something you have to accept. You will have to be strong and not raid the oatmeal box while everyone is sleeping. Staying away from bread may be more difficult.

All in all, dieting is incredibly difficult if you have things you should not eat around you all the time. In my case, I would not even try it.

It may seem extreme, but I have heard of families that keep evil foods in locked food storage containers. It would work for me; I would not resort to bold cutters or take a locksmith course.

Compromise, such an ugly word.


From Someone Who Knows, e.g., Not Me

In a recent article by Marham Heid, a health and science writer, he quotes Dr. David Ludwig, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, author of “Always Hungry?” and writer of a new “Viewpoint” paper published in August 2019, in the Journal of the American Medical Association:

In response to Heid’s question:

“Many people are confused about healthy eating. What’s your advice on how to eat healthy?”

Dr/ Ludwig said:

“ I advocate a “low glycemic load” diet — one that controls the surge in blood glucose and insulin after the meal. The way to achieve this is by cutting back on processed carbohydrates (refined grains, potato products, and sugar); increasing healthy fats, like nuts and nut butters, avocado, olive oil, and even dark chocolate; and having an adequate amount of protein, which can come from animal or plant-based sources. This approach involves a moderate reduction in total carbohydrates but still offers lots of flexibility in food choice. For people with diabetes, more severe restriction of carbohydrates may have additional benefits.”

No white food, please.


My Diet

I say “My Diet” because it is my diet. It works for me; it may not work for you.

None the less, it is good to have a working example. It is easier to start with something and modify it than to start from scratch. If nothing else, it may be a great example of what you do not want to do.

I live a hybrid life where I am very sedentary for four days a week, and I enjoy a selection of manual labor activities of varying intensities for three days a week. In my sedentary phase, I read, write, watch TV, listen to music, mostly sit, and take a nap in the afternoon. In my active phase, I take junk to the dump, do electrical repairs, hang drywall, dig holes, trim bushes, install appliances, and generally spend eight hours a day on my feet, moving around, or working on stuff in awkward positions.

Based on my life-style and past dieting experience, I try to run on a daily budget of 1200 calories to lose weight and up to 2000 to maintain it.

I am entirely OK with eating the same thing over and over. Now and then I get a craving for something else, but this is rare.

Breakfast. I eat one of two breakfasts every day. Sometimes I have an 80-calory greek yogurt cup, a banana, and coffee with half-and-half. Other times I skip the banana and have one slice of toast with tomato slices, onion slices, avocado, or some mix thereof.

Lunch. I mostly eat fruit and nuts, usually grapes, bananas, peaches, almonds, and peanuts. I have to be careful with the nuts because I tend to eat too many. Sometimes I will get crazy and eat one or two scrambled eggs and a slice of toast. Other times I will eat cheese instead of the nuts.

Dinner. I eat a few different dinners. My dessert is always fruit, sometimes with cheese.

  1. I eat pre-mixed salads from Costco about three or four times a week. I can eat about a third of the bag. I add pieces of chicken cut from a Costco rotisserie chicken’s breast (sounds cruel) or canned tuna (packed in water, of course).
  2. Artichokes, pressure cooked, dipped in mayonnaise. No, I will give up something else, but not the mayonnaise.
  3. Grilled vegetables. Usually, zucchini, cauliflower, asparagus, broccoli, and cabbage chopped and baked on the outdoor grill with a little avocado oil, salt, and pepper. Most often with grilled breast of chicken.
  4. Stir-frys. Cabbage, zucchini, asparagus, onions, etc. with chopped chicken breast.
  5. Turkey patties with grilled vegetables.
  6. Vegetarian lentils, pressure cooked.

Snacks. None. I just eat three times a day. I would like to make it two.

Drink. I drink a lot. I drink coffee with half&half, tea without sugar, diet soda, powdered mix drinks, and water. I have something to drink with me all the time.

A dietician once told me not to use artificial sweeteners and get used to going without so many sweet things. The diet soda and powdered drink mix will have to go.

I me mine. I me mine. I me mine.


Some General Comments on Diet

What NOT to eat — this part is easy, just two things:

  1. White things. Do not eat sugar, wheat, rice, potatoes, or corn.
    Don’t cheat; this also means that you cannot eat foods with other names for these things or those that contain refined versions of these things. It means bread, cookies, candy bars, ice-cream, corn-on-the-cob, tortilla chips, rice pudding, wild rice, maize, french fries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, pasta, etc. You get the idea; you cannot have anything that tastes good.
  2. Mammals. Do not eat cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, cats, deer, rabbits, monkeys, people, or any other mammals.
    This rule is not so much to lose weight but to lower your cholesterol and to be a good person. It will also help you lose weight since it will cut out a lot of animal fat and therefore calories.

Mammals look back at you with sad eyes.


What to eat — be creative, but be a minimalist. Pick a few things and get used to eating them often.

  1. Vegetables. You can eat tons of this stuff, and there are too many to mention. Just get things that are readily available and that you like. The “like” part is not necessary, but it helps. I read that dark green leafy vegetables and colored vegetables are best.
  2. Fruit. Eating fruit is excellent, but remember, if it tastes sweet, it has sugar. So, watch it.
  3. Nuts. Do eat nuts but a lot fewer than you want to; they have a lot of calories in a small package. I like mine salty, but I have high blood pressure, so sodium is a no-no.
  4. Dairy. Eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese. You need to eat these foods, but you also need to be careful with the calories. Some of you also need to watch for sodium, fat, and cholesterol content.
  5. Meat. If you must have meat, you can have birds and fish. Chicken and turkey are the obvious choices for birds. For fish, whatever Costco has, check the calories and cholesterol levels. I guess you could also try reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc.

More is better, volume not calories.

Joe DeVilla

Written by

Has-been. Will be dead.

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