Re: _Keeping it off_ book

Ignoramus13725 said:

It seems contradictory to me also. The hardcore normal people, like my
father in law, do not bother thinking about food at definitely do not
bother "actively managing their weight".

My husband is one of those people. He has a normal appetite and is a
healthy normal weight, and he doesn't turn something down "because I need
to maintain my weight", he simply will turn something down if he doesn't
*want* it.

Food does not reign supreme in his life. Oh for me to get to that point
someday. I have to be conscious still of portion size. I try always to
follow my husband's example.

"marengo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Ignoramus13725 wrote:

They are all very aware
| of their current weight and they actively manage it.

<snip>

They moved away from food obsessions and food takes little
| place in their life, which I cannot say yet about myself, although it
| has been getting a tad better later.

This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of

an

Quoted message said:

obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat. This is where I am
right now also; I hope that the day will come when I don't have to be

"very

Quoted message said:

aware of my current weight and actively manage it;" unfortunately, I

believe

Quoted message said:

that for many of us it's a lifetime of having to pay abnormabl attention

to

Quoted message said:

what we eat.

--
Peter
Before/Current Pix:
http://users.thelink.net/marengo/weightlosspix/weightlosspix.html

Wow! Looking good!

"marengo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

This seems contradictory to me. In reality, food has become even more of

an

Quoted message said:

obsession, only in a different way. If they are "very aware of their
current weight and actively mange it," they are still not able to live a
"normal" life without obsessing about what they eat.

I think the difference is in the mental attitude towards the scale and the
weight. When facing a weight gain, you have two solutions :
1) Watch the number as your jaw drop. Feel a huge feeling of dispair creep
in. Think that it can't be possible. Then :
1.a. Go into denial. This indeed can't be possible. Scale must be wrong or
broken or something. Stupid machine. Better never to use it again.
1.b. Go in full blown panic attack. This is it. This was too good to be
true. All these deprivations for NOTHING! Life sucks. F-word! I'm going to
drown myself in ice cream until it feels better.
1.b. Inflate the stuff. You have become obese again! You need to CORRECT
that! You decide to go on a fast for a few days, in order to lose the
balloon that has replaced your belly. Then, it will be veggies and white
fish only for several weeks. Got to beat that stupid body into compliance!
2) Take note of the new weight (that's the aware part) as a general data
about your life - like you would take note of back pain, running nose or
feeling tired. Wonder if you did anything special that could have caused
that small weight gain - and this is a small weight gain, nothing you can't
lose comfortably over a few weeks. You start going through some of your
weight loss routines again, the ones that seem to be in relation with the
cause of the weight gain. You watch your carbs a bit more, or you try to
focus a bit more on your hunger and satiety. If this was stress related and
you're really going through difficult times, you don't hide behind a tree,
and accept that either you have to face it, or you seek some help from a
therapist to go through the difficult times.

I think that's what they meant. Many dieters go through variations of 1),
though in less caricatural intensity. I think normal people are able to go
through 2) in an unconscious manner. Many are tuned enough to their body to
*feel* weight regain - they will feel a bit sluggish, unwell, heavy... Then,
they will do the corrections in an unconscious manner. Or it will hit
conscious level, but they handle it better since they don't go ballistic
about weight gain. That's all these people who notice a little weight gain,
and "eat a bit less".
It has been suggested that this is why exercising plays a major role in
*maintenance*, while its role in weight loss is less important. Beyond the
immediate effects (muscles growth, calories burn...), exercise makes you
aware of your body. If you run daily, you can *feel* weight gain early on.

Lictor wrote:
[...]

|| I think that's what they meant. Many dieters go through variations
|| of 1), though in less caricatural intensity. I think normal people
|| are able to go through 2) in an unconscious manner. Many are tuned
|| enough to their body to *feel* weight regain - they will feel a bit
|| sluggish, unwell, heavy... Then, they will do the corrections in an
|| unconscious manner. Or it will hit conscious level, but they handle
|| it better since they don't go ballistic about weight gain. That's
|| all these people who notice a little weight gain, and "eat a bit
|| less".

|| It has been suggested that this is why exercising plays a major role
|| in *maintenance*, while its role in weight loss is less important.
|| Beyond the immediate effects (muscles growth, calories burn...),
|| exercise makes you aware of your body. If you run daily, you can
|| *feel* weight gain early on.

That's an interesting idea. Who suggested this notion?

"Roger Zoul" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

That's an interesting idea. Who suggested this notion?

About exercising as a way to relate better to your body? I don't know who
had the original idea, but this is part of the set of ideas the nutritionist
I work with and her work group have. So, that's mainly French sources I'm
afraid, though I have no doubt this is a concept you can find in American
authors too.
They claim that even exercises that burn very little calories and build
little muscles (i.e. Yogo, Tai Chi or even massages...) can have benefits
for obeses, because of the increased level of body feelings. It can also
address the problem many ex-obeses have with their distorted body images
(the ones that still think they're fat), by allowing them to define their
own body from "within" (what they feel of it) rather than from the outside
(what they see in the mirror). They work with physical therapists (gestalt
therapy, shiatsu massage...) to explore that approach. This seems to give
positive results with people with a very bad relationship with their body.
I know my father, who is fairly well self-regulated, never speak in term of
weight, he doesn't even own a scale. He always speak in term of body
feelings - like feeling heavy or feeling like he has to drag the extra
weight around. He has always exercised regularly, either through his job
(construction working, harvests, acting) or sports (Judo,
swimming,push-ups)...
There is also the obvious action of exercise to reduce the stress level,
which can have a dramatic effect on compulsive eaters.
I think that considering exercise *only* as a way to balance out the
calories is looking only at the tip of the iceberg.