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This is just the experience of me, one person, no data to support my experience...but, I found I gained weight when I moved from CA to a hot climate, too. Before, I would walk everywhere, hiked quite a bit, and ate a lot of Asian food based on low carbs, high vegetables--it was readily available and cheap to buy. Then I moved to the land of fried foods and hush puppies. And wonderful bbq. Fried chicken. Cheese biscuits. And I found them good. And I ate them. And I quit exercising so much. Too hot. Or so I told myself. And I gained weight. Which I didn't like. Which didn't make me feel very lively at all.
So?
I modified my diet, reduced my carbs, and eliminated all fried foods from my diet.
Learned to cook lots of vegetarian meals, mostly simple ones, based on steamed vegetables or vegetarian stews/soups...I used some small amounts of chicken and fish, but very little red meat. Sometimes a bit of pork if I'm doing a stir-saute (like a stir fry but using water instead of oil).
And I'm lucky to live in an area with adequate gym facilities, and I joined one and go 3-4 times a week. And I ride my bike around town except when it hits the 90's...I find exercising doesn't make me hungrier than normal, but more thirsty. And it's water I drink.
So I think environment and the regional cuisine does play a role in fitness and weight. But look at some of the other hotter regions in the world such as Thailand and India. And their way of eating. Mostly vegetable-based. Not huge hunks of fried animal protein. And I suspect their caloric intake is much, much lower than ours. And they're, for the most part, slender.
Look at Colorado, the leanest state. It's an environment where people are very into outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, mountain biking and such. A hot, sticky climate doesn't encourage this kind of activity.
Some of my contemporaries in my age group here in this hot place are overweight to varying degrees and few go to the gym. Some of them are having knee replacements and hip replacements...some are diabetic and have high blood pressure.
It takes an effort and a lot of discipline to fly in the face of the way of eating and cuisine of the region in which you live.
But I've found that a low carb diet, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables and non-fried foods has helped me lose the excess weight I gained and to keep it off. It's not a diet, it's a way of eating that will be forever--the way I used to eat before I moved here and sampled too much of the regional food.
The exercise makes me feel good in many ways--lower stress, lower blood pressure, more muscle tone, fewer aches and pains...does it help me keep the weight at bay? Hard to say. I combine it with a new forever way of eating and I'm sure the two work in tandem.
Seems to me you're doing a good job in what you've said. Created exercise at home and are exploring a low carb way of eating. I think a big culprit in our weigh gain are those hidden calories we eat in snack foods...a few chips here, or popcorn with butter, or a cookie or two or three, orice cream...I say "junk food equals junk health."
Replacing those snack foods with a cut up apple, some grapes or other fruits or vegetables really helps. No snack foods beyond pretzels enter my house...I've no discipline with having them around...I gobble them all up in a short time...and I avoid all drinks like soda or fruit juice that contain artificial ingredients or high fructose corn syrup...I drink lots of water.
So I think you're on the right track and I admire your discipline in investing in home exercise equipment.
It would also help if you could find a buddy also interested in personal wellness so you could support one another...support is so important to our success.
It would also help if you could find a buddy also interested in personal wellness so you could support one another...support is so important to our success.
I've heard this recommendation before and I'm not so sure this is a good idea. Here's why. If you find a buddy to work out with, you may convert that (maybe subconsciously) into a dependency or requirement. What may happen is that if your buddy can't work out, then that's an excuse for you not to work out. Also, a workout buddy requires coordinating two schedules and such. Finally, for distance workouts (like running or cycling), you'd have to be lucky for both buddies to have the same pace.
Bottom line, we rarely see people working out with buddies unless it is for something like tennis or basketball or something for safety like cycling.
I modified my diet, reduced my carbs, and eliminated all fried foods from my diet.
Look at Colorado, the leanest state. It's an environment where people are very into outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, mountain biking and such. A hot, sticky climate doesn't encourage this kind of activity.
But I've found that a low carb diet, with an emphasis on fresh fruits and vegetables and non-fried foods has helped me lose the excess weight I gained and to keep it off. It's not a diet, it's a way of eating that will be forever--the way I used to eat before I moved here and sampled too much of the regional food.
Seems to me you're doing a good job in what you've said. Created exercise at home and are exploring a low carb way of eating. I think a big culprit in our weigh gain are those hidden calories we eat in snack foods...a few chips here, or popcorn with butter, or a cookie or two or three, orice cream...I say "junk food equals junk health."
Replacing those snack foods with a cut up apple, some grapes or other fruits or vegetables really helps. No snack foods beyond pretzels enter my house...I've no discipline with having them around...I gobble them all up in a short time...and I avoid all drinks like soda or fruit juice that contain artificial ingredients or high fructose corn syrup...I drink lots of water.
Me and my boyfriend fairly recently cut ALL high fructose corn syrup out of our diet. Well, we also cut most corn products out of our diet as well. We are also working on getting rid of processed sugars/flours as well, although that is much harder to come by. It was tough at first, but we're doing okay
So far, we have a HUGE increase in energy, sleep much better and feel better about our diets in general. Plus, I've lost 10 lbs and counting
Wow you are real inspiration! I think I'll just stop all my efforts now. You are like the polar opposite of a motivation speaker!!! LOL!!! Forgot to take your prozac today.
Dietary Puritanism. If it tastes good, its bad. If its grueling and unpleasant, do daily.
Wow you are real inspiration! I think I'll just stop all my efforts now. You are like the polar opposite of a motivation speaker!!!
I think it was Lou Holtz, coach of the great Notre Dame football teams of the 1980s that responded when someone complimented him on being a great motivator:
"I am not a great motivater; I'm just good at weeding out people who can't motivate themselves."
Yes. However, this is the fact about a low carb eating plan. You either have to make a commitment to stay on one in some sort of a low carb maintenance stage...as a lifestyle choice.
OR you can use a low carb plan to reach your goal weight but you MUST ease off of it VERY SLOWLY and PRECISELY. You can't just go back to eating a lot more carbs over night.
Let's say you've been doing a low carb plan at 40 carbs daily max for 6 months now. You've reached your goal weight and now want to maintain but you know you don't want to stay on such a strict plan. Well first decide what your max amount of carb intake preference is.
Let's say you decide that it will be 400 carbs a day - still lower than most people in carb intake but it is a moderate and -very- doable eating lifestyle many can commit too (and in many instances...SHOULD). This decision might be based on your understanding of your own body and what you need to still have some control over food addictions and cravings but with openness in food choices.
Well you don't start eating 400 carbs overnight. Your body needs to adjust slowly to small increases in daily carb intake over time. You might add a serving more of fruit, legumes or whole grains to your daily breakfast or lunch to move into a range of 50-55 carbs a day rather than your usual 40. You must now stay at the 50-55 range for awhile...several weeks.
Continue to definitely exericse as usual and drinks lots of water. Your next increase period should move you into the 60-65 carb range. Stay with this also for a good while until your body adjusts.
Keep on increasing in SLOW STEADY increments with several weeks in between until you reach your desired carb intake plateau which in this example was 400 carbs daily (either 350-400 or 400-450).
Once you do, you can maintain here and live a life where you can eat what you want, but definitley have boundaries and respect moderation so that you can continue to keep your weight down, stabilized and healthy without feeling deprived and limited.
That is the way to ease off of a general low carb eating plan. Most people find this incredibly difficult to do because once they get hold of foods they've been abstaining from for so long, they go apesh*it and fall into carb overload overnight or just in a couple of weeks...especially if they have a history of *compulsive overeating disorder or *binge eating.
*If there's a history of these things, weight maintenance is not just about exercise and carb intake. It is about EMOTIONAL CHANGE - learning how to cope without using food as a painkiller or sedative. Low carb diets when done correctly and with behavior modification techniques all the while, can get a food addict to learn how to function daily without having to depend on excess food (especially sweets and starches) for emotional support. During restriction and abstinence, use the time to find OTHER WAYS to cope with emotions or just learn how to face RAW emotions without running away or "escaping" because the pain/discomfort can't be handled. Feel the pain and learn how to cope better -to grow and evolve. Recognize instances of black and white thinking, guilt trips and self cons...all traits people with food addiction suffer with and show. Have realistic expectations if you slip or binge and get right back on the horse.During low carbing, do NOT look at resrticted foods as BAD or NEVER. Look at them heathily as NOT NOW but LATER IN MODERATION. Relationship with food must be positive in order to emotionally change and cope better. During the first stages of carb restriction food and carb addicts will face actual withdrawal symptoms which will present a bona fide struggle. Stick with this and move through it. Again use behavior modification throughout the "training". OA (overeaters anonymous) uses an eating plan (initially) similar to many low carb diets to get overeaters to focus on emotions rather than food.
Patience and discipline and most importantly education is needed to come off of a low carb eating plan safely and effectively.
Otherwise look to gain all the weight back (and oftentimes that and more) and putting your body in stress, shock and dysfunction.
Low carb plans aren't for everyone. People should regard their health limitations, conditions and body types before going on one either as a temporary way to teach yourself how to temper sugar and excess carb addiction or as a conduit to eventually settling on a moderate carb intake lifestyle.
Wow you are real inspiration! I think I'll just stop all my efforts now. You are like the polar opposite of a motivation speaker!!! LOL!!! Forgot to take your prozac today.
ignore Charles, he's quite the pessimist
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