It’s tough to lose weight when you do most of your business in restaurants.
That’s why, after stepping on the scale at my doctor’s office back in April, I decided to stop making excuses and get back in shape. But, as a time-pressed New Yorker who loves her carbs, I knew that wasn’t going to be easy. After all, who has the self-discipline to eat a low-cal salad while everybody else is having pasta or steak? And who’s got time to go to the gym every morning when your clients need you now?
Knowing myself as I do, I knew I wouldn’t last a day on Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Master Cleanse or The Zone Diet. Because, when it comes to following rules, the only rules I can stick to are my own. Which is probably why I dropped out of corporate America 20 years ago and have been working for myself ever since.
So what’s a self-employed, self-motivated, self-confessed non-dieter to do if she wants to lose 40 pounds and slim down to her fighting weight of 155 by the end of 2010?
Here are five rules I came up with, and they seem to be working for me:
Rule No. 1: Run toward restaurants, not away from them.
While this may seem counterintuitive, it actually makes sense. After all, you can’t reach your goal if you don’t have a destination and, unless you’re a confirmed masochist (which fortunately I am not), the prospect of depriving yourself of the joy of eating just doesn’t seem like a goal worth striving for. So instead of condemning myself to a lifetime of protein shakes and nukable entrees, I decided to set a goal that would really motivate me–a nice big plate of linguine topped with seafood and marinara sauce. The catch: I’ve got to earn that high-calorie meal by walking three miles a day and/or exercising for at least an hour. Will I work for food? You’d better believe it.
Rule No. 2: Ask yourself if that Milky Way bar is worth the hike.
While I gave up McDonald’s a long time ago, I couldn’t seem to kick my addiction to Coke. Any time I needed something quick to pick me up before a big meeting, I’d reach for a can and tell myself that this would be the last one. Then there were those early-morning espressos with three (or even four) packets of sugar that I told myself I needed to wake up my brain. And yes, there were the Milky Way Bars I grabbed because I didn’t have time for lunch. Anyway, I dropped those “friends” two months ago and–surprise!–found that I didn’t even miss them. Now I drink unsweetened iced tea with Splenda when I go out and wolf down an 8-oz. bottle of Poland Spring after a workout or a hike. Sure, I’ll treat myself to something sweet once in a while (like the amazing gelato at that ice cream store on Bleeker Street)–as long as I’m prepared to walk it off.
Rule No. 3: Put on your shoes one sneaker at a time.
Like most New Yorkers, I love to walk. But how fast was I really going in low heels and Birkenstocks? Not very. And those casual strolls from Restaurant A to Restaurant B just weren’t burning all the carbs I was consuming. So a month ago when I got serious about walking, I fished out an old pair of New Balance sneakers from the closet of my house in Long Island and laced them up. It’s amazing how much faster you can walk with a little ankle support and some spring in your step. Recently, I walked the 1.3 miles from my apartment in the Village to Penn Station in 22 minutes–and that was with a backpack that contained a pretty heavy purse. Not bad for an out-of-shape Girl Scout leader who’s pushing 50!
Rule No. 4: Eat only food that your grandmother would recognize.
I never paid much attention to where my food came from or what was inside it. As long as it tasted good, I ate it. But then I read an eye-opening book by nutrition writer Michael Pollan called In Defense of Food. Rather than eat the processed foods that have made the agro-industrial complex rich, Pollan believes that the best diet is one that our grandparents would have recognized–mostly fruits and vegetables with some healthy fish, meats and oils thrown in. Some of my favorites: Bananas, green apples, seafood salad and hard-boiled eggs. I’m getting hungry already.
Rule No. 5: Don’t do anything that you can’t do tomorrow, next week and every day for the rest of your life.
My last rule (though I’m sure I’ll come up with more) is not to deny myself any food or put myself on any exercise regimen that I can’t realistically sustain. The last thing I want to do is lose 40 pounds, brag about it on this blog, then land on the cover of People magazine like poor Kirstie Alley. Would I lose more weight a lot faster if I spent six hours a day at the gym and went cold turkey on carbs? Probably. Am I likely to do that every day for the rest of my life? You gotta be kidding me.
Remember: The best rules are the rules that work for you. Don’t let anyone take away your God-given right to eat a hot fudge sundae any time, anywhere you want!
This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
