So, I ran into a friend of mine at the YMCA today. I see him from behind fairly often, as I walk past the treadmills that he so loves, but it’s been awhile since we chatted face to face.
There was something different about him. Hmmm. I could not, at first, figure it out.
Oh! There was less of him! That was it.
Paul has been carrying around an ever-growing belly for the past ten years, since he had to retire on disability after his macular degeneration rendered him unable to read. Even though he runs at the gym four or five days a week while closing in on his black belt in Karate, there’s been more of him every month.
“I lost 26 pounds since the holidays,” Paul proudly proclaimed.
“Wow,” I said. “I know you already run several miles a day and are constantly running through your karate workouts. What ELSE have you added to lose so much weight that fast?”
One thing, Paul explained: “I stopped drinking soda” (actually, he used the name of a specific brand, but I don’t want to diss a cultural icon in my blog). He’s spent a great deal of time in the past decade watching television and drinking soda all day – an average of 4 cans every day.
He changed NOTHING else in his diet or exercise regimen except that he swapped out soda for tap water. BOOM, he dropped 720 calories a day from his diet, and that has translated into the loss of one pound about five days. Like clockwork, he says – “it’s been falling off of me.”
Other bonuses, adds Paul, include, “I’m sleeping better at night, and my knee stopped hurting when I run.”
Fascinating. He is SO very happy.
My public rant:
Fact: the human body does not ‘register’ calories taken in liquid form the same way as when calories are consumed in solid food; food fills us up and invokes a “stop eating” response, where liquids do not. Thus high-calorie drinks like sodas, energy drinks, and high-fructose-infused juices are invisible to our systems. Yet a even a One-can-every-day habit (at 180 calories per can) means your body’s taking in 65,700 unregistered calories, translating into 18.7 pounds per year.
Think about it. Consider the No-Soda diet.
Remember, you heard about it here, first.
A different story, with a similar ending. My significant other, Jim had braces put on his teeth a couple of weeks ago.
You just can’t eat foods that are sticky or hard, when you’ve got braces, unless you want to visit the dentist weekly or have those wires on your teeth alot longer. (And this includes many sweeter foods as well.)
Jim, knowing this, is using his braces as an opportunity to trim down a bit, and . . . It’s clearly working. He’s been working out at the gym a couple of days a week too, which certainly helps.
Andrea, a funny connection to come back at you: I went back into braces (Invisalign) a couple years ago as my old teeth shifted from where we tried to put them in my teens. I was SOOOO much more conscious of food; since I could not eat with the alignment retainers in place, I had to be very deliberate in my eating. But I was still eating a lot of junk.
The first round of treatment did not quite get the job done, so now I’m back in braces for a few months, only this time I’m eating healthier. The combination of the two — awareness of eating in general, combined with a higher level of health-consciousness — has led to my losing four pounds in the past six weeks. It’s an incremental thing. Just like life: it’s all about the series of little changes.
Please tell Jim I sent him best wishes for a healthy transformation along w/ his teeth straightening! 🙂 J