Oh, so that's what bon-bons are. :P I figured they were like twinkies or something. I don't really eat sweets though; my fatal flaw has always been fatty fried fatty fat grizzle southern double-dipped fry food with extra crispy fried crispies. :P
But I've actually lost my taste for that too in the past year or so.. to some extent anyway.
Well, I don't have any other medical conditions except being overweight and having a slight back problem from my car accident. My knees are a little sore if I do vigorous exercising, but it's not pain and it's entirely from being overweight, my doctor thinks. My blood pressure is normal to low-normal, and I have a healthy level for cholestrol. With my back, I can basically do anything I want, it just hurts if I do it for a long time without taking a break or stretching. The only medication I'm taking is erythromycin, an antibiotic 2 times a day, which I've been taking for a few months. I don't take any other medicine.
During the winter I use a gazelle and a stationary bike, alternating times for about 20-30 minutes on average, combined, depending on how my schedule is like that day. On Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I do 40 minutes total split between the two machines. I limit them to 20 minutes tops because after that I get some back discomfort, but I'm trying to push this limit to 30 now. I also walk a mile about 3 days a week. I plan to get a pedometer and add in the whole 10,000 steps/day routine too though, maybe with a treadmill if I can find one that's not an absurd land yacht in size and price. :P
During the summer I do a bunch of stuff though, ranging from bike riding to using a push-mower on my giant yard (it takes 4 hours to do the whole thing!). I also do more walking, usually twice as much. But I am hoping to possibly add in basketball and maybe start jogging. In the summer, I do about 45-60 minutes of activity a day.
I wrote up a summary of the major diet changes I've had since I started to tackle my weight problem:
Prior to car accident in '99: No diets, but martial arts 3 times a week for 2 hours each session.
(~160-170 max).
After Car accident '99 to August '02 : Regular stuff. Fast food mainly.
(~270-280ish)
July '02 - October '03: Atkins.
(220 to ~215) I lost all the weight by thanksgiving, and then stayed at 220-215 until October '03.
October - March '04: Nothing special.
(~230 to 235 tops)
March - August '04: 1200/day low-calorie, low-fat nutritionist supervised.
(225)
September - October '04: junk/fast food!
(~235)
November: home-cooked foods, brief 2 week dip into atkins.
(~235)
December '04 - Today: calories = 1500, diabetic exchange
(~227)
So my ticker says I've lost so much weight, but that's since Atkins. I've lost 8 pounds with the low-calorie stuff - which isn't bad! I'm just worried I'll hit 220 and get stuck and discouraged.
I have three doctors - two general practitioners and one nutritionist. The nutritionist won't tell me how many calories I should eat (she doesn't want me to focus on calories, I think), she just gives me the diabetic exchange bubble sheet and sends me on my way. My main doctor wants me to get gastric bypass, and that's her only suggestion. Useless. But after I introduced the idea of Medifast/Optifast, she said it might be an option, but she is so gung-ho for gastric bypass, it's insane. My other doctor doesn't really know anything about weight problems, and she only says "That phen-phen is bad stuff." Very helpful.
I'm getting a third doctor this month, I hope. Perhaps this one will test me for hormone imbalances or figure something else out.