I'm a whole grain/brown pasta/rice/bread person only. I didn't mind the switch, although when I eat asian cuisine I much prefer white rice. A lot of italian restaurants will now sub whole wheat pasta, but I don't know how good the quality is.

Also, my father has always cooked with whole wheat pasta so I was used to it. Like Julie, I also prefer the texture. Unfortunately, I have to limit my intake due to sensitivity, but when I do cook with it it's always "brown".

Oh man. I just discovered basmati recently and I'm in love. The texture is awesome, the flavor is awesome, the calorie count is lower and I'm not as sensitive to it. It actually fills me up.

I'll have to look for the basmati brown rice. I bet the health food section has it in the bulk grains. Thanks for the tip.

I'm with you on the whole grains in breads. Except for french and sourdough, I don't think I've purchased a loaf of white bread since my early 20's. Oh except at harvest bread company...their white bread is to die for, but only as an occassional treat. And fortunately I don't have a harvest bread company near me. I did get my recipe for seedy wheaty bread from copying theirs though. It has lots of different seeds in it and is really wonderful.

I bought some whole grain black jasmine rice (it's actually a dark purple when cooked)/ I bought it to make thai sticky rice (where it's boiled, discarded and then glutinous rice is boiled in the purple water). It's only purpose is to make the glutinous rice "pretty" (I think to simulate an actual purple rice that you can't easily get in the U.S.).

I've never made the sticky rice, and I haven't tried the black rice yet either. I wasn't even sure it was good to eat (as I'd been told it wasn't), but at the Hmong/Thai restaurant we often go to, they don't throw out the cooked purple/black rice, but incorporate some of it into the sticky rice for a nice chewy texture. Although the owner told me you can't use too much of the black cooked rice if you're making it for sticky rice, or the rice won't stick.

It's made me less hesitant to try the purple rice on it's own. As much as I love sticky rice, I've decided not to make it at home. I would eat far too much of it.

I totally agree- I hate the whole "eat less and move more."

That did NOT work for me- I actually was down to 1200 calories a day and totally starving myself and didn't move- sure at first I went down a few pounds- then that was it- NOTHING. I gave that up and ended up gaining 35 pounds during college. I started at 155 and ended at like 190! Getting married packed on another 30 freaking pounds UG- my hubby loves fast food but haha not anymore too bad for him. It's funny over the holiday we went to taco bell and he was like omg I can't remember the last time I went to taco bell!

I do the fat smash now- and before my lunch would be a lean cuisine and a yogurt- now my lunches consist of a meat (usually chicken), veggies, brown rice or lentils, and water.

I look at my co-workers lunch and it's always a sandwich on white bread, chips, cookies, and so on. They look at my lunch like wow looks good lol.

Today my lunch was a huge bowl of lentil soup and a two tangerines, water to drink, and normally I'd have a third item- but I brought a large portion of lentil soup so I wasn't worried (that and I need to go shopping today lol).

I hate when the "thin ones" would say "just eat less" and I'm like uh that doesn't work smart ***....

I found that I wasn't eating enough during the day and also wasn't really paying attention to what I was eating.

I started my food journal and it was great cuz I realized I was eating 2100-2300 calories a day! No wonder I wasn't losing! Now with my log book I'm averaging like 1800 calories a day, and losing 1-2 lbs a week :)

I always give people details on what I do- and the ones who say they can't I just say well sorry but there is no magic cure to weight loss.

THOUGH I've heard about those Vitamin B injections- they work- but if you don't learn how to eat you'll just gain it all back I'm assuming. :(

Sometimes I eat whole grain foods, other times I don't. I eat brown rice at home, but I will have white rice out. I just don't eat more than 1/2 cup of it, regardless! I cannot stand whole wheat pasta--I'd rather eat cardboard. I don't do that well with whole wheat products in general.

There are many things I would do for a fresh loaf of San Francisco Sourdough... :drool:

It's possible to make food choices so hard that one ends up backed into a corner and unable to eat anything without feeling bad about it. Is that any way to live? I don't think so. I do think it's good to eat whole grains and fresh foods as much as possible, organic even! But not if it becomes oppressive.

recidivist, if you have the time and energy to start making your own bread, that's great. If you don't, then manage however you can! It's OK! :) :hug:

Jay

oh I googled "flax bread" and a ton of recipes came up I think I'll be trying this one:

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/bre...axbasicfoc.htm

I've got the time and energy, it's the kneading and rising that's a problem. I have bad shoulders and sometimes can barely stand to carry the weight of my arms, let alone try to knead a dense bread. Too dense for a bread machine. I've broken several of them trying. And when I make bread it's very dense and hard to knead. And my house is usually too cold for the yeast to work properly. Although I am using some small oil filled heaters that I might be able to rig up a way to put the rising dough near them. I'm going to have to do that today, because I really do need more whole grains in my diet and that's the best way to do it.

For those who do like to make their own bread, here's my recipe for seedy wheaty bread. It's not exact, as I just estimated based on some other recipes and you may need to change liquids to get the right consistency.

2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups warm water (or more as needed)
3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup seed mixture
2 tsp salt

seed mixture (I mix up a big batch of this and keep it in the freezer):
raw sunflower seeds
raw pumpkin seeds
chopped walnuts
poppy seed
flax seed
fennel seed
caraway seed
buckwheat
rolled oats

Well now I just talked myself into it. I have to see if I can make some rolls today. Even if they are hard little bricks, I can make myself eat them.:D

I use a bread machine for the dough setting then shape and bake my own.

I do use whole grain whenever possible, but I always have. I was raised that way. MTA: on pasta I use the Barilla plus. I liked some brands of whole wheat fine, but my dh did not and this was our compromise.

Personally, I think the reason why people can get a little peeved by people using phrases like "Eat less, more move." is because it's a platitude and people hear platitudes all the time. It's something so cliche and overused that it can lose it's meaning. Or people can respond to something like that like "Ok, that's all well and good but what should I eat less of? What kind of movement should I do more of?" etc etc with all kinds of questions because it is so easy to just say something like that but if they don't give specific examples it can seem like they're callously saying it and those who are being told it can take it the wrong way. I think it's really important for people who use sayings like that to be able to back it up with examples so it doesn't seem like they're brushing it off and it seems like there's some actual thought and concern behind it which I think is something that overweight people need or if they have gone through the process before have a better understand of.

I'd say 90%. I actually prefer the brown/whole grain versions now. The regular versions taste gummy to me.

I'm trying to think of the last time I ate non-whole grain.

I had sourdough loaf with my salad at the deli last week. And I had a few bites of white rice when DH and I went to PF Chang's a few weeks ago (right after T'giving). But it wasn't really what I was in the mood for, and I stuck with my shrimp and broccoli for the most part.

I honestly really do eat about 90% to 95% whole grains and brown rice.

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I think simple sayings are simple for a reason. They're shorthand. Once you've spent months or years losing weight and finding what works for you, a short, simple saying is a quick reminder for you. On the other hand, when you're new or struggling with something, you need details and options to explore. Short and sweet isn't what you need. But short and sweet is perfect later on, and keeps you on track.

I don't think they're meant to be all you need to know to lose weight. They're meant to highlight the bottom line.

But of course, that won't stop people from telling you that's all you need to know. Maybe they don't know better, maybe they mean to be insulting (perhaps subconsciously), maybe they want to help and don't know what else to say. Maybe it just works really well for them and they don't realize everyone is different. It is certainly hard to struggle so much with something and be misunderstood.

Often I think the problem with plattitudes is that they're such shorthand, that there's little real truth or helpfulness in them, because often the opposite plattitude is just as true.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Out of sight, out of mind

And some of the diet plattitudes are just as open to interpretation, misinterpretation, and exceptions to the rule, or cases that don't fit it.

Still, I don't think that it's generally productive to get upset when folks spout plattitudes. There are a lot of reasons they do. Sometimes just to fill dead air space - when people don't know what to say, they often use plattitudes (think of some of the crazy stuff people say at funerals - my MIL was told "at least you've got your dogs" after her husband died). Sometimes because the "long answer" would take weeks to explain. And yes, sometimes even in condescension.

Weight loss is complicated, and we want it simple. But, can you imagine asking a physicists in casual conversation at the bus stop to explain "how physics works," in the five minutes it will take for the bus to arrive.

Sustainable weight loss cannot be condensed into a sound bite. Asking how a person lost 50 lbs, might be the equivalent of asking an architect how he learned to design buildings. What exactly do you want to know, how much detail do you want, and how much time do you have? Do you want the five minute answer, or the 8 year graduate degree version? And if you're getting the five minute answer, you need to realize that it probably isn't going to give you all the information you need to start designing your own skyscrapers.

There is not one thing that I eat or don't eat 100% of the time. There is no way for me to explain "my plan" in one sentence or 10. There are almost always exceptions to my hardcore, steadfast, rules.

BTW, I have never eaten whole grain pasta. Never, not once. I eat pasta sooooo infrequently, that when I do have it, it's the regular white stuff. And the few times that I have had it, I did not practice "moderation".

I eat whole grain about 75% of the time. I always eat whole wheat bread and cereal, but I do not eat wholegrain pasta. However, I have pasta about once a month or less. Rice is mostly brown, but if I'm making Thai curry I use regular basmati. When I'm out, I eat whole grain or brown rice if available, but if not I do not sweat it. I eat 1/2 a cup as my serving so that much white rice is not going to kill me.

As for the platitudes, I have found that a lot of people out and about ask the question, "What did you do to lose so much weight?" However, when I actually give a detailed answer to, say, the checker at the grocery store who recently asked me, they don't want to listen when you tell them you, yes, actually count calories and eat mostly whole foods and do 45 minutes of cardio every day and strength train 3x a week. And often, they say, "Well what are you doing now that you're done?" Except, I'm not done. I won't be done -- I'll never be done because this is forever, and so I say I am doing pretty much the same thing but I've added some more calories to stop my weight loss. Just about then their eyes glaze over and they stop listening or say, "I can't live on a diet for the rest of my life!" And when you say this is not a diet, they say things like "You are eating salad everyday for lunch...that is a diet! I need something I can do for the next ____ number of weeks so I can lose weight for my daughter's wedding/class reunion/fill in the blank." So I find myself using platitudes...not as simple as eat less, move more...but close, because it is really hard to explain that this is a life change not a quick fix...and a lot of people don't want a life change, they want a quick fix. We live in the ultimate "quick fix" society.

It doesn't take in the complexitites of a lot of people's relationships with food. Sometimes I think, if only I could simplify my thoughts down to that, how much more at peace would I be!

There's a magic pill for everything, don'tcha know? ;)

Magic pills? I need me some of those... :D

I get asked ALL the time how I lost the weight. All the time. My stock one line answer is, and yes it IS just one little line, "I eat really, really well and exercise often". Yes, it's a tiny sentence, but I think that sums it up nice and neatly. There are people who are scared off right away and I OFTEN get the same type response as Schumeany does, and those who want to hear more. The ones that want to hear more details, usually get scared off pretty quickly thereafter. The thought of preparing ahead of time, counting calories, all that cooking, packing up lunches and snacks and so on, the thought of physcial activity most days of the week - they say "I could NEVER do that. I could NEVER live like that. I want to enjoy my life". At that point I usually want to SCREAM, but somehow keep it in check. I say something to the affect of, "Do you really think I'm not enjoying my life now? I LOVE the foods that I eat. Love em'. It's no hardship."

As far as why I don't eat whole grains, is because I don't (hardly) ever eat any grains. Grains for me, of any type is a real, real rarity. I don't do well with them. I overeat them. They are not satifying and they bring on too many cravings. Not even the whole wheat variety. So be it. Oy. And when people hear that one, it's always, "but I LOVE bread". And I say, "so do I. But it doesn't work for me. I LOVE it, but IT doesn't love ME."

Whenever I hear that one, I think of Oprah Winfrey. She's said many times, that "believe me, if there were a magic pill, I wouldv'e had it. I've got lots of money and trust me, I would have found it."

Something else comes up to me on this topic. Not a magic pill, per se', but a "secret" that I was unaware of. I was recently doing some writing (prompted by a thread here, started by junebug). Anyway I believe I wrote something like this:

The biggest secret of all, the biggest thing not one single person ever told me. The big secret I wasn't privy to was:

That I had the ability to lose the weight the whole time. The whole time! I, *me* was acutally capable of it. Who knew? I didn't. No one ever told me. Soooo glad I finally figured it out on my own.

This is so true and the reason that I didn't even try for so many years. I had so many excuses, reasons why I couldn't - shouldn't even try. And society always had lots of validation of my excuses constantly flashing before me.

I have enjoyed reading this thread - there has been much good discussion here. I have little insight to add to the wisdom already shared.

Jay - I appreciate your highlighting that there should be joy on this journey. And I appreciate EVERYONE that helped me understand that it IS a journey - not a diet - that this is a change in my lifestyle - not something that I could / should do until I hit my goal. Maintenance was a whole new concept for me.

With that information in hand early on, the changes I made were very different from any previous attempt at losing weight. I gave up nothing - that is no food became taboo. Portion control and balance became my focus. This "carbaholic" needed to learn that fats (healthy fats) were important. That she needed more protein and more fiber as well. That vegetable is not a four letter word. Once I learned to balance my eating - food cravings, emotional and mindless eating became a thing of the past. Once I learned to balance my life (and exercise was an important component that was missing), the rest fell into place.

When people ask, my short answer is usually "calorie counting, exercise, and prayer". If they ask for more information, I explain about balance - that balance in everything seems to be the "key" for me. Balancing body, mind, and Spirit - balancing my eating, work, activity, respite time. The idea that I could/should take time for each of these things, that others might suffer because I was taking time from them was a difficult one to comprehend for me. I finally "got it" - that I HAD to balance my time and efforts in a way that devoted enough time to ME.

Learning balance and taking joy in each step of the journey is the new trick that this "old dog" finally learned.

That is so close to my answer "I eat super healthy most of the time and I exercise a lot." ;) Whaddya know?
I've learned to toss out this quick answer for a few reasons. 1) I think many people are casually curious and don't really want to hear the gritty details. 2) People who REALLY want to know will either press me for details and then ask specific questions or press me for details and then go into a litany of excuses. Excuses make me impatient. 3) My specifics work FOR ME but they might not work for other people anyway.

My usual answer is something along the lines of "I eat well and exercise." I don't usually get the excuses or the "I can't do that." I usually get some kind of nod and mmm-hmm that says, "Yeah. I knew that was the answer." More resignation than objection.

I do know one guy who keeps asking me if I'm still on a diet, because he likes to provide food (pizza, shakes, cookies). I keep telling him, I'll always be eating well, *and* I can eat anything, if I want. But it seems to go in one ear and out the other. The next time I talk to him, he'll be wanting to bring some junk food and asking me if I'm still on a diet :)

This has been such an awesome thread!

I could not agree with you more about people not being interested in the very last detail. By giving a shorter answer I'm giving them an easy out of what they really wanted to know, which is "what diet did you use". They very much want to hear a simple answer because they want a simple solution, which at least for me wasn't really the case. Explaining my "plan" is kind of complicated and yes, excuse inducing. I scared off my fair share of interested parties this way. And to your third point, this is so true. So true. I began this journey in a very unconventional way and it took me a while to realize that my practice wouldn't work for everyone and some people probably wondered where I got my crazy hat.

You know, my BIL actually does want to know every last detail. At least in a way. He keeps asking me to lay out a menu plan for him. I keep brushing it off. Create his whole menu plan??? What do I know about a menu plan for an ex-marine who is probably 6'sumthin" 250+ pounds??? Who is a big meat eater (he hunts and has a deer head hanging in his garage) while I'm vegetarian??? Whose dinner recipes that I provide will just be work for my overworked sister (like I would do that to her)!!!

I didn't mean that to sound like I was mad, it's more flabbergasted :dizzy: Maybe I'm just frustrated that there isn't anything simple I can do to help him. Because I'd like to help. But the truth is most of my life went on hold while I learned how to do this and worked on it full time. Each person has to reach the point where it means *that* much to them if necessary.

:lol: at your BIL

My life went on hold as well and you're right. You can't determine when someone else is going to be ready to do that. And do they want to hear that anyway? Everyone has to find out for themselves.

Adding in that "most of the tiime" part isn't a bad idea. In fact, I think I will incoporate that into my one line phrase. It still sums it up nice and neatly and lets people know that I do allow myself the occasional treat. Or perhaps I will just say, I eat really, really well 95% of the time - and exercise often. If I add in the 95% part or the most of the time, then maybe people won't think I'm SUCH a freak. Maybe then they'll only think I'm a partial freak. ;)

That is the very reason I want to eat healthy and lose weight. I want to enjoy my life. Can't say I'm enjoying it now when I'm obese and in pain all the time.

I love this thread. It's all so true. And my answer is much the same as everyone elses. A lot of times I'll throw in something like "I stopped eating so much junk food." or "I started lifting weights and it made a real difference." But most of the time people really really don't want the details.

OTOH, I think I'd enjoy the challenge of creating a menu for my BIL or someone else. But I love to cook and I love to experiment with food. I think it would be fun to see if I could put together a healthy menu with reasonable calories and macros for someone else - and make it about food that they enjoyed and were capable of cooking. It would be a challenge, I think.

I wouldn't want to do it for them forever, but as a way to get them started and see what was possible ... I think it would be fun. :)

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I think what people are really wanting (desperately) to know is how to transition from wanting to doing. How do you translate desire into action?

Of course, there really is no answer but that you do it, by doing it (Yoda's "do or do not, there is no try")

I do think that because so few people succeed, there's a lot of people who believe that there's some secret hidden path, but the fact there are thousands of paths, but to get to your destination you've got to actually be moving in the direction you want to go, not just looking at the paths and finding reasons why you can't take this one or that one.

I think that most of my life, I did look at weight loss as being set apart from other goals in my life, but I'm seeing that it really isn't. There are a lot of things in life that are difficult, goals that are easy to postpone and find reasons not to pursue. There are a lot of things people want to be, actors, athletes, musicians, doctors, writers, braver, thinner, more active, more organized ... but you don't get to become any of those things just by wanting them, you've got to keep the goal in front of you, always and move in the direction that will get you there.

A lot of people get sidetracked on all sorts of paths in life, and weight loss isn't any different. I think that helped me realize that weight loss is possible - because it isn't any different than of all the other things in life I wanted, and DID accomplish or obtain. Oh, it's definitely one of the more difficult things, as I think getting my graduate degree was a cake walk compared to weight loss, but I've never been afraid of doing difficult things. But in the past, weight loss didn't just seem difficult, it seemed impossible and torturous and frightening and intimidating - and success and failure (whether I achieved it, or saw someone else achieving it) always seemed magical rather than tied directly to what I was doing (mostly because I had unrealistic expectations as to how weight loss worked. I expected to see results on the scale immediately and more consistently than is physically possible).

This could be a good job opportunity for someone who has done it for themselves.

Maybe one way to respond, when asked how you did it, is to not only say "eat better, move more", but also say "jump into the shallow end first, not the deep end".

Maybe some of those who are wanting to but afraid, might be convinced if they didn't feel they had to take the high dive into the deep end when they barely know how to swim.

I like your words too though...get on the path...it doesn't matter how fast you travel, as long as you are moving in the direction you want to go. The longer you are on the path, the easier it gets (meaning you get lighter and stronger from weight loss and strength training, so it's an easier hike than when you started).

People who are afraid to even get out and walk every day. If they started with 100' the first day, and then added 100' every day, would be surprised how quickly they are able to walk three miles.

Ya know, I think that deep, deep down *most*, certainly not all, people really know *how* to lose weight. They know they should eat lots more of the healthy stuff and lots less of the UNhealthy stuff and do some sort of physical activity.

So perhaps when they're asking, and they probably don't even realize it, they want to know not *how* we've lost it, but *how* we found the strength, determination and perservance to do so. That would really be a more appropriate question.

Sometimes the simplest things are also the most complex, and it's hard to accept that. Take the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Sounds pretty good, a straight-forward concept. But it is so hard to live by.

Basically, "take care of yourself" sums it up. Eating healthy, getting exercise, dealing with emotions and situations rather than using food to disguise or divert, etc. A simple concept. Sometimes, very hard to live by.

I do think people know, but it's so hard to admit that you're in charge of your choices and the consequences of them that it's easier to forget that you know and you can choose and to say that you "can't." Just because the choice is clear, it doesn't mean it's easy.

I agree and disagree with this in a way.

I think most people know the concept, that's true.

But how many people have we seen come on here to 3FC and be totally clueless about WHAT is healthy and unhealthy. Someone on here tells a story about a friend of hers who had a dinner consisting of a huge salad with creamy dressing, shrimp scampi, and strawberry cake for dessert (or something like that) and then pushed back from the table and said "That was pretty healthy - I had salad, seafood, and fruit for dessert!"

What about the people who come on this board and post their daily menu asking for help and they're eating things like this: Breakfast - a waffle with lo calorie syrup. Lunch - small hamburger from McDonalds (but no Coke or fries - yay!). Snack - granola bar. Dinner - Frozen Lean Cuisine pizza. And they really truly think they're doing a good job with this and are beyond upset when they're told that this is not a healthy plan. :)

What about the people who come on the board and say "I'm cutting out ALL FAT from my diet. I'm never ever going to eat any fat again." and get all bent when some people try to explain that you NEED some fat and that healthy fat is good for you.

These are the people who, when you say "eat healthy and exercise" will say to you "Yeah, that doesn't work for me. I must have some kind of chemical imbalance (or it's in my genes to be fat, or whatever)."

Not trying to slam on any one on the board - because we've all been there in one form or another at one point or another. But ... and this is one of my big soapbox issues, really ... Americans in general are woefully, disgustingly uneducated about nutrition and food. We have no idea what a real portion size is because we're beaten over the head with the concept that "value" is what's important, so we should always upsize for $0.39. We have no idea what is REALLY healthy because 80% of the food in the grocery store is pushed on us as enhanced in some way - whether it's by adding nutrients or removing fats or whatever. Who wants a plain old apple when we can get EXTRA SMOOTH APPLE SAUCE NOW ENRICHED WITH CALCIUM!!! We are inundated every day with the idea that doing a "colon cleanse" or drinking lemon water with cayenne pepper or just buying this "As seen on TV" miracle device will solve all our health and weight problems.

And there is NO real, actual, honest to God, nutritional education anywhere to refute those concepts. "Health" class in high school or jr. high is a joke. I read a fairly reliable statistic from a college entrance survey that said over 65% of students entering college didn't know how to cook a meal - ANY MEAL, much less a healthy meal.

I dunno ... as I said, this is a real soapbox issue for me. I think most Americans DON'T know how to be healthy. And that's a huge problem when trying to lose weight. Because they concept is there: eat healthy. It's the implementation of it that most people are clueless about.

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I used to think people, including me "know" how to lose weight, but now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking a lot of folks (I know I sure did) have very unrealistic expectations regarding what healthy habits are and how to maintain them.

I mean some of the myths and superstitions I had about weight loss were pretty ridiculous, given my education. I mean I knew better, but my brain still "went there," for example thinking that to lose any "real" weight I had to eat large salads every day (which irritated my IBS so badly, I'd be doubled over with abdominal cramps). On one level, I knew that I needed to reduce calories, not eat a specific food to lose weight, but most of my dieting experiences and what I saw most other folks do - dieting MEANT eating salads. So if I couldn't eat salads, how would I lose weight?

Of course, it's utter nonsense, but people are full of paradoxical beliefs. Even the most intelligent person can be superstitious, even as they believe the superstition to be false.

My family, for example has a superstition that washing clothes on New Years day means that you'll wash someone out of your life. I almost stopped my husband from doing a needed load of laundry because of that superstition - and I still feel a little "weird" that I chose not to. Like I'm taking a real risk of something bad happening.

I have tons of rules in my head about what fat people do and don't do, and for a long time I lived by the rules, even as I knew they were ridiculous, breaking them seemed unfathomable. For example, the most part, I never exerted myself in public if I could help it, with the exception of swimming, one of the biggest fat person taboos. I loved swimming so much that I was willing to ignore the taboo against it, but for many years, it didn't just feel like a death march to the water, wondering whether everyone was staring and either laughing or wanting to vomit, there was an added element of forbiddenness. I was breaking a rule so sacred, it was almost law. Sometimes I felt ashamed and embarassed, and sometimes I felt defiant and rebellious - almost exhilerationgly daring. Why was it never just a nonevent? Even now, where I barely think about it - I do still think about it. I still have to muster some courage (though a lot less than in the past) to do it. It's absolutely CRAZY and yet I do it.

I have so many "fat women should never....." thoughts racing in my head that it's amazing I do anything. And "dieting means...." rules that I have to consciously talk myself out of.

I think a lot of folks do let taboos (societal and of their own making), myths, superstitions, and stereotypes regarding being overweight and weight loss get in the way of action. They may have the appropriate factual knowledge, but their emotions and fears and all of the taboos and such contradict the knowledge.

It's like the feeling of having "blown" your diet after deviating even slightly from your food plan. Even though you know consciously that one slip does not make or break a weight loss plan, it often still feels like you've blown it, and that it's "useless". Those thoughts and feelings are sometimes hard to reverse even with the best self pep talk.

How do you remove, or at least manage the crazy non-true beliefs that stand in the way of progress?

I've started to (I think), but I'm not sure HOW I did it. I think it has something to do with choosing to be almost psychotic about it. Treating and talking to myself as if I were not alone inside my head. Choosing to acknowledge the dichotomy between "sane Colleen" and "crazy Colleen." Sane Colleen is getting stronger, but crazy Colleen is definitely still in here. I have to treat myself almost like a stranger or better yet, my best friend. Because the advice and compassion that I would give someone else is usually pretty on target, but crazy Colleen doesn't always want to hear it.

This thread is probably one of the most brilliant threads I've read in all my years at 3FC. I keep nodding and nodding and nodding!

Success begets success, but sometimes I gotta white-knuckle through the first few painful steps of different things. Translating knowledge into action is the hard part. In fact, the actual doing is not always as hard as revving up to the doing, if that makes sense?

I agree with PhotoChick that the average American doesn't have a great background in nutrition. I could rattle off the FDA's guidelines but I sure as heck DON'T follow them in my own life. I filled out the RealAge survey very honestly and snorted at their recommendation. They recommend 6-11 daily servings of bread, grains, and pasta. I tried to imagine eating 11 servings of pasta in a day and started laughing. I know Real Age goes by the government guidelines, but those guidelines wouldn't work for me---I am a person who is reduced obese, who has cravings triggered by white flour and sugar, and who would be so stuffed with that much pasta in a day, where would I fit my veggies? Don't tell me that 11 servings of a white flour based product will improve my health, dear goverment guidelines! BTW the RealAge report told me I exercise too much too. If I sought out and followed the government guidelines, er, I would gain weight.

There is so much that a person has to over come to lose weight successfully. Both of my parents are morbidly obese. I learned to abuse food as a coping mechanism and I guess I always thought that I would have a genetic tendency to be obese. I didn't really believe that weight loss was possible, not even when I started the first time. I white-knuckled it, stepped out in total faith, and was completely dumbfounded and shell-shocked that it WORKED! My body was not doomed to obesity. I could control it.

I will be forever indebted to 3FC---the goal section showed me it was possible, the support threads showed me HOW, the weight-lifting and running threads introduced me to my inner athlete (who, me??? athletic??), and the maintainers are showing me everyday how to keep it off. This place is a goldmine for those who are ready to change. And that doesn't mean change will be immediate. Heck, look at my join date. It took me 3 years before I figured out a way to make it work for my life, and I will continue to tweak and play and change (hello, HIIT & protein shakes!).

Yes, yes I agree with you guys. When I said that *most*, certainly not all know how to do the weight loss thing, I should have said *some*, in fact I was thinking about changing it or adding to my post, but lo and behold I had to go and make dinner for my "real" family ;). And it was a big success by the way. I made a pureed vegetable soup, a roasted turkey breast with carrots and roasted broccoli all spiced up and yummy. But I digress.

I do find that *some* people who ask really do know how to. In fact I'm SURE of it. Then you've got a whole other group of people who really don't know the "right" way (and we all know there are MANY right ways) to do it.

There are many who say they are trying to lose weight, yet still eat at McDonald's, well I'm thinking that *most*, umm, make that *some* know that that's really not the best choice at all. They are aware of it - yet do it anyway.

And while I agree that many Americans, ya know what, maybe even most, don't know how to eat healthy, I truly believe there are more then a few that do - but don't eat healthy anyway. Knowing and doing are two totally different things. Don't I know it?

I knew all along (over 20 years) that what I was doing was wrong, not exactly sure if I knew 100% exactly what to do RIGHT, but I sure knew tons of things that I was doing totally wrong. And I did nothing to rectify it. Or certainly not enough.

I think it would be great fun for someone who was really going to do it. But not so much for someone who wants the results, but in the end, won't deny himself what he wants ;) I just happen to think he is all talk and sporadic effort. If he were to prove me wrong, I'd be more than happy to invest whatever time he needed from me. He's family and I'd do anything for family :). Except waste my time ;)

Oh gosh, that is the most fascinating thing to me. I mean, I never lacked for knowing what to do and why. Sure, I keep learning. But I have always had what I *needed.* But why did I wake up one day, and bam, no more doubt? It was done before I even started. I just knew this was the time.