Life after Dieting; What Now that the Pounds are Gone?
by Sonja Rose on Jun. 03, 2010, under HealthI went on my first diet when I was 11 years old.
After all, I knew it was time. Well meaning folks had told me that I would never get a boyfriend if I was fat, or that my face was really pretty, but well, I really needed to lose weight if I ever wanted anyone to like me. There was also the confused group who said, “How come you’re not thin like your sister?”
Sonja at the JW Marriott Hotel in Tucson, Arizona
At the grocery store I saw little 3X4 Calorie Counting guides, and thought this would be a good place to start. If I restricted myself to 1,000-1,200 calories a day, I thought that would do it. I’d be thin in no time, winning the approval of others, and fitting into all the cute clothes I longed to wear.
Purchase in hand, I waited in line at the grocery store, then hurriedly tossed in a pack of gum along with the calorie-counting book so I wouldn’t attract too much attention. Yes, I had come in for gum, and then decided to casually find out the calorie content of every kind of food available in the modern world.
At home, my parents were one of my strongest supporters. Did you know that a regular-sized apple has 60 calories? A hard-boiled egg 80 calories? They were fascinated. This was easy! I could even have a little bag of Cheetos for 180 calories, if I wanted to splurge. I had to guess at a few things, like casseroles and spaghetti and soups. Back in those days, not everything had the calories listed on them like today.
After a week, I had lost four pounds. I was ecstatic. My teacher at school told me he thought it looked like I had lost weight; music to my ears. After a week, my clothes were looser; my sister and parents were happy for me. But I was tired of counting, and I wanted a cookie. So I quit the diet.
I gained the four pounds back the next week. And that’s how it all began. For the better part of the next three decades, I went up and down with the same 10-20-30-40-50 pounds, going from diet to diet. However, nine years ago I stopped all that — and that’s what Living Thin is all about. I decided to start living my life like a thin person, gathering together all of what’s worked for me in all those years of dieting. And now, I want to pass that information along to you.
That being said, frankly, it’s practical to know the calorie count of foods. You have to know what you’re putting in your mouth!
A little reference guide to carry around with you is handy, until you get the hang of it. You can also become an avid label reader. Click here for great website that has a ginormous amount of calorie counts on various kinds of foods.
Click here for another website that figures out for you how many calories you should ingest each day for a person of your gender/height/weight, etc.
Next: Myth buster; are all calories created equally?
