Step away from the Plate ..

 I've thought of this subject way too much over the last two decades.  But, not why you may think. Good friend of mine posted this on social media yesterday (pic at the bottom of this post).  I flew last week and had the same thoughts. But still, some of this shit IS small.  Too small.  Like the bathrooms. I commented "In all fairness....I can barely fit in some of these bathrooms to take a piss" which he responded "Shoulder width I don't either. But if you eat too many twinkees, I don't want to pay for your extra seat."  True ... I agree with him 100%.

Which brings me to the point of this post.  Hoping I don't step on a few toes, but they won't probably read this anyways.  Let me set the stage first.   Back in the day, I worked out daily.  Hours a day. Was a friggin fanatic.   I'd go out with friends, show up a party.. even work and people would always ask how I stayed in shape and always... always .. for advice.   Most all would reply with I can't work out that often or simply "I don't have the time."  I always asked, "you can't get up an hour early and go to the gym?"  Usually, they were always too 'busy' .  Suuuuuuuuuure you are.  Now, fast forward to 2023.  I get it.  I do.  But, I'm not that busy.  I'm just not that focused.  Most aren't.  Simple as that.   The solutions are right in front of us, yet most of us won't simply just 'do it!'.   Okay... here's the meat of the post.

Over the last two decades I've known of many folks, that have opted for the medical way out of this dilemma.   You know, Lapbands ...Gastric Sleeves ...Gastric Bypass Surgery.  I'm always thinking .. "WTF?"  Do they work?  Well, yes but for the wrong reason.  Interestingly when you talk to these folks after their surgery they sound like experts in eating.  You have to eat small meals.  You have to have small portions.  You have to eat often.  Can only eat this or that .  Well, no shit ... you just reduced the size of your stomach to a tiny fraction of it's former self.   Did it not occur to you to do that before have a $10k operation that alters you for life?  Many times these folks will say "I've been heavy my whole life;; it' not my fault." Or, "I have a medical condition; it's not my fault."  We can go on and on here.  But, after the surgery, they miraculously lose 50lbs. Maybe 100lbs.  Maybe hundreds.   What changed?  They quit eating like life was a buffett.  Simple as that.  I've heard it all. I've seen it all.  I call BS

Every wonder why Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, GOLO, Weight Watchers... you name it ..... there are a lot of them .. work?   Because they either send you the exact amont of food to eat every day, or tell you exactly what to eat.  In a nutshell, they direct/force you to eat say 4-6 meals of small quantities that equal maybe 1200 or so calories a day.  Folks, this shit ain't rocket science.  It's simple common sense nutrition.  When I was bodybuilding and getting ready for a contest, I'd cut out say 500 calories a day of my total intake from where I was (example 2500 vs 3000 cal a day), disperse this over 5-6 small meals, don't eat in the evenings until morning, and ....  waaaallllaaah... weight loss.   The basic formula though just a baseline .. is .. .3500 calories equals a pound of fat.  So, for every 3500 calorie deficit, you lose one pound of fat.  Now, it's not that 'simple' but in some ways .. it sort of is.  This works.  Works for all.  Anyone. Now, here's why it's not that simple.  Maybe its 3000 or 4000 for a person.  If you push too hard, the body's metabolism changes to fight the weight loss.  We call that 'famine mode' and the body doesn't realize we are dieting so it tries to slow everything down; a survial mode of sorts.   Also, sometimes we lose a lot of water and brag about the 2 .. 3 .. 5 pounds we lose in a day or two. Folks, you don't drop fat that quick.  Our muscles contain something like 75% water (going by memory here), and we drop weight easily when we reduce sodium, etc.  But ... the point is ... for the average person .... if they just simply take in less calories, one loses weight .. it's honestly .. that simple.

So... what's the problem for most of us?  Life Style.  Hell, my wife literally just walked into my office and asked "Mark and Nancy asked if we want to go to SWG today for lunch?" .  Sure.. WTF . I'm in.  But guess what .....  my lunch will have too many calories, unless I chew on rabbit food.  I'm going to skip the beer and sip wine instead, but ....  thats still about 100 cal a glass.   And, they are not dense calories and have no real nutritional value.  BUT...   I probably burn about about 2,000 calories a day nowadays so as long as I stay around 2k calories... I'll wake up tomorrow with the scale saying what it did today.  Simple math  Most of us have life style road blocks.  Maybe we don't like to eat often.  Maybe we like to eat late.  Maybe we eat too much fast food.  Most have no idea  how many calories they consume or burn.  Most .. ain't working out during the week.

Problem is ...  we need to do it better.  Case in point, what I'm about to do. Bringing in those calories without alcohol involved, across five meals , consuming foods with good nutritional value .. is the simple solution.  But ...... off I go to SWG.  On a positive note, I'll be counting calories.  I'll still have a good dinner.  But, it validates my "Life Style" point.  How many others out there have the same issues.  Similar Issues?  Shitty food choices?  Excuses like "it's not my fault, I have a slow metabolism?

Wrote this post off the cuff.  Something that bugs me often ... and that damned post from my buddy got me thinking about it all.  And of course I took a bet last month for losing some weight myself that has this all on my mind.  

I could have wrote about KETO options (there are beni's and negatives), Intermittent fasting, Juicing .... they all have plusses and minuses.  But if we simply just quit eating big meals .. shitty meals ... and back off our liquid intake of things that have too many calories (sodas, juices, liquor , beer, etc) .... .....   and it all is equal or less than our daily calorie requirements... then ...   paying someone $10k to alter our stomach ....  or ... worry about how one's ass is getting to fit into an airline seat ...  ain't an issue?