Ray’s Rules of Diet

In may I hit a dubious high of 309 pounds. At 6 feet and a couple inches I hide it well, but I felt it. We had just finished a vacation and I had just turned 56. I decided to work on some diet rules I could keep.

1. Don’t eat sugar. I can do this quite well. I’ve not had a candy bar, nor donut, nor apple fritter since that day. There are many reasons not eat sugar, I can and perhaps will write more on this, but everyone knows it is not healthy. I’ve been surprised at how easy this has been for me. By the way, an apple or banana is not sugar, a baked apple is. Canned fruits in syrup are sugar, raw fruits are not. I don’t have a strict code here. If it taste like sugar it is. Raw fruit comes packaged with lots of healthy fiber, cook it and that fiber becomes more digestible and changes the package into a more sugary substance. Or that is what I am going by.
2. Don’t drink your calories. Fruit juice is sugar water, Coke, 7up, Ginger Ale all are sugar waters, double eliminated. Chocolate milk, calories. Keva juice and smoothies are just calories, they are not healthy. I do make an exception for milk, but limit it to two 6 ounce glasses per day. Calcium  is important both to health and weight loss. I currently drink a lot of Diet Coke and I know this is not good. But one step at a time.
3. Don’t eat out for lunch. I was eating out at least 4 times per week. Even when I was working from home two days a week Andrew, my son with Downs Syndrome, wanted to have lunch an In-Out Burger. When Andrew passed away in January I cut back some, but was still eating out for lunch 3 days a week. A trip to a fast food place usually cost $5-$7 dollars. Even eating at Costco is about $3 bucks for pizza and a drink. That runs $20-$30 per week or $120 per month. Money alone makes packing lunch worth it. Now consider calories, sodium, food additives and you start to see health reasons too. We still eat out on occasions. I may even grab a slice of pizza at Costco when we shop, but now it is once or twice a week tops.

So what has happened since mid May. I am down 20 pounds. I still have 80 to go, but this is working and it is not overwhelming me. I don’t get ice-cream or cookies but am feeling better and will live longer. With Andrew’s death in January I no longer have that rationalization to feed my lust for good burgers.

Goals? I’m not making any for weight. I make goals about healthy eating, activity, sleep, things like that. Weight is just another number. True that that number is a reflection of what you do but I have enough anxiety in my life without worrying about weight. I just wan to live better, happier and longer.