When you have a long way to go

(Christopher) #1

So… you are a person who was enamored with a way of eating, the Standard American Diet, for a loooong time and at, say, 42 you decided to change it. It takes some time for things to change, but what do you say to yourself to encourage yourself to stay with the practice and wait the time it takes to get to a healthier weight, to change your set point, and get the insulin under control? Any ideas? Just looking to add to the toolbox!

(Rebecca ) #2

Hello, at nearly 59, I remind myself that I want to be as healthy and vibrant as I can be! We have 8 grandchildren and I want to be here to take part in their lives and dance at their weddings (and I admit…look decent doing it😁) I also want to enjoy this phase of our 35 year marriage…in the best health/shape that I can be!!
I think a good toolbox addition is to not look too far ahead but instead, just focus on a day at a time and listen to your body. I wish you the best!

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3

71 years for me when I went keto. By the luck of the genetic draw, I guess, I managed to avoid metabolic damage all those years eating SAD. I eat healthy and feel good. That’s all the incentive I need.

#4

I looked up things, tried out low-carb (and later keto and later carnivore) and realized what is good and not good for my body (just vaguely at that time). I am health conscious so I couldn’t look at most carby stuff and see “food” for a long time. It was pretty easy for years and I had new habits then. I still had difficulties but my mind switch helped tremendously. But I guess it’s not a tool, it’s just something that happened to me. I was SURE those carby things aren’t for me so I stopped desiring them, just like this. It sounds a bit better than in reality, I only cut out several food groups, lots of carby things remained to mess with me…

It helped that my new woe was even tastier than the previous one but I am a hedonist who loves food and find so many things tasty, I always find the way to enjoy the hell out of any woe I am willing to try.

But I would do real sacrifices for my health. It’s one of my top priorities. It should be very motivating!

And I don’t “wait until”. I live my life and my weight will do things eventually, it’s on a separate line, it doesn’t effect my woe that I do for my health. Sometimes these attitude differences matter too. Some people get discouraged when they stall for a months or a year or something. As long as I enjoy my woe, I don’t. (And if I don’t enjoy it, I immediately quit - unless if I have a very serious health reason to stick at it. But whatever my weight is, my ideal woe feels better than some other so it’s worth to do it for health. And for the chance to lose fat as in my case everything is together, eating more carbs longer term only have disadvantages for me, it seems. So it’s easy to see and even feel what to do. I may fall off the wagon a lot but I bounce back.)

The way is long but it probably will get easier :wink: And it’s not as long as your whole remaining life on a better woe. The long way is still just the start :wink: It helps me to know it’s final, I may go for tiny holidays from it but it’s my future, my default woe for long. I don’t need to “endure it for long”, it’s the new order, my new “home”, I don’t look back.

(Agata) #5

I really like what Rebecca is saying - focus on one day (or perhaps even one meal) at a time and do it best you can. One at a time. And then next, and next. I used to plan a carnivore year (OMG), month, week… always got overwhelmed by the length of the commitment. I am now thinking - what is my best breakfast today? Perhaps lack of long-term planning, but on the other hand - hopefully creating long-lasting habits. And habits, by definition, are effortless, automatic actions. So just tweaking habits, meal after meal…
Good luck, Chris.

#6

Around age 53 I went low carb, into extreme low carb and then hit into my current lifestyle of zero carb.

Age 58 now and I am the same as Michael. By luck of the draw I never had medical issues at all but I was a slug. I noticed all the farm work I was doing was not easy anymore. Walking/hiking more was becoming more work than fun. I was tired all the time.

I changed cause I wanted my retirement years to be active, energized, vibrant. I decided I wasn’t going into my older years like some I have seen and getting all kinds of medical conditions and more. I want good years til the end so I changed me :wink: It worked. I feel so over the top wonderful on this way of eating I will never go back.

We all had a long way to go ya know…whatever each of us tackled to hold our new lifestyles, it is a personal walk we all choose to make. You have to want it and just go for it and accept the new you and always make it suit you for long term. Grab on and go for it!!

You have to want change and like others say, one day at a time. One day makes a total lifestyle change when ya add it all up. Best of luck to you!!

(Alex ) #7

Good thread.

I just want to be lean, have no body wobble and not be judged by every f@cker in society for being overweight :blush:

#8

Yes, this, very much this :slight_smile:
I think about my last decades since very long and it’s good as my progress is slow.
I have good genes, yes, but it’s just one factor. I need everything if I want to be somewhat active and healthy even after 100 or 120 (I wanna break the Guiness record and enjoy the hell out of it)… Ideal woe, great exercise, little enough stress, everything must be right. So I walk towards that in my younger years. But I feel better right now if I eat well so there is huge motivation for the short term hedonist part too.

It’s our life, our health, our joy vs suffering… What could be possibly more motivating? I don’t get why people kill themselves so relentlessly with their lifestyles.

(KCKO, KCFO) #9

I stay motivated by remembering the old aches and pains, the skin tags that are not on me anymore, how much more energy I have through out the day, and how much more I love my meals these days, knowing they are tasty and doing my body lots of good. . Why did you want to lose in the first place, never forget that.

I do it one day at a time.
“One day at at time is good for you” J. Lennon.

#10

Yup this is about me as well, wanted to be healthy and look good, but the huge driving force for me to quit procrastinating was my kid getting older and not wanting to be embarrassing to him. We don’t live in the state we’re from and here people start families a lot younger than where we’re from. Felt like I was at a disadvantage. Cool part is going home and being younger parents than many!

(Vic) #11

By the end of 2019 I went back up to 355 after the last diet, I had went down to 290 on some type of Mediterranean type I did eat pretty good on it but a lot of grains but always hungry and always on verge of another binge

Started keto jan 1st looking to make a change to lose weight and get healthy I couldn’t breath well move well

After I started I learned about insulin resistance I began to check blood sugar and I was higher then I felt comfortable with, I started to focus on that as I know many that get worse and worse with diabetes

from there I saw my ademia in my legs got much better now almost non existent

recently my wife and I noticed I dont get sick as much haven’t had an ear infection in 3 months Uselessly get them all the time

Besides that its the food I can eat is the food I love this is a diet of addition not subtraction for me

the only thing is I do struggle with energy sometimes especially sustained mental energy

Still there is way more positive then negative for me

(Kenneth) #12

If you had cancer would you take 4-6 months and take chemo, isolate (No alcohol, miss birthday celebrations, social events, etc.) so you might heal?

So make a commitment to be scrupulous about Keto or Carnivore for 4 months. “You” spent 42 years destroying your health, is 4 months too much to ask?

(Edith) #13

I have always wanted to take care of myself, partly for myself, of course, but also to be a role model for my children, and to live a long healthy life for my children.

I also want to live to 100 medication free.

#14

It’s not so simple. If one is very sick and know that keto is the way, well that is clear to me (because I am health-conscious. most people aren’t. they probably don’t even try keto or just for another reason), it would be the only way I would do keto for 4 months straight by my own will (and I love keto but I don’t seem to lose anything if I don’t do it all the time). And just because we want to do it, it can be hard.
The OP wants keto but it is a very drastic step. Some of us can’t even do it coming from high-carb (or using a very low carb limit). <20g net carbs right away would have been hell to me (I tried and quit the first day, I don’t do suffering) so I can understand someone seeks help when facing even way smaller difficulties. We want to make the hardships smaller to avoid falling off the wagon.

But your viewpoint may be useful… I often think of people with allergies, religion, sacred diet rules or pregnancy… They can avoid certain items for decades, why is that horrible if we just can’t have 6 beers or that specific candy on keto? :smiley: But sometimes our mind isn’t cooperative, I know that. I have NO allergy so the temptation doesn’t turn off (if I am really committed to keto, it has the same unpenetrable strength but a commitment isn’t necessarily easy and it can go away). For a beginner, there are all those old, strong habits… And we have our weaknesses. I easily made some drastic diet changes in the past but keto is quite restrictive from many viewpoints, definitely so coming from a diet that has basically no rules at all and the carb intake is 20 times higher. Even I consider keto restrictive, nice but still restrictive (except on the days when I try to do carnivore without meat, it seems very indulgent then).
Once when my tiny carb limit bothered me on keto (I liked my food, that’s important but still felt restricted), I went below 10g for a little while. That was effective. So sometimes a different viewpoint helps a bit. Not in every case but sometimes.