Successful Weight Loss

In January my doctor told me to lose weight. On the advice of a friend, I consulted the dietician at the Community  Health Centre. She measured my height and weight, asked some questions about my lifestyle, and helped me work out a good weight for my height, a safe rate of weight loss, and some interim goals such as the particular weight to aim for in the first month. Then she gave me a basic eating plan.

It's an easy plan to follow, based on food groups and substitutions,  e.g. there are a number of different things that would count as one serving of carbohydrates, so you get a fair bit of choice and variety. The main thing is to fill up big on vegetables so you don't overdo some of the other foods. (But of course that's an over-simplification. There are some other foods one must eat to be healthy, and there are recommended quantities of each.)

I checked in monthly with the dietician, and could have continued to do that, but I was managing nicely so we agreed I could go it alone — with the option of going back any time if I felt the need.

In December I weighed 83.6k. Eight months later it's down to 75k. My waist measurement went from 102cm to 99cm. To illustrate this more graphically — I've dropped a whole clothing size.

I didn't do it only by diet. There was also that other well-known ingredient, exercise. My doctor said he wanted me to walk at least three days a week, starting with 20 minutes and working up to 40. Then, because I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, my chiropractor (with the approval of my doctor) gave me some easy weight-lifting exercises to do every second day.

I actually got down to 72k in six months, and my waist measurement got to 97cm, but then I got sick for some weeks and had to rest, which reversed the trend a bit. More recently a specialist put me on a temporary high-carbohydrate diet in preparation for a glucose tolerance test, and instructed me not to exert myself for that period. Diet and exercise only help you lose weight if you keep using them!

However, I did lose weight, and I lost it gradually, which is the safe and healthy way to do it. My current medical advice is that I need to lose 10k more, and then various symptoms I have, such as arthritic pain, may well ease.

I can share my eating plan with you. It was a free service and I didn't sign any non-disclosure agreements. I think they actually want people to be healthy! In fact, what I received was an official Australian Government program, which is set out in detail online.

Here it is, at this link, for all the people who have been asking. 

I can't work out your ideal weight, nor the best way to get there. That's up to you. Luckily, all the tools and advice you need to work it out for yourself are there online. And it's easy, really. Explore the site!

We are always warned to get medical advice before embarking on a new diet or exercise regime. I too advise you to do that. 

I am 75. I have osteo-arthritis and osteoporosis (both being addressed, and well-controlled). I am not diabetic. Lately I seem to have developed some kind of allergy or intolerance to eggs. These are just some of the individual factors which affect the details of my eating plan and my exercise program. We are all different. You too will have individual needs and requirements. So do please run this plan by your doctor, in case any personal modifications may be needed, and discuss your personal exercise program too.

Food — Feast or Famine #BAD11

I think I should be writing something deep and serious, about the evils of all the hunger in the world today. Like everyone else, I have looked at those television images of the Somalian famine victims, the wizened babies and huge-eyed mothers; I have listened to accounts of the shortage of medicines, the crowding in the refugee camps, the unsanitary conditions, the spread of disease (as if starvation wasn’t enough)….  I say prayers, I send Reiki energy. Sometimes I give money, not often and not much, in the hope that ‘every little helps’.

This Pension Day, I overspent on food. I thought I should try Coles online shopping instead of lugging numerous heavy bags up my front steps. I found it tricky to make the selections, forgot half the items we needed, and ended up doing an in-person shop as well.  There was of course a delivery fee — not exorbitant, but with our budget every dollar counts. And it’s only with in-person shopping on the day that I can take advantage of all the in-store specials. You have to be there on the day, and you have to get there early.

Our fragile internet connection doesn’t help! I can’t just log on whenever I like and expect it to work. — another reason I can’t grab those specials online. Then, I often have to go into town and use the bank’s computer to get my online bill-paying handled. And this time I must have got kicked offline in mid-transaction while attempting it at home. I ended up having a direct debit refused for lack of funds, and being charged a dishonour fee. I had actually put the money in the right account in good time — I thought. One way and another, we found ourselves with a houseful of food, some of it superfluous (I forgot I already had three cartons of olive oil spread) and almost no money — $21 to last the rest of the fortnight. OK, so we didn’t have to spend it on food, but there are other things. Petrol, for instance.

These idiotic problems, largely self-inflicted, are a far cry from true hardship. I was able to ask my son for a handout to tide us over, and he obliged. We do have plenty of food in the house, even a bit too much (though we will use it) and we experienced our temporary shortage of funds with a roof over our heads and a comfortable bed to sleep in. We even have computers.

The Somalian people starving to death don’t have any such luxuries. But will writing blogs on the subject really help them? Not this blog; I wouldn’t have a clue — beyond prayers, Reiki and the odd bit of money. Feeling guilty about it is not going to be much help either.

What the famine victims do for those of us in affluent societies is to make us feel better by comparison. Luckier than them. Blessed indeed by the accident of having been born where we were. It’s a selfish response, yes, but perhaps an appropriate one. If we can’t assuage all the hunger in the world, at least we can be grateful for the food we have. We can celebrate it!

So, instead of waffling on any further, let me share with you one of my favourite food poems. It’s by my online friend Leigh Spencer, whose poems I adore.  Despite the comical downturn at the end, this one is inherently celebratory. Many thanks to Leigh for graciously giving me permission to use it.

Secret Ingredient (for Kopitkis)

Bubbe's recipe

and I slaved all day

Ketoffle (potatoes)

boiled just so

"mit bloise a bissel zaltz"

(with just a little salt)

Perfect peak in the flour

with golden suns

of perfectly separated egg yolks

setting between

Mash

only by hand!

Form loaves,

then slice and boil

'til they float

Saute the sweet yellow onions

in a sach (a LOT) of pure olive oil

Sit back and smell home

and childhood

Add the floating potato dumplings

to the onions

until everything is golden brown

and comforting as Bubbe's hand

moving the hair from your face

In the pan,

paste with onions

shape unrecognizable

heroic measures prove

sadly unsalvageable

The dogs agree

as they run from this

failed Polish delicacy

Trash can alone

feasts

while the chef

homesick and hungry

cries

"These kopitkis taste like dreck (shit)!"

— Leigh Spencer

#BAD (Blog Action Day)

Blog Action Day rolls around again on October 16th, which is also World Food Day, so the topic of course is FOOD. I have registered this blog and also my poetry blog The Passionate Crone.  I hope to persuade the other members of WordsFlow to be in it too.

In case anyone hasn't caught up with Blog Action Day in the past, it's one day a year when bloggers all around the globe focus on one topic that we feel needs attention called to it. In the past the topic has been chosen by vote; this year, because of the coincidence of the date, it's already decided.

How one treats the topic is up to the individual blogger. How I'm going to approach it, I don't yet know, but I'm going to have fun thinking about it.

I know that whenever I give 'food' or 'eating' as topics in writing workshops, they're very inspirational! Food is primal, basic to our survival and therefore a great source of pleasure. Hunger is painful. Starvation is fatal. There are people in the world experiencing hunger and even famine right now. Oh yes, there's lots to write about!