Dieting is Personal

            Four whole days in and I’m still eating what I want [except Wetherspoons’ Share Platters]. It helps that I don’t eat dinner until after the gym and I’m strangely not as hungry as I thought after an hour or so of cardio. I had a rather eclectic dinner of olives, pasta, beef jerky and a banana when I got back in an attempt to cover my calorie need for the day, and my hunger. Having had another terrific gym work out (terrific by my standards at least) I consulted Myfitnessacquaintance (we’re still not ‘pals’) to check my progress. A couple of informative by thought provoking things came to light.

1)    I underestimated my starting weight slightly – by five pounds, to be precise – so I was slightly annoyed but not overly much.

2)    My diet is pretty atrocious, or was. No, still is. I need a lot more potassium, Vit A, Calcium and Iron.

If anyone has tips on which foods I can find those things in I’d greatly appreciate a list. I’m vaguely aware carrots might be involved and that spinach and milk can help too but I don’t particularly like milk and it is very calorific. I might be able to mix spinach into my lunch sandwich and I can get carrots on lunch as well, even though I’m not a massive fan of them. I will try to institute a quarter or half pint of milk at the end of the day if I’ve got the calories spare but I’m not making that a diet policy.

Now, some people might argue that I should make room in my diet for the milk by giving up some of the less healthy things in it – like olives or beef jerky. However, his goes against the principle I entered into this with, which was small steps and I could eat what I liked within the calorie limit. Hitting my vitamins is definitely a goal, but I’m not going to start eating foods I don’t like for it as it will make me less likely to stick to the diet.

Again, people might cite this as being a willpower problem and I have to concede that sure, maybe it is. However, the main reason people don’t eat foods they don’t like or enjoy eating because they don’t like or enjoy eating them. You wouldn’t watch a film you didn’t like if you had the choice, would you? Or play a sport you didn’t enjoy. Ergo, just because I am dieting does not mean I will change everything I eat immediately and completely. I mean, I had a diet before I started this – it just wasn’t very healthy. So the phrase ‘I’m on a diet’ just means you’re eating things. ‘I’ve changed my diet’ is more appropriate. If I gave up the foods I like I’d say, ‘I’m pretending to be someone else and so dedicated to this deception am I that I’ve taken up their diet’.

So while I will be hunting for ways to obtain these mythical vitamins I will be looking for them in foods I will enjoy eating, so I can enjoy my new diet and not get depressed and give up. I would advise anyone else looking at dieting or changing health regime to not give up the things they like, just find ways to cut down or fit them in – I’ve always said you can eat what you want as long as you exercise to compensate. I’m just living that way now and while it’s tough, it’s certainly do able.