Losing Weight
October 14, 2013
My thoughts on reducing my weight:
(These are only my thoughts as I am not qualified as a doctor, nutritionist, of dietitian.)
What prompted me to lose weight was being told I was obese and that Asians are more prone to be diabetics than whites. There is nothing like a doctor's advice to get you started. I lost 50 pounds and became underweight! That was the easy part. Now I must maintain it!
Take daily weight measurements: I've always believed that to meet any goal, you have to continually measure your progress. I'm not exactly one for slogans but "track it to trim it" or "log it to lose it."
Finding a partner or group to diet with will assist you in sustaining the weight loss.
Increase Exercise: In my first successful attempt to lose weight, I started training for and running marathons. This meant 40 plus miles a week running and/or 20 plus miles of hiking. The down side is you ruin your joints: ankles, knees, and back.
In my second successful attempt, I increased my Jazzercise classes to better than 600 classes a year. This meant two, three, or four classes a day, since there will be injury and vacation days of minimal workouts. This was coupled with 10 hours of dancing a week.
Whatever exercise you chose to do, find something you like. If you don't like it you won't keep doing it.
Find a partner or group to do it with. It's far more effective that way.
Reduce sugar, salt, carbohydrates, fats, cheese, milk, liquor, and refined foods: I stopped eating most "white" processed foods: rice, potatoes, pasta, bread. I no longer have candy at home. I stopped drinking sodas. Although you need some milk or milk products for calcium, too much makes you fat. I rarely ever drank liquor. Bear in mind that many fruit drinks are loaded in sugar. A cup of orange juice contains more calories than Coke. I stopped eating all deli meats and most processed cereals. Oatmeal is good as it is filling, has a lot of fiber, and is prepared with water. I basically limit my fats to omega three fats in fish. I rarely eat ice cream, pies, or desserts.
Reduce meat: I stopped eating chicken and pork and kept beef to a minimum (around 2 ounces a week). I also stopped eating clams, oysters, and shrimp. I ate salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, and basa filet. All except the basa fillet were canned. Note that most vegetarians are thin.
Eat vegetables, preferably raw: Cooking vegetables make them digest too easily and in my opinion reduces the effective fiber content. Celery and tomatoes are especially good. It is said that eating raw celery exhausts more calories than the celery contains. Raw cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, and carrots are also good. (These are consumed without dip.) It is said that pasta al dente is better than soft pasta when it comes to losing weight. Less gets digested. This may be true with cooking foods in general. Barley is a better alternative to rice. Mashed cauliflower is considered a better alternative to mashed potatoes, although I haven't tried it.
Spoil your diet before meals with water: Drinking a couple glasses of water a half hour before meals gives you a filling sensation and results in less food consumption.
Eat soups as the main meal: Again, water consumption is filling. Again, this better be low sodium soup. I eat a variety of vegetable, Chinese vegetable, and Chinese squash soups. I never add salt into my soup. I use garlic, pepper, and other spices instead.
Onions, peas, corn, asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, peppers, seaweed, soy, sprouts, squash, tofu, whole grains like barley, and legumes such as black-eyed peas and black beans are good for you.
Try raw vegetables, fruits, or plain hot-air popped corn for snacking: If you need to snack, try hot-air popped popcorn without salt, butter, or cheese. Raw vegetables as indicated above are also good. Have an apple, tomato, orange, tangerine, or grapes. I also snack on carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and peppers.
Reduce sugar in foods by substituting cinnamon.
If you're not hungry, don't eat: If you are full and only consumed a part of your plate of food, stop. Don't finish it. I remember people saying finish your plate, there are starving people in India. That simply doesn't make sense. The food remaining on your plate won't go to India and by finishing it, you become fatter and increase your future food intake and at the end reduce the remaining food supply at the expense of those in India. Remember that if you are hungry, drink a glass or two of water before your meal.
Hunger test: Dr Oz suggested one test for hunger. Decide if you want to eat an apple. If you do eat one then you are more likely hungry.
Oatmeal need not be just for breakfast.
Minimize eating before bedtime: Eating in the final four hours before bedtime should be kept to a minimum. Some say take a walk after you eat.
Some foods need more digestion and are, consequently, better to be eaten earlier in the day.
Take a multivitamin. Make sure your nutients are adequate. Some need to be taken with others. Some others can't be taken at same time.
Credentials:
Bill Wong has dual M.S. degrees in Mathematics and Statistics from Purdue University. He has accumulated over 30 years of experience as a survey design Mathematical Statistician at both the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Statistics of Income of the Internal Revenue Service. He assisted IRS research in designing statistical systems to produce lists of returns to audit. These systems resulted in numerous coauthored American Statistics Association presentations and papers including an international paper. He then worked for the IRS CFO in the GAO audit of IRS. He retired in 2008 and continues to be active in the American Statistics Association in two officer capacities. He is currently a member of American Statistics Association and the National Economists Club. Presently he is secretary of his homeowners' association and treasurer for the Northern Virginia Country Western Dance Association.
Homepages prepared by: Bill Wong