I seem to never be full. Should I eata big restaurant dinner and feel stuffed, by the time I walk home, Iam almost always cruising for a snack. My biggest weakness seems tobe sweets. As a joke a group of grad students at UNLV did put theremainder of a chocolate cake in front of me, just to see if it wastrue that I never stop eating chocolate. After plowing through it, Iwent home for a snack, of chocolate.
Obviously, if I am ever to have abslike Gerard Butler's (which starred in the movie 300, withGerard playing a supporting role), I must curb my insatiable sweettooth. The simple solution is to eat less, but finding moderation isnot easy for me (or anyone?). I was eating a lot of fruit, tohealthfully satiate the sweet tooth, but 1.5 kilos of oranges/dayleft me lusting after chocolate. Since gluttony in one food does notseem to address the issue, I tried to quit overeating cold turkey. This, as any diet expert will tell you, leads to binge eating, oressentially, no change.
I go through cycles of these attempts. In general, the most successful diet for me is carrots (yes, back tothe gluttony scheme). I have, in the name of controlling appetite,eaten up to 5 lbs of carrots a day. The average is about two poundswhen I am powering through carrots. Even with eating more carrotsthan a horse can dream of, the abs do not come, but I do eat lessother foods. As I write this I am looking at a demolished box ofcookies, wishing it was a bag of carrots that I had just eaten as a“snack.”
My inability to curb my eating hasgiven me a strange respect for anorexia. Yes, it is bad. Yes, it isan illness. Yes, yes, yes, but think of it in terms of will power! Imagine if you could apply that will power in a healthy, constructiveway. We would all have Gerard Butler's abs! Not necessarily be abad thing. The eating disorder I do not understand is bulimia.
I just ate a box of cookies. They weredelicious, actually they weren't. They were pretty crappy cookies,and if logic played a role in this I would have just saved them forwhen my pantry is bare. The cookies will probably be a big part of mydinner, and if not, then they will be a big part of my waistline. Either way, I get my money's worth. If, I were bulimic, and purgedthem, I could guiltlessly eat a more delicious food item. But! Idid not enjoy eating them, and I would probably not enjoy vomitingthem. I would thus double my dissatisfaction with the cookies, andnot be able to count them as usable calories. I would also have topay money for the new item, which probably would not make up for thevomiting and bad cookies, and I might overeat that food too, and haveto purge again. Bulimia just seems like flushing money down thetoilet, which I would classify as not a “disorder,” but crazy.
To deal with my physical fitness,having ruled out bulimia (I am not thatcrazy), anorexia (not enough will power), overeating “healthy”foods, and moderation, my only option now seems gluttony in exercise,which I suppose I am all for. My holdup is now inertia. I havesomething of a routine. I get up, get ready for work, ride my biketo work, work, ride my bike home, eat dinner, read, write, then go tobed. I would like to add a swim in the morning, a run in theevening, and yoga before bed. It is totally doable. The swimmingrequires a wet suit, so it will probably be a run in the morning, anda ride in the evening, a long yoga practice, or astrength/calisthenics session. Regardless, spending more timeexercising is reasonable, if I can change my routine to accommodateit.
Like building shinynew abs, getting into the new routine will take time, but it is agoal. It has been recommended that I should train for an event,maybe the Taupo Ironman, but I do not know if I need to enter a racejust to motivate. However, if I ever do an event, it might as wellbe a tri-, and if I enter a tri- it might as well be an Ironman. After all, if I swim a couple of miles, then ride 100 miles, it seemsthe best way to address an insatiable hunger, would be to run amarathon.
I, too, am similarly extreme in some ways that you describe here. As you know, my appetite for chocolate is utterly insatiable. It is incredible that I don't regularly eat myself into a hyperglycemic shock. But I am also adept at creating and adhering to little rules and routines for myself (e.g., daily sun salutations). I have considered following a new rule whereupon I must do, for example, 100 sit-ups to earn my daily serving of chocolate. (It is important to note here that defining a reasonable serving size is a must - an entire box of cookies is not a reasonable serving size.) Then, when I arrive home and fling open the pantry to reach for the box of cookies, I must first consider if I want to do 100 sit-ups. If I get carried away and eat the entire box, I must then do 100 more (with a full box of cookies in my belly). That seems agonizing enough to deter me from the second helping, and perhaps I'll slowly morph into Gwen Stefani.
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