The Sweet Debate

One of my worst vices is sweets. As I've mentioned before, if my nose even gets a small whiff of something sweet--no matter where I am--I'm drawn to the source. Like other sugar addicts like me, I find it extremely hard to resist temptation, as my mouth waters in anticipation and I'll do most anything to have just a taste.

Problem is, I can't stop with just one taste. Eating just a little something sweet is enough for most people, but not me! That one morsel sends my cravings soaring, and I can easily find myself completely emptying an entire package of cookies or a large bag of M&Ms before I even know what hit me.

The more I sweets I eat, the more I want. And that means tons of wasted calories and more and more weight piled on.

In an effort to cut back on calories when I go on one of these sweets binges and just can't get enough, I've been substituting artificial sweeteners for years. My reasoning was like that of most fat people: I'll take in less calories so I won't gain weight, right?

Wrrrronggg! I just end up allowing myself to eat more than ever, partly because I make excuses and partly because I know I'm not eating high-calorie sugar, so I can pig out even more. But why I am I bigger than ever??

Scientists and nutritionists say that ingesting large amounts of lo- or no-calorie foods really does trick us into eating more. Why? Two reasons. One, as I mentioned already, we actually end up eating more because we know we're not piling on the calories. And two, eating no-calorie sweets actually causes our metabolism to slow down so we store more fat than if we ate real sugar instead. And these principles apply not only to food, but also to those diet sodas (or pop, whatever you call it) some of us enjoy daily too.

From the research, it appears we'd do better to actually imbibe once in a while and eat something sugar-laden just to get our fill. But if you're like me and have a hard time stopping with just a little--whether it's real sugar or a substitute--it's almost better not to take that very first bite. But then we feel deprived and overdo anyway.

Is there a good solution? Anyone want to take a stab at it for all the sugar addicts out there? I'm open to suggestions.....

The Road to...You Know Where

Good intentions. I'm full of them! I intend to eat right this week. Come rain or snow, I intend to exercise every day.

But by the weekend, looking back, I'm usually ashamed at how little resolve I really had. I may have started off the week full of determination and totally committed, but I keep letting little things get in the way and spoil my accomplishments.

Things like that chocolate cake I passed at the grocery store bakery. Or the glazed cake donuts that called my name as I drove past the local Lamar's. It seems anything and everything distracts me from my goals.

I found another blog today about a guy and his struggle to lose weight. In his post today, he talked about how we all make excuses for ourselves when we don't measure up. He's on a weight loss journey, like many of us, and had a particularly tough week last week. He was feeling sorry for himself because he put a couple pounds back on, and many of his readers wrote in with understanding and supportive emails.

But one reader gave him a swift kick in the pants, told him to get up off his butt, get over it and do something about it! He realized right then and there that he needed to heed that advice and stop making excuses if he wanted to live past the age of 45.

Isn't that always the way it is? We start out with the best of intentions, then slowly start sliding downhill because we let everything else get it in the way. And along with the excuses go the resolve--and the self-esteem. Until someone comes along and forces us to confront our demons.

Enough talk. I'm tired of looking like a beached whale (no, I'm not pregnant!) and wondering who that horrible fat lady is in all my family pictures. I'm hitting the treadmill and, at least for today, not making excuses.

One day at a time....

"Drastic" Approaches to Weight Loss

Are you sick and tired of dieting? If so, have you ever considered one of the more drastic approaches to weight loss, like gastric bypass or the lapband?

Once you've tried all the diet plans out there and your weight has yo-yo'ed up and down for years like mine as a result, your metabolism is usually trashed--and anything short of something drastic seems to get you nowhere.

I've been thinking about gastric bypass as an alternative lately. I hear it's really expensive and health insurance usually doesn't cover it (unless you're practically on your deathbed due to your weight already).

I wasn't sure if I was even a candidate for surgery, according to doctors' guidelines, so I did a little research and found a helpful survey on WebMD that helps you evaluate whether or not weight loss surgery is a viable option for you. Surprisingly, it sounds like I may have medical grounds for moving forward with this approach...if I weren't so afraid of complications and so horribly broke!

Check it out and see how you rate under WebMD's guidelines, then let me know how you feel about this option, whether or not you'd consider it and why. I'm curious if my fears are shared by others out there who are heavy like me.

What would you advise?

Majority--or Minority?

Though I've been overweight most of my life, I've never considered myself part of a minority. Sure, some of my friends and family members were slim and svelte, or even athletic, but it seemed that just as many fought the battle of the bulge just like me.

For probably the 100th time in my life, I've been trying to get myself psyched up to lose weight over the past few weeks. I hate how I feel carrying around all this extra weight--and the heat of the summer just accentuates the problem.

But today, I read something that gave me halt and made me think all over again, "What's the use?".

According to the results of a new study released last Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America has continued its trend of growing fatter and fatter over the last two years. But here's the kicker that put me in the minority: it seems my home state of Colorado is the least obese state in the good old U.S. of A., with less than 20 percent of Coloradoans being obese.

I guess that means that all my co-workers who take off to the mountains to hike every Friday have the right idea. And all those vegans who nibble on rabbit food every day at lunch and drink soy milk every morning at breakfast really know what they're doing.

Problem is, I hate that healthy stuff! I want to get healthy, but at what cost? If it can be done simply through portion control and walking up the four flights of stairs every day to my lonely little cube, well, OK, I can do that. I can even use my 30 minute lunch time to force myself down to our building's gym to walk a mile on the treadmill.

But walk a "niner" like the rest of those crazy health nuts that live in my state? No way! I'd make it 50 steps going up an incline like that and keel over with an asthma attack. Quick! Someone pass the inhaler!!

I've never been a member of a minority before--at least, not that I know of. But in this case, I feel more at home with residents of the other 49 states who've grown up to 2 percent fatter in the last 2 years. Call me crazy but I'd rather be a phattypants than a member of the nutty majority!