I am NOT on a diet!!!

[dncomom]

Ok, this is just a vent here. A year ago I completely revamped my eating habits. I would not go so far as to say that I am a health "nut" but VERY rarely do I eat junk food, almost never fried food (makes me sick)so when I do snack I chose an orange or a couple of kiwis, ect. For meals I eat what most of you probably eat. Very lean meats, lots of fish, pasta and a TON of vegetables. Since doing this (and joining a gym) I have lost 30 some pounds. Now people are driving me nuts asking me when I will quit my "diet." I do the usual explaining that I am not on a diet. That this is just the way I chose to eat. I am very happy and feel absolutely fabulous!They roll their eyes and look at me with such pity. I can almost read their minds "....she must be miserable..." I'm sure they are all just well meaning as I am pretty thin (5ft. 6in. 108 lbs)but this is driving me crazy. I realize that in the grand scheme of things this is no big deal but enough already!! Do you all have this same thing happen to you?
Whew!! I do feel better already!!~Heather

[lindrusso]

Hi Heather. Though they may seem to pity you, they're all probably just jealous!!

[acorreia]

Heather,

I am in the same boat. I don't eat fried foods, no oil/butter....basically as little fat and carbs as possible.

(For others on the BB - I don't need to hear how unhealthy not eating carbs is....so save your comments).

I'm slowly eating more carb, but I can almost promise you that I'll never touch fried food or fast food again. I've been doing this for about a year and feel great. My family and in-laws and husband are always worried and want me to eat "normal". I ask my husband, "So, I guess eating normal would mean eating like you - french fries, pizza, food cooked in tons of olive oil, a loaf of bread in one sitting, ice cream almost every night..." Fortunately for him, he eats like this and works out and looks great. But, I don't plan on changing my eating habits, except for what I mentioned.

-Angela

[KimKelly]

dncomom, you have made a wonderful lifestyle change that will follow you forever (if you choose it) and you will be healthier and happier for it! I follow a similar diet to you, though not quite as plentiful in the vegi catagory - but I'm working on it. This is the type of "diet" that works well and you feel good for it. I eat what I like, but make healthy choices and I have never had a weight problem, I'm 5'5" and 120. I gained 50 lbs ( no excuse for that other than increased appetite!) with each child, but after the kids were born I continued my healthy eating lifestyle and lost the weight within a year. It works for me and I 'm glad it sounds as if it is working for you. My mom has been heavy her whole life and even tried these drink only diets. She has lost so much weight, only to have it come back on when she goes back to eating like "normal" as you mentioned.
Stick to it!

Kim

[Brenda]

WOW!!!! I wish I could stick to eating as healthy as you. I am trying, but junk food does call my name. My hats off to you!
Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrsReber]

dncomom- I totally agree with what you said and completely understand. When I was 19, I changed the way I was eating. I cut down on portions, tried to eat healthier low fat snacks and I lost a lot of weight, probably around 30-35 pounds. EVERYONE had to ask "what diet are you on" or make a comment about my "diet". I didn't call it a "diet". I guess if they want to look at it that way, all the others are on high fat, fast food, junk food diets. I know that people mean well and are being complimentary, but I felt like "why can't they understand it's not a "DIET" it's just healthy eating?". For some reason it aggravated me and I found all the diet comments annoying.

Kimkelly, I pray I don't gain 50 pounds with this child, but if I do, I hope it comes off as easily as your weight did! I need some inspiration as I am starting to feel huge.

[sal]

I always like to compliment my friends or people I am rather closely acquainted with if I notice something different about them. I try to be careful that I am not intrusive, just something along the lines of "Wow, you look great! Have you been doing something different?" This is a good reminder to be aware of how I phrase things (having my own food-related issues, I'm in awe of your great habits http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ). sally

[Jessica]

sal--that is wonderful advice. "You look great" is preferable to "have you lost weight?" and i try to remember that when i see someone I have not seen for a while.
I don't often get comments on my diet, as I confess to occasional burger-and-malt indulgences, but I have a reputation among my friends as both a good cook and a light cook. One friend even said I was the only person she knew who made light desserts that tasted good--I responded by lending her some old CL magazines. What people don't seem to understand is that it is fairly easy to adapt your cooking to a light style without serving piles of tofu and sprouts at every meal. Friends often ask what we serve at our CL group dinners and are amazed when I say things like artichoke dip, chicken with cranberry sauce or layer cake.

[Grace]

I like this thread. You are all such "kindred spirits". I have loved cooking light and "Cooking Light" for a long time, and have been frustrated and aggravated with people who are stubborn and ill-informed when it comes to eating a healthy diet. I have had to give up telling people what I make is low-fat or healthy - they automatically make an assumption about how it will taste, but I have managed a few converts. Anyhow, I always felt isolated and alone about my view of eating and cooking, but here on this board, I've found hundreds of like-minded people! What a joy to be able to share this passion I have with all of you and I really enjoy Cooking Light for ever broadening my tastes, skills and general knowledge about health, nutrition, ingredients, cultures, techniques, and everything else food related!

[dncomom]

Thanks for all the replies! Misery does love company!! *L* I am always so amazed at what people try to get me to eat. (Here, have this fried chicken...Ect.) I would NEVER impose my eating habits on anyone. Sometimes people do ask me about "nutrition" things and then I am more that happy to share what I know. Just seems so stange to me that my eating habits are so many people's business!!

[BarbaraL]

What you are doing is EXACTLY RIGHT! In order to maintain a healthy weight, you're supposed to have healthy eating habits all the time, NOT diet/lose weight/go back to eating "regular"/regain lost weight + extra lbs/diet again. How wonderful you've adjusted your eating habits. Many have tried (including me), but keep falling back into bad habits. My congratulations to you!

[BethR]

I've experienced this too, as I have been cooking and eating light for almost a year and a half and lost about 20 pounds along the way. I got all the "what diet are you using" lines for a while. It does get better, because people eventually get used to the leaner, healthier you and stop making comments. But I do find it sad that so many people just don't understand that eating this way is not a "diet", which they equate to deprivation. [When I told one friend that CL recipes often use light or nonfat cream cheese and sour cream, her response was "well, why bother cooking if you're not going to use the real stuff?."] We eased into healthy eating gradually and our taste buds adjusted over time. Now, light food tastes wonderful to us -- fresh, clean, delicious -- and the thought of fast food usually brings to mind the word "ick." But we're definitely not in the mainstream -- and I'm sure all the fast food companies would like to keep it that way! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[KimKelly]

MrsReber... I hope you don't gain 50 lbs too! That was not the fun part of pregnancy. I had a touch of morning sickness (just queasy) in the first 3 months, and so long as I kept my stomach full I felt fine. Hence... by my first appointment I had already gained 18 lbs! I ate healthy throughout both pregnancies, but I did increase my consumption. I produced big babies, 10 lbs for the first and 8 lbs for the second (and she was 1 1/2 weeks early)so I guess I did something right. Yes you will feel huge, but your job now is to feed that baby and make sure you get the nutrients to keep both of you healthy. Worry about weight later (within reason of course!). I nursed both kids and resumed a smaller meal practice after both and was back to my normal weight within a year with both, the first one was actually more like 7 or 8 months. If I had exercised it would have probably happened sooner! It is always that last 5 lbs that takes forever...
(Now weighing the same does not mean that your body is the same....I have sagging where I didn't know things could sag! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif )Someday I plan to have an exercise program again...
How far along are you? Do you know what you are having? Congratulations to you! Have you read the Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy? A friend of mine gave me the Girlfriends Guide to the first year, but she loved the pregnancy one. I very much enjoyed the "First Year" one. It tells you things that really are true, but that no one is really going to tell you. I can't remember the authors name, but there you have the titles.
Ok. I've rambled and "preached" enough. Good luck to you!
Kim

[BethH]

Grace, I'm with you!!! There are very few people in my life that share my love of cooking and eating healthy. DSO will tolerate my lengthy ramblings about my meal plan for the week, my relating of stories about people on this BB, and my quests for exotic ingredients. He'll also eat anything I put in front of him even when, based on what's in it, he thinks it will be terrible. But, other than that, no one understands why I would ever want to cook a meal without meat and why I drive 20 minutes to the organic grocery and ...

However, I do feel like everyone on this board is like a long-lost sister and I wish we could all live next door to each other and have one big BB dinner club!

[hhcowgirl]

I'm with you! I also am extremely careful about every morsel I put in my mouth, but, as I have said on another thread, to me it is a trade-off--I would rather look this way than have that chocolate cake. Anyway, many of my acquaintances and even friends have taken their criticism to a more extreme level and even accused me (publicly) of having an eating disorder!! Just as you said, dncomom, I would never impose my eating habits on them--why do they think that just because I don't eat the way they do that I have a problem??

[gabbyh]

What a wonderful thread...
I,too, have started on a journey to a more heathful life-style by watching closely what I eat and beginning an exercise program...my only regret is that I wish I had started this 30 years ago...as I approach 50 this year, I just read an article in one of Prevention's mags that " If you strength train regularly, at 50 you can have a better body than a 25-year-old."
Here's hoping!!

[AD]

Unlike most people, I desparately need to GAIN weight. I am an 18 year-old male weighing 72 pounds at 5'2". I don't like most fast food and can't stand "milky" tasting foods or drinks. I'm trying to gain weight with peanut butter, nuts, and dense breads and grains. The best advantage to a low-fat diet is that it is good for your heart. I suffer major digestive problems and find that many junk foods aggravate my entire abdomen. That's why my weight is so dangerously low. Anyway, I am trying to find healthy, high-calorie foods or drinks that I can stand. Shakes and milky supplements like Ensure would make me gag!

[BethR]

MrsReber -- The author of the "Girlfriend Guide ..." books KimKelly mentioned is Vicki Iovine. I had the pregnancy book -- it is hilarious! I agree with Kim to not stress out about your weight during pregnancy. It sounds like you are doing all the right things, so listen to your body. Not only are you growing a baby but --whether you choose to breastfeed or not -- your body is getting ready for nursing by socking away some extra fat as a reserve. (Nursing, in addition to its many benefits to the baby, is also a terrific way to shed pregnancy pounds.)

And don't believe the advice in the book that "whatever baby weight you still have when you get pregnant again is yours to keep." It's just not true -- I started cooking and eating light after both babies and I weigh less now than I ever have (I always had an extra 15-25 pounds before starting to eat healthfully) and I feel fantastic!

[This message has been edited by BethR (edited 01-18-2001).]

[Ohioan]

AD - I know pretty much what you're going through, and I'll bet the worst part is that no one has any sympathy for you and in fact many people resent you. Right? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif For several years, I had trouble keeping my weight up, too, and, like you, I've always hated fatty, creamy foods, which make me gag just the way they do to you. So here's some sympathy, if that helps http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif, and now let's go on to some tips.

The thing that worked best for me was simply adding a meal -- a big snack just before bedtime. Sometimes it would be a bowl of cold cereal with skim milk (doesn't taste really "milky") and lots of raisins. Sometimes it would be a toasted English muffin smeared with peanut butter and/or jam. But I think the main thing was just adding the extra meal at the end of the day; that way I didn't feel forced to stuff myself at the regular meals (which would nauseate me and really make me eat less) or to snack between meals (which would just ruin my appetite for the next meal).

I hope some of this has helped -- and that none of the people with the opposite problem get angry with us! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif Anyway, my metabolism finally came back to normal two years ago, and maybe your problem is a temporary one, too.

Cheers,
Phoebe

[MrsReber]

Thanks for the inspiration, Kim and Beth! I probably worry about it too much, but I feel like I should eat less. The problem is I am ALWAYS hungry! Some days I never feel full at all.

Don't know if it's a boy or girl. We didn't want to find out. I am almost at 5 months now and I have gained about 20 pounds. It seemed like a lot to me, but they say another 15 pounds (total 35) is perfectly normal. I try to exercise, but it is so hard because I get tired very easily and in the first two months, I could hardly move off the couch on the weekends. My stomach felt quite ill, but I only actually got sick once.

Well, I will be back on my "diet" after the baby. The only thing that has ever worked for me is eating sensibly and exercising. We all seem to know that, but I still can't convince my own mother. She still goes on these diets, which only make you gain more weight in the end. It's the yo-yo dieters who end up being obese because they always gain back more than they lost once they go back to their normal eating habits. Will they ever learn?