Señor Tony
3 of a Kind
Habits are hard to change. Habits formed though our parents and over the years of our upbringing are even harder to change. Your children may develop the same issues with leftovers, picky eating and health as you if you don't rise up and try to replace old habits with new ones.
I am surprised you only weigh 220 lbs given the lifestyle you describe! This is actually good news, if I were to follow your lifestyle I would certainly be 250++ lbs. This means that with some small changes and substitutions to your current lifestyle you will begin to notice and feel positive changes. Taking small but CONSISTENT steps is key.
MOTIVATION BOOST - Sit down with the family and watch any one of the many "documentaries" on the food industry and the products found in a modern supermarket. It won't all be 100% factual, true or balances but it will give you a good idea of the type of things to be aware of and give you that boost in motivation that you need. We all know what it takes to lose weight: eat healthy, eat less and exercise but actually doing it is the hard part. "That Sugar Film" is a decent start (although far from perfect)
Goal #1 - Stop drinking your calories!
I am surprised you only weigh 220 lbs given the lifestyle you describe! This is actually good news, if I were to follow your lifestyle I would certainly be 250++ lbs. This means that with some small changes and substitutions to your current lifestyle you will begin to notice and feel positive changes. Taking small but CONSISTENT steps is key.
MOTIVATION BOOST - Sit down with the family and watch any one of the many "documentaries" on the food industry and the products found in a modern supermarket. It won't all be 100% factual, true or balances but it will give you a good idea of the type of things to be aware of and give you that boost in motivation that you need. We all know what it takes to lose weight: eat healthy, eat less and exercise but actually doing it is the hard part. "That Sugar Film" is a decent start (although far from perfect)
Goal #1 - Stop drinking your calories!
- Avoid soda and all fruit juices - there is no reason to consume these. If necessary, transition to diet soda before weaning off completely.
- Slowly phase out any sugar added to tea or coffee. Follow this by transitioning from cream -> milk -> 2% -> black coffee.
- Moderate your alcohol intake. Transition some of your servings of calorie dense alcoholic beverages like beer or cider to slightly lower calorie versions like neat spirits or spirits with soda water and fresh lime. Be aware of portion sizes of spirits compared to beer.
- Milk is beneficial in moderation but do not think you are being healthy by consuming multiple tall glasses of milk each day. While it is nutrient dense, it still contains calories and natural sugars.
- Action: Buy yourself a reusable water bottle (or two) and carry it everywhere with you. Keep it filled up and drink it consistently throughout the day. If you are thirsty go for your water bottle. Water! Water! Water! Bring it with you in the car when you go on errands, to family events, to the shops, to work.. everywhere. The added benefits is no more wasted money on bottled water.
- The amount of added sugar in modern foods that have traditionally been thought of as "healthy" foods is mind blowing. That supposedly "healthy" strawberry Chobani yogurt you are having for breakfast has roughly 16 grams of sugar per tub. Approximately 6 grams are naturally occurring in plain Greek yogurt while the other 9 grams are added! In my mind this is a dessert food rather than a healthy breakfast or snack food.
- Added sugar amounts vary greatly between different brands of the same food and ever flavours within the same brand of food. Blueberry Chobani may have 15% less sugar than Strawberry Chobani (just an example, I made this one up).
- Action: We all have pantry staples and specific brands of products that we always seem to have at home that we pick up at the weekly grocery store run without even thinking. Next time you or your wife go to the grocery store, instead of automatically just picking "THAT BRAND" from the shelf, read the label first! Compare what you see on your normal brand and compare it to all the other brands on the shelf. Pick the comparable one with the least amount of sugar. Repeat this for all of those regular grocery store purchases. This may seem like a small change but your body will notice the difference! Remember, baby steps!
- We all wish there were more hours in each day to get stuff done. For me, it wouldn't be possible to eat clean and healthy without leftovers. PERIOD
- I won't get into the whole Sunday meal prep thing (talk about throwing you into the deep end!) but at the very least you need to work on your leftover phobia. Everyone should be comfortable with the concept of cooking a whopping great big pot of their famous chilli con carne and brown rice on a Tuesday night, scooping an extra portion into a tupperware, taking it to work the next morning, putting it in the microwave at work and eating it. Best work lunch ever!
- Professional help is not an unreasonable thought in helping you overcome your aversion to leftovers. You can change this.
- Maybe start with reheating pizza in the oven the day after ordering it? How deep does this aversion go? Do you eat frozen pizza? When you really think about it most frozen foods are just industrially produced leftovers!
- Changing habits is about getting control back in your life. This can be hard with something we do multiple times a day each and every day. Start with controlling your breakfast for a week.
- Day 1 - Black coffee, natural greek yogurt (no added sugar) with sliced banana and raisins, hard boiled egg on wholemeal toast
- Day 2 - Black coffee, instant oats (not sugary packet kind) with frozen blueberries and cinnamon
- Day 3 - Black coffee, wholemeal toast with fried eggs
- Day 4 - Black coffee, Cheerios (the kind with only 1.5% sugar) with milk
- etc
