I Want To Be Fat Like You, Daddy
On September 13th of last year, my wife and I were celebrating our anniversary with a fabulous meal in our favorite local restaurant. She was enjoying it, and I was trying my best to put on a good show. The fact of the matter is that I was miserable during what should have been a lovely evening. The waistband on my pants was cutting me in half, and the collar on my shirt was so tight I felt like my head was going to pop.
I realized that I needed to do something about my weight, but I always tend to procrastinate when it comes to unpleasant personal matters. Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow. A few days later, I was tickling my three year old son and I commented on how skinny he was. He laughed and said, “I want to be fat like you, Daddy”.
Those words were exactly the call to action that I needed. I’ve always struggled with my weight, but my son inspired me to take decisive measures to change my lifestyle. I started on a diet and exercise program that day, and I’ve managed to stick with it for nearly seven months so far. Unlike the crash diets that I’ve used in the past to shed lots of weight quickly, this feels different. I’m not losing weight as fast, but I’m confident that I can keep it off for good this time. I’m also building substantial muscle mass, and the shape of my body has changed dramatically. I’ve taken off about 30 pounds, and I’ve got about 30 more to go.
The two biggest lifestyle adjustments I’ve had to make are setting aside time for my daily exercise routine, and learning to eat all over again. As a professional cooking instructor, I had spent years teaching people to prepare decadent foods with little concern for their nutritional value or caloric content. I’m now in the process of teaching myself how to cook healthier dishes that still satisfy my desire for intense flavor.
For all of you cooks out there who are also trying to live a healthier lifestyle, here is the best advice I can give you. Forget about trying to make low fat imitations of your favorite dishes. It’s just not possible to make a fat free Alfredo sauce, and no matter what you do the results will always be disappointing. Concentrate instead on new recipes that are naturally lean and don’t rely on ingredient substitutions. You can still enjoy your favorite foods on occasion if you learn to moderate your eating habits.
Several years ago when I was preparing to open Foodies, the Atkins Diet was all the rage. Well meaning people would suggest almost daily that I could make a killing offering low-carb cooking classes. When I replied that I didn’t intend to offer any, they were usually stunned. At the time, nearly 10% of American adults were on some form of low-carb diet.
I’ve always been highly skeptical of fad diets, and of the diet industry in general. To me, the Atkins concept seemed even more absurd than most of the others that came before it. Among those who fell for the hype, however, it seemed like counting carbs was the only topic available for polite conversation. Those of us who weren’t on the diet got pretty sick of hearing about it from those who were. I for one was happy to see the low-carb fad fade into memory, like so many mood rings and pet rocks before it.
Fad diets have never been the answer to maintaining a healthy weight. There are plenty of diets out there that can help you lose weight, but none are effective at keeping it off. They simply require more self-discipline than most folks can muster over the long haul. They also ignore the fact that human beings evolved as omnivores, and our bodies require nutrients from a wide variety of food sources. We are no better equipped to live entirely on protein and fat than we are to live on a diet of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
The key to maintaining a healthy weight is moderation. You are far better off to eat a variety of foods you enjoy in reasonable quantities than to try and eliminate entire food groups from your diet. It’s okay to cook with butter, and to eat full flavored dishes, as long as you learn to moderate your portion sizes. It’s not about eliminating carbs or fat from your diet. It’s about skipping the second trip to the buffet, and saying no to the Super-Size fries. If you ever wonder where fat people go at lunchtime, check out the all you can eat Chinese buffets.
I’ve always hated the holier than thou skinny folks who find it so easy to talk down to people who are overweight. In a way, I’m even worse. I’m one of those overweight folks myself, and I’m sick to death of hearing the excuses my fellow fat people make for being fat. While a tiny minority of overweight people may have legitimate medical conditions that contribute to their problem, the rest of us have no excuse at all. It’s not about our genes, it’s not about our glands, and it’s not about those pesky stress hormones we hear so much about on TV. We’re fat for one simple reason: We consume more calories than we burn. If you want to lose weight, eat less, put down the remote, and get your fat ass off the couch.
Just stumbled upon your very well written, insightful blog. Politics and food, oh my! Two topics I could carry on about for hours on end. I guess I will have to find time in my day to read one more blog, Damn you!
But I digress…..
I love, love, love this post. I am “100 pounds soaking wet, with a bag of hammers strapped to my back,” as my husband would say. A slight exaggeration, but yes, I have a thin, small frame. However, I have grown tired over the years of hearing “how lucky I am… that I can eat anything and still be so thin.” Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s called portion control and exercise.
My husband learned this “secret” two years ago, as he changed his eating habits and got his butt on the treadmill. Dropped 40 pounds. It did not happen over night and it was not easy. But he mustered through it, and as he began to see the results, he was excited and motivated to continue. Now it is just part of his lifestyle.
We’re such an instant gratification society – probably why the Polaroid camera was such a hit. And Americans are lazy. Nobody is willing to work for anything – probably why credit card debt is at an all time high. Whatever happened to “everything in moderation, including moderation?”
Being mindful of how much you eat, and exercising regularly allows you to eat pretty much whatever you want. Can we please stop praising these people who have gastric bypass surgery. They are not heroes.
Chris, you’ve hit on the key – deciding on a different lifestyle that you are willing and able to maintain. People go on fad diets or go bonkers exercising (not as extreme as the Biggest Loser, but still not at a level they want to keep up for the rest of their lives). They drop the pounds, tone up, etc. Then once they’re where they want to be, they go back to living exactly as they were before, and SURPRISE! – the fat comes back! Unless there’s some other problem, generally we are overweight because of what we eat and what we don’t do physically. So choosing a sane, balanced way of eating you are comfortable about maintaining until the end of your prolonged days, coupled with a good exercise routine that you are able to sustain (ie. not running 100 miles a day, etc.) is the best way to take it off slowly and keep it off over the longhaul.
Good article, and I wish you the best!
Exactly – it has always amazed me when people don’t understand the basic fundamentals of what our bodies need and decide to eat just one thing (perhaps because they are easily swayed by marketing or their peers). What happens when you do too much of anything? It’s bad for you. Too much water kills you – but isn’t water supposed to be good for you? All in moderation. This is why I don’t believe in all vegetarian or vegan diets either.
The answer to the weight loss question has always been a dirty word…”work”. The only way to lose and keep it off is to exercise doing SOMETHING and push the plate away without finishing.
I personally ran and walked many miles before my excess weight was gone, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Love the last part of the post, sounds like a great book title: “Eat less, put down the remote, get your fat ass off the couch”…awesome!