New Years resolutions

[JaiDee]

Losing weight? Stop smoking once and for all? Book a trip to Thailand?

whatever your new years resolutions are, good luck with them!

Mine is rather simple;

[Tomas]

I am having a endoscopy done in Jan to sort out whatever is wrong with my stomach this last few months, then I will be going to a personal trainer to put back on the weight I lost, then I am going to get all the tattoos I have of hookers covered with more tasteful (sane) tattoos, and then I am going to woo a certain girl back in Ireland who I fancy the pants of.

[Kahuna]

The very best wishes for your successful tattooing and wooing and most especially with your health Tomas...

I gave up the nasty cigs earlier this year...now I'm just fighting the ever increasing waist line...But I don't think I am truly up for any resolutions this year...Think I'll just play them as they are dealt...Ante up Boys...

[Snick]

Improve my diet, give more money to charity, be faithful to my girlfriend...........STOP LYING ALL THE TIME

[Hefe]

1- Lose weight & get in better shape

2- Be more mindful about how I spend & invest my money

3- Try to improve my personal relationships

In other words the exact same resolutions I've ignored by mid February the last 15 years, I just update the digits in the year annually.

[deepthroat]

• I will not sit in my living room all day in my nightdress. Instead, I will move my computer into the bedroom.
  
• I will no longer waste my time reliving the past, instead I will spend it worrying about the future.
  
• I will not bore my boss by with the same excuse for taking leaves. I will think of some new excuses.
  
• I will do less laundry and use more deodorant.
  

[anthony70]

Im going to wind up the old uns on PLB.

[KenW]

Every year since I turned 50 I have delivered the same old unfulfilled resolution to decrease the size of my fat belly.

Never works, even though I institute real tactics like walking, eating less, etc.

However, it's the only resolution I have, so I better stick with it one more year.

O, and there's one more little one too: just to confirm myself as the Resident Forum Wanker,

I have begun to study applied mathematics through MIT (online),

in order to try to lift my spirits & get my brain working.

The related resolution is, I guess, to stay the course (if I can).

[deepthroat]

I resolve to believe/trust in Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

Fuck the New Year. This begins immediately.

[strocube]

I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions.

That said, I guess just to continue to trust life as it unfolds and not be so freaked out about the future and trying to control things. That, and to keep myself entertained in various ways, getting more into playing guitar, reading about whatever I happen to be curious about, continued adventures into transpersonal realms via various entheogens, and of course, saving up money for another trip to the LOS to get my femboy/ladyboy sex on.

[pacman]

O, and there's one more little one too: just to confirm myself as the Resident Forum Wanker,

Hang on just a minute there Sunny Jim!

You can't go presuming such a post is yours for the taking! There's a long line of worthy contenders who could all claim the nomination. Your only hope is to make a series of particularly wanky posts & throw yourself at the mercy of the committee.

I'll wait for Dixon Cox to pop a limerick onto the thread with his prognostications. For purposes of the forum, they are accurate enough.

Merry Xmas...

[Lefty]

Same as my last year resolution, get my weight down to 250 lbs. Under 280 now which is an improvement from the 290 at the beginning of summer. Trying to lose fat and not too much muscle at the same time is the trick I hope to be able to pull off.

[dixon cox]

... and there's one more little one too: just to confirm myself as the Resident Forum Wanker,

You can't go presuming such a post is yours for the taking!

I'll wait for Dixon Cox to pop a limerick onto the thread with his prognostications.

My New Year's resolution is not to let my arm get twisted so easily

... You asked for it !

it seems like our Ken's on a mission

for breaking the forum tradition

we've noticed him hanker

the role of board-wanker

and pacman could lose his position

[pacman]

Brilliant!

Take a bow Mr Cox. After my suggestion, I had a crack at it myself & I found it very hard to tie it all into one neat limerick. Unless you've tried it, you have no idea how difficult these things can be. Dixon makes 'em look easy, trust me, the guy's clever. Well not that clever, I think he just called me a wanker...

My New Year's resolution is not to let my arm get twisted so easily

... You asked for it !

Oh c'mon DC, you'll be over it soon. As the forum's Poet Laureate, I have another 5 for you to write...

[bumblebee]

Looking at my expanding waistline and how it has got that way more noticeably in the last 2 months I think from Jan.1 onwards I am going to have more quiet nights in while in Los. Cut down on the booze, get more long speed walks in and who knows with the money I save I may be able to hang around Patts an extra month more than planned.

[pacman]

BB, the walks are good for stimulating your metabolism but don't expect them to knock off any weight. Unless you want to go for a 10K run or do two to three hours aerobic exercise, walking alone won't make a jot of difference. To your waist line that is, it is good for your health.

The one thing that shifts weight is to cut down on calorie intake, in particular simple carbohydrates. Rice, noodles, bread & especially beer are your enemy. Eat fruit & vegetables & drink whisky & water for a month & you'll be amazed at the difference.

My resolution last year was to knock off my gut & it took me 6 months to lose 10 kilos. I feel better than I have in years. I can't believe how light my breathing is compared to before. Over the festive season I have managed to put several kilos back on but I only need discipline to shift them. I proved I could do it without great compromises to my lifestyle & it is now my permanent plan to stay in the weight range I have set for myself.

If I can do it, anyone can. I don't wish to sound sanctimonious about this but if one person is motivated because I have done it, that's a good thing. As we age, it gets harder to shift the belly as highlighted by several posts on this thread. Diets do not work, the moment you go off them, bang goes the weight straight back on. It just needs smaller serves of the right food & it falls off by itself.

[dixon cox]

,,, drink whisky & water for a month & you'll be amazed at the difference.

I like the sound of that. Perhaps I'll knock the beer on the head for a while and see what transpires.

[Jimslim]

I know a guy went on a whisky diet ......... he lost a week .

[JaiDee]

The one thing that shifts weight is to cut down on calorie intake, in particular simple carbohydrates. Rice, noodles, bread & especially beer are your enemy. Eat fruit & vegetables & drink whisky & water for a month & you'll be amazed at the difference.

but if one person is motivated because I have done it, that's a good thing. As we age, it gets harder to shift the belly as highlighted by several posts on this thread.

Well, I may be that guy Paccie!

all kidding aside, I have been waiting for this holiday season nonsense to be over so I can get my ass back in shape. I need to lose about THIRTY kilos, forget 20. I have lead a way too sedentary lifestyle these past few years, just laying around getting fatter, and it's affecting my health and the way I feel on a daily basis. It is also one of the main reasons I am not returning to Thailand this winter for the first time in 14 years; I simply don't like the way I look and I am not comfortable in that humid weather with this extra weight on my frame.

No more soda, I hardly ever drink beer or alcohol, no more processed foods.....fruits and vegetables and lean meats in smaller portions....back to the gym, skipping all desserts and ice cream, etc...... giving myself a year, so by next December I will hopefully feel good enough to return to the Islands for a few months.

[SiamSam]

If you lose 30 kilos we're all gonna wanna do ya JD!!!

[JaiDee]

30 Kilos gets me back down to about 220 pounds, which I feel pretty healthy at, Sam.

when we met last fall I was up around 270 or so, and now even more; too much laying around in the tropics the past few years. I don't look or feel my best and most importantly it's just plain not healthy. A new man in 2013!

[pacman]

No more soda, I hardly ever drink beer or alcohol, no more processed foods.....fruits and vegetables and lean meats in smaller portions....back to the gym, skipping all desserts and ice cream, etc......

No more soda, no more processed food, no more desserts, no more ice cream..... STOP!! You are describing a diet & diets don't work. Not in the long term they don't. Very few people possess the willpower to deny themself treats forever.

What I learnt about weight loss is that if I just cut my portion size down I would lose weight. The only things I tried to avoid were simple carbohydrates. Rice, pasta, bread, cereals, corn, etc. I ate everything else I liked, just not as much. And on the days when I did over indulge, I didn't throw up my arms in despair & think it was all over, I just resumed the eating program as soon as possible & once again I was off in the right direction.

It was so simple that I have resolved never to go off it. That's because there is nothing to go off.

I was surprised to learn that eating fat doesn't make you fat. I am not recommending fat, it will raise your cholesterol but all those diets where they rattle on about cutting out fats are not especially effective in knocking off the weight. There's no point trimming fat & cutting out cooking oil when you eat half a loaf of bread with the meal.

The way I look at it, doing all those little things is just a bonus, it's the size of the meal on your plate that makes the difference. And I eat chocolate occasionally, have an ice cream at the movies, enjoy a beer on a hot day, I have not made any hard rules about what I eat. When I was more motivated, I found several times I experienced hunger pangs, that was something I had forgotten about, but I never felt I was punishing myself.

At the moment I have gone back a few months with all the food on the table at Xmas but I refuse to attack my body with some ridiculous eating plan. How long can anyone put up with starving themself? And how fast will that weight return when you pig out on a pizza & soda? Like immediately in my experience.

My last comment is I read about the need to stop eating food that humans find the hardest to digest. That includes pork which means ham & bacon as well as roast pork, etc. I still eat a little bit of roast pork occasionally to remind myself I am not on a diet but I never bring it home from the supermarket. And for me, that also meant cutting out cheese, many people of anglo-saxon descent lack the necessary enzyme to break it down. I have friends who can eat it every meal, I know I can't. It sits in my gut like a rock.

I doubt there's anything I can say that we don't already know. Drink two litres of water a day, increase your fibre intake, the dietitians have been telling us this stuff for years. Then they try to sell us another diet book. There is no need for any diet, just eat less. Worked for me.

[pdogg]

Here's a different angle on weight loss.

Count how many times you chew your food before swallowing.

Then double the amount of chews per item.

One will probably eat less this way and be less likely to eat if not hungry.

[Hefe]

This was balanced & interesting I thought: (NY Times 10/07/12)

In Dieting, Magic Isn’t a Substitute for Science

Is a calorie really just a calorie? Do calories from a soda have the same effect on your waistline as an equivalent number from an apple or a piece of chicken?

For decades the question has percolated among researchers — not to mention dieters. It gained new momentum with a study published last month in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggesting that after losing weight, people on a high-fat, high-protein diet burned more calories than those eating more carbohydrates.

We asked Dr. Jules Hirsch, emeritus professor and emeritus physician in chief at Rockefeller University, who has been researching obesity for nearly 60 years, about the state of the research. Dr. Hirsch, who receives no money from pharmaceutical companies or the diet industry, wrote some of the classic papers describing why it is so hard to lose weight and why it usually comes back.

The JAMA study has gotten a lot of attention. Should people stay on diets that are high in fat and protein if they want to keep the weight off?

What they did in that study is they took 21 people and fed them a diet that made them lose about 10 to 20 percent of their weight. Then, after their weight had leveled off, they put the subjects on one of three different maintenance diets. One is very, very low in carbohydrates and high in fat, essentially the Atkins diet. Another is the opposite — high in carbohydrates, low in fat. The third is in between. Then they measured total energy expenditure — in calories burned — and resting energy expenditure.

They report that people on the Atkins diet were burning off more calories. Ergo, the diet is a good thing. Such low-carbohydrate diets usually give a more rapid initial weight loss than diets with the same amount of calories but with more carbohydrates. But when carbohydrate levels are low in a diet and fat content is high, people lose water. That can confuse attempts to measure energy output. The usual measurement is calories per unit of lean body mass — the part of the body that is not made up of fat. When water is lost, lean body mass goes down, and so calories per unit of lean body mass go up. It’s just arithmetic. There is no hocus-pocus, no advantage to the dieters. Only water, no fat, has been lost.

The paper did not provide information to know how the calculations were done, but this is a likely explanation for the result.

So the whole thing might have been an illusion? All that happened was the people temporarily lost water on the high-protein diets?

Perhaps the most important illusion is the belief that a calorie is not a calorie but depends on how much carbohydrates a person eats. There is an inflexible law of physics — energy taken in must exactly equal the number of calories leaving the system when fat storage is unchanged. Calories leave the system when food is used to fuel the body. To lower fat content — reduce obesity — one must reduce calories taken in, or increase the output by increasing activity, or both. This is true whether calories come from pumpkins or peanuts or pâté de foie gras.

To believe otherwise is to believe we can find a really good perpetual motion machine to solve our energy problems. It won’t work, and neither will changing the source of calories permit us to disobey the laws of science.

Did you ever ask whether people respond differently to diets of different compositions?

Dr. Rudolph Leibel, now an obesity researcher at Columbia University, and I took people who were of normal weight and had them live in the hospital, where we diddled with the number of calories we fed them so we could keep their weights absolutely constant, which is no easy thing. This was done with liquid diets of exactly known calorie content.

We kept the number of calories constant, always giving them the amount that should keep them at precisely the same weight. But we wildly changed the proportions of fats and carbohydrates. Some had practically no carbohydrates, and some had practically no fat.

What happened? Did people unexpectedly gain or lose weight when they had the same amount of calories but in a diet of a different composition?

No. There was zero difference between high-fat and low-fat diets.

Why is it so hard for people to lose weight?

What your body does is to sense the amount of energy it has available for emergencies and for daily use. The stored energy is the total amount of adipose tissue in your body. We now know that there are jillions of hormones that are always measuring the amount of fat you have. Your body guides you to eat more or less because of this sensing mechanism.

But if we have such a sensing mechanism, why are people fatter now than they used to be?

This wonderful sensing mechanism involves genetics and environmental factors, and it gets set early in life. It is not clear how much of the setting is done before birth and how much is done by food or other influences early in life. There are many possibilities, but we just don’t know.

So for many people, something happened early in life to set their sensing mechanism to demand more fat on their bodies?

Yes.

What would you tell someone who wanted to lose weight?

I would have them eat a lower-calorie diet. They should eat whatever they normally eat, but eat less. You must carefully measure this. Eat as little as you can get away with, and try to exercise more.

There is no magic diet, or even a moderately preferred diet?

No. Some diets are better or worse for medical reasons, but not for weight control. People come up with new diets all the time — like, why not eat pistachios at midnight when the moon is full? We have gone through so many of these diet possibilities. And yet people are always coming up to me with another one.

[Lefty]

BB, the walks are good for stimulating your metabolism but don't expect them to knock off any weight. Unless you want to go for a 10K run or do two to three hours aerobic exercise, walking alone won't make a jot of difference. To your waist line that is, it is good for your health.

The one thing that shifts weight is to cut down on calorie intake, in particular simple carbohydrates. Rice, noodles, bread & especially beer are your enemy. Eat fruit & vegetables & drink whisky & water for a month & you'll be amazed at the difference.

My resolution last year was to knock off my gut & it took me 6 months to lose 10 kilos. I feel better than I have in years. I can't believe how light my breathing is compared to before. Over the festive season I have managed to put several kilos back on but I only need discipline to shift them. I proved I could do it without great compromises to my lifestyle & it is now my permanent plan to stay in the weight range I have set for myself.

If I can do it, anyone can. I don't wish to sound sanctimonious about this but if one person is motivated because I have done it, that's a good thing. As we age, it gets harder to shift the belly as highlighted by several posts on this thread. Diets do not work, the moment you go off them, bang goes the weight straight back on. It just needs smaller serves of the right food & it falls off by itself.

I have a fool proof and fairly balanced diet that will work, the trouble is I get too bored with it after a few days.

Eat 1 egg per hour for every hour you awake. Mix in a few tomatoes and avocados. If you eat full size tomatoes, 3-4 a day, if you eat cherry tomatoes then you can eat quite a few more, like 12-15, and as for avocados, eat 2 a day. Drink lots of water. From a nutrition standpoint you aren't missed anything really. Also, cook the eggs in virgin organic coconut oil.

Also take a good multi vitamin/mineral supplement, but you should be doing that anyway unless you are just a damn fool.