Diet?

I don't diet well.  When I was in my early 20s, I wanted to put weight on.  It never worked.  My doctor has given me a list of foods to avoid (my cholesterol is in the 911 range) and I kind of looked at it and said "no."  My voodoo doctor (he's not, but, well, it's voodoo) suggested different food regimens ~ mostly simple things like more raw foods, less coffee.  It's not going to happen.  If someone told me not eating chocolate would raise my voice an octave, I'd lament at passing by on a dream.

A couple of weeks ago, mrslickiv6 (and I have no idea how to parse that name: Mrs Lickiv 6?  Mrs Licki V6?  Mrs Lick IV 6?  Mr Slick IV6?  NO idea) commented that she ate at the Cheesecake Factory and asked "how do you keep your girly figure?"

If you've ever eaten there, you know what she means.  The answer is, "I don't eat there often!"  Maybe once a year, and I dread it: there's way too much food stuffed on a plate.

It's hard, in America today, to eat out and not overeat out.  Either you order a salad variant, or you get stuck with a 12 (or more) ounce portion of something.

I'm trying to eat less.  I often skip lunch.  I tried salads at lunch, but salads seem to make me hungrier.  I have noticed that I'm hungrier at noon if I have more coffee in the morning.  The easy solution is to cut down or eliminate coffee ~ but I like coffee.  I also like coffee ice cream, but that's another story. :)

My kids like to go to Outback.  I eat too much of their blooming onion thing every time.  I'm trying to think about not eating the whole steak when I'm there.  I just decided ~ going forward, Outback is two meals.  One there, one of leftovers the next day.

But the real secret is of my "girly figure", other than the undergarment with the metal bars in it is... I don't know.  You probably know people who eat til they burst and never gain a pound, and others who gain weight walking through a grocery store.

I'm about 5 foot 9.  When I was in high school and college, I weighed about 118, and I was trying to put on weight.  I think by the end of college I was all the way up to 123, and maybe 130 by the time I reached 30.

In my mid-30's something changed and my weight went up to 155.  It's ALWAYS there, give or take a couple of pounds.  I'd like to have my 118 (or 123 or 130) back now, but it doesn't matter what I do.  Holiday stuffing doesn't make a difference.  A week of flu doesn't make a difference.

Oh...  I am pretty active.  I don't go to a gym or go on organised runs.  I don't do sports anymore, but I walk a lot.  When the weather is nice, I take advantage and take "non-smoking breaks" (tm).  I figure, if smokers get to go outside for six or eight minutes an hour, that's about an hour that they get off that I don't.  I refuse to be penalised for not smoking, so I go for a walk once or twice a day.

My office is on the 6th floor.  The stairwell doors are locked so I can't walk up, but I always walk down.  At home, I'm constantly moving between the basement, main level, and upstairs.

So I'm not sedentary, and never have been, but I don't think there's a thing you can do to control your weight, long term.  Your body does what it will.

I just wish I was buying clothes, getting dressed, and going OUT when I DID have a girly figure!

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