Joe the Aroma wrote:
> "Jo Anne Slaven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 11:46:28 -0500, "Joe the Aroma"
>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I read that nearly 80% of the people who have successfully kept the weight
>>>off for 5 years or more report that they attempted weight loss before. So
>>>don't worry about failure, but lose this time with the commitment to
>>>making
>>>long term and habitual changes. If at first you don't succeed, try again.
>>
>>Same thing goes with smoking. I'm about 2 1/2 years smoke-free. I
>>figure I can do as well with weight loss, one of these days
>
>
> I'm sorry but make no bones about it, staying at a healthy weight is far
> more difficult than quitting smoking. Imagine telling someone that they
> needed to smoke 1 cigarette a day or they'd die and if they smoked more than
> 1 a day they'd get fat and die. You can go the rest of your life without
> cigs and I suppose you can go for the rest of your life without food but
> that life would be considerably shortened.
>
>
I think there is a lot of truth to what you say, Joe.
You can elect to not be around cigarettes, and thus put a modest
"barrier" between you and the addictive substance.
You can't elect to not be around food, and you have no modest physical
"barrier" between you and food. You only have to overconsume healthy
food, and you eventually gain the weight back.
I have heard that drug addicts in rehab centers used to claim that
kicking heroin was much easier than quitting smoking.
So, establishing and keeping healthy eating habits could be said to be
harder than kickig heroin AND harder than lifelong ceasing smoking.
Alcoholics also claim that smoking is harder to kill than drinking. If
true, then it would appear that establishing healthy eating habits is
harder than getting off booze, kicking heroin or forever quitting smoking.
I took a "quit smoking" class from the American Lung Association in
about 1986. There were 12 people in the class.
Several folks gave up before the class was finished.
When the 10 week class ended, there were 3 people who were non-smokers.
My then boss took the same class I did and he was smoking again before
the class ended. He got intense headaches from not smoking, but he was
determined to try again another time.
After a month, there were just 2 people who were non-smokers.
After another month, there was just 1 (one) non-smoker.
I am the non-smoker. I took the class in 1986, so I am 20 years without
smoking.
Quitting smoking was easy, I had done it almost a dozen times before.
Never smoking is initially hard, but after a few years, it appears to
become a permanent condition.
It is my hope that after a couple of years, weight control will become a
permanent condition too.
What do long term weight loss folks say about their attitude towards the
condition becomming permanent?
My Mom lost about 40 or more pounds when I was about eight years old.
She kept it off for the rest of her mentally active life (till about 70
years old) and gained very little in the 10 years she lived in a nursing
home.
Maybe it rubs off.
--
1) Eat Till SATISFIED, Not STUFFED... Atkins repeated 9 times in the book
2) Exercise: It's Non-Negotiable..... Chapter 22 title, Atkins book
3) Don't Diet Without Supplimental Nutrients... Chapter 23 title, Atkins
book
4) A sensible eating plan, and follow it. (Atkins, Self Made or Other)