Well, since I seem to have been the fat catalyst....
What about someone like me who doesn't like a lot of the things that are healthy? Hate nuts(except fresh roasted peanuts or the salty dry roasted ones), hate mushrooms, hate asparagus (*shiver*). Anything with the word "vinegar" in it makes me cringe. Cheese of any kind? Bleh, except pizza.
I'll eat raw spinach, but can't stand to be near the cooked stuff.
Regarding portions on packaging, I've always felt it was unrealistic. A half gallon of ice cream is 16 servings? Try 5. And who eats 10 chips?
When I was on Weight Watchers, back in '99, we had to keep a food journal. We were given a booklet with the points value of many foods and a larger book that even included restaurants and fast food joints was available. Most veggies and fruits were either freebies in points or 1 point for many fruits. The points were based on several factors, but suffice it to say that one slice of pepperoni pizza was 15 points. On an allowance of 24 points a day, I didn't eat any pizza for 6 months.
I had cut my portions tremendously, to the point of not being able to eat a big plate of anything after just a couple weeks. But I was surprised to see what constituted a "portion"; most times I was underestimating. I lost 45 pounds back then and until last year, when I switched from a hectic retail nightmare to a desk job, was able to keep it off within 5 lbs. Add the leg injuries of the past 4 months that prevent me from doing anything (I can barely walk up or down stairs) and it's not hard to see why my seams are stressed. I used to do floor exercises every morning for 10 minutes, now I can't even get ON the floor.
I snack but I don't pig out (unless it's at Joe's Crab Shack or Carrabas
)
My eating schedule is sickeningly regular: breakfast at 8, nutrigrain bar or the occasional poppyseed roll (with butter) and water at about noon, lunch at 2:30, dinner at 7. It's the hours between lunch and dinner and dinner and bed that are doing me in. As noted in my blog, I am hooked on cherry slices( jelly candies) and there's always cookies in the house. The men in my life keep buying me candy or brownies, even though I groan at them and call them saboteurs. But even then, a 6 pack of boxed brownies will last me a week.
I'm a water fiend. A bottle is always at my desk, a large metal cup at home.
I don't drink a lot of soda-
maybe a small bottle of Coke a week if that-lately I've been trying to stay away from it. Tea is black only, no sugar unless someone serves me Lipton(that stuff is nasty bitter).
I'm not a salt user except french fries, which is maybe once a week. But I am a fast food buyer. Popeye's chicken, Wendy's burgers (lettuce, tomato onion only, though, never cheese, never a double) are a staple in this house, as is Chinese food.
I believe in the old adage, You are what you eat. I was put on a diabetic diet for recurring infections; I've been on a fat free diet to combat gall bladder disease. But habits die hard and even though I know that what I'm doing has a direct affect on how I've been feeling, having this crap around the house to appeal to the other three living here is like lighting up a joint in front of a recovering toker.
Sigh...