The Curmudgeonly Professor's Weight Loss and Well-Being Blog

Welcome to My Weight Loss and Well-Being blog

Welcome to the Curmudgeonly Professor's Weight Loss and Well-Being Blog. I originally included material for this blog in my Curmudgeonly Professor Blog, but the specialized information became too unwieldy to handle there. I will copy several posts from the other blog and post them here to begin the content in this blog, so you may have already read some of the material. Reading it again won't hurt anything. In addition to posting new information about food, nutrition, weight loss, and well-being, I will post, in segments, the manuscript I wrote a couple of years ago titled "One Hundred and One Common Sense Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off!". I considered self publishing this manuscript, but decided more people would see it if I just posted it on this blog. The objective of writing the manuscript was to provide information that would be of help to people struggling with their weight, and this blog is a more effective way of achieving that goal than would be selling a couple of dozen copies of a self-published book. I invite feedback, comments, and stories about your own experiences. We can all help each other. Please keep your comments short and to the point and please use clean language.

The Curmudgeonly Professor's Weight-Loss Post Number 7: February 7 2009

Lose the first pound.  Now.  The second, third, and fourth will then be easier.

Weight Loss Post Number 6: How to Lose 52 pounds in one year

To lose 52 pounds in one year, lose one pound per week.  Or, if you want to lose 26 pounds in one year, lose one pound every other week.  If you have been fat for years, losing anything will be a victory.  Think about it.  

Common-Sense Weight Loss: Foreword Part 2

One Hundred and One Common-Sense Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off
Continuation of Foreword from earlier post

One option was to give up on the project and congratulate myself on making a nice try and be content with sending my weeks of arduous work off into cyberspace. The other option was to write it all over again, all 150 pages, more or less. After thinking about it for a bit, I knew that I had to accept the second option and rewrite the entire manuscript from scratch. I did have my rough notes from Texas and my basic list, so at least that was a start. I was ready to back up the manuscript to my external hard drive and print a hard copy just after I inserted the cover page. Having used computers since they first came on the scene, I, of course, had violated the cardinal rule of computer use and had committed the classic stupid blunder. I hadn't backed up a copy of my work.

When I considered what I should do, I thought that if I gave up on the weight-loss manuscript, I might as well give up on my weight-loss program. I knew that I could do neither, and that any success in either project would contribute toward succeeding in the other. I have no idea whether this rewrite will be better or worse than the first attempt. However, at the conclusion of my ill-fated written work, I realized that I had learned a great deal and had gained what I thought were some important insights about food and weight loss that might make the rewritten version better. I thought if I could persevere and rewrite the manuscript again, perhaps I could continue making progress toward my weight-loss goal.

So, I am launching forth again, armed with a double backup, working on my wonderful new MacBook Pro, the easiest computer keyboard I have ever used. At an average of about 3 pages per day, I think I can finish the rewrite in about a month and a half or two months. (Note: I actually finished in three grueling weeks).

The longer I have worked on this manuscript and the more I have studied and thought about weight loss, the food industries, and the diet industries, the more concerned I have become about the general lack of knowledge and understanding of food, nutrition, and dieting and their links to our health and longevity. This lack is not due to the nonexistence of important information, but rather to our disinterest in accessing and studying it. I have also become more concerned about the deceptive marketing and advertising tactics of some elements of the food industries. While some components of the food industries could be labeled as irresponsible for loading grocery shelves with foods containing excessive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt, consumers are not required to buy and eat unhealthy foods.

Whatever our level of collective and individual knowledge of food and obesity, we seem to be in a massive state of denial over what we have done to our bodies and our health and we seem either unwilling or unable to do anything about it. (Greg Critser uses the term "denial" many times in his book Fat Land, a reference which I recommend later, but I had written my draft and had used the term here many times before I read Critser's book).

to be continued . . .

Check USA Today DietChallenge Website

You may want to bookmark USA Today's website dietchallenge.usatoday.com This site is a continuing source of new information about health, well being, and weight loss.

USA Today Reviews Dr. George L. Blackburn's Book "Break Through Your Set Point"

USA Today has reviewed the new book written by Dr. George L. Blackburn, associate director of the division of nutrition at Harvard Medical School, titled Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep it Off", written with Julie Corliss (Collins Publisher) on p. 8D April 3 2008. In the USA Today article, titled "Set yourself up for diet success," Nanci Hellmich tells us that Dr. Blackburn suggests that if we want to lose weight, we should follow the "10% rule." According to this rule, we should lose 10% of our body weight and then just stop for awhile and keep our weight at our new level. This process, Dr. Blackburn tells us, allows our body to adjust to its new "set point", which

"is the weight that the body has established as normal, and the body has mechanisms that fight to return to that weight."

Even a weight drop of 10% helps blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes risk, improves sleep, helps breathing, adds energy, reduces fatigue, reduces need for medications--all benefits of a modest weight loss I have read about before in other sources but which Dr. Blackborn reinforces here. An obesity expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Thomas Wadden, endorses Dr. Blackburn's advice indicating that such advice "is as good as it gets," and "the first 10% is the most important weight you can lose."

Business Week Magazine Discusses the Search for a Drug to Fix Obesity

In the March 17 2008 issue of Business Week, Arlene Weintraub writes about the search by drug companies for a "magic pill that helps people shed pounds without getting sick," noting that "an astronomical windfall" awaits the first company to achieve this goal. Read the article here.
The article notes that:
The weight-loss market comes to about $33 billion per year.
Only a small fraction of that--$200 million--comes from prescription products.

Hey Messy People: Your Clutter May Make Your Butt Look Fat According to Author Peter Walsh

Earlier the Curmudgeonly Professor explored the issue as to whether messy people were less successful than neat people. Now, as it turns, out Peter Walsh, an organizational expert, has written a book titled "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat", published by Free Press. In a book review of Walsh's book by Tania Fuentez published in the Salt Lake Trib titled "Spring Cleaning: Dig yourself out of your clutter" (March 24 2008 p. C2), the reviewer notes that Walsh contends that "a cluttered home can lead to, essentially, cluttered thighs."

Walsh states that "[clutter] robs us literally and metaphorically of life." When he helped people declutter their lives, people were contacting him saying ". . . a side effect is that I suddenly find I'm losing weight." Apparently decluttering not only makes one feel lighter and more free of burdens, but also blesses one with a smaller butt. Maybe an idea worth trying.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Offers Personalized Menu Planning System

Writing in USA Today, Heather Terwilliger explains how the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a free interactive program to help them make food choices. In Terwilliger's article titled "Personal pyramid planner builds menus to your design: Design nutrition, calorie specifics as you like it," appearing in USA Today March 27 2008 p. 4D, she describes how the planner helps to regulate consumption of different food groups to reach nutritional goals.

Follow this link to go to the Department of Agriculture MyPyramid Menu Planner site. The USA Today article quotes Brian Wansink, director of the nutrition center, as follows:

"You can take all the host of calorie counters in the world . . . they'll tell you how many calories you ate; they're not going to tell you whether you're eating a balanced diet or not."

On an encouraging note, the article suggests that the planner:
"assesses how balanced a person's eating habits are and offers tips for small changes that could tip the scales in a healthier direction."

One Hundred and One Common-Sense Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: Post No. 1

With this post, I am copying some of the earlier sections of my weight-loss manuscript posted originally to the Curmudgeonly Professor blog. After copying three or four other posts from that blog, I'll begin posting new material. But many readers probably didn't see these earlier posts, anyway.

One Hundred and One Common-Sense Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off
Copyright 2007 Dwight M. Blood

As I indicate below, I wrote a draft of a weight-loss manuscript two years ago. Since I haven't published the manuscript, I thought I would have more readers on the internet than I would ever have with a published book. Besides, presenting it this way will provide readers an opportunity to send comments and suggestions and, perhaps, tell their own stories about weight loss trials and successes. And then I can make corrections as needed. This blog will focus on my manuscript, while my other weight-loss blog will present new information and discussion on the topics of weight loss, food and nutrition.

Foreword
The class prophecy in my high school annual from the class of 1949 at Powell High School in Powell, Wyoming prophesied that I would ultimately become the Powell garbage collector and that I would become famous for my best seller Tasty Dishes from Leftovers. This prediction was based on having served as editor of the high school newspaper my junior year and co-editor of the school annual my senior year. Thus far, I haven't ventured into garbage collection, except for the weekly trash chores, or writing cookbooks. With this manuscript, however, I have moved into close territory by writing about the trials and tribulations of overeating and overweight. Alas, I seriously doubt that this effort will make me famous, thus failing to fulfill my class prophecy.

When my wife and I were in Round Rock Texas for a month in March of 2006 visiting our daughter and her family, it occurred to me that I might boost my determination and ability to lose my excess weight if I just wrote my own weight-loss manual to myself. By doing so, I thought that not only could I reinforce all of the things I have learned about weight and weight loss over the last several decades but also I could gain new insights in how I might succeed in losing weight. While in Texas, I wrote a rough draft of over one hundred pages listing one hundred and one ways to lose weight. I had no access to any references or supporting materials at that time. Some of these weight-loss suggestions are generic and can be expected to appear on virtually any list of recommendations on ways to lose weight. Other suggestions are my own, although it is likely that none are original. Any similarities between my suggestions and other weight-loss recommendations are coincidental.

When I returned to Riverton in south Salt Lake City, Utah from Texas for the summer in 2006, I rewrote my rough draft into a finished draft of about 150 pages. As I was inserting the cover page, I pushed some errant key and all I had left was the cover page. The other 150 pages had vanished. After consulting technical support people who assured me that the pages were, indeed, gone, I had to lick my wounds and consider my options, marveling at the blessings of the electronic age.

It's the Carbs, Stupid!: Copy of Post from Curmudgeonly Professor

It's the Carbs, Stupid!

DECEMBER 01, 2007

It's the Carbs, Stupid!

My weight-loss saga is a long one filled with trials, tribulations, whining, miseries, Big&Tall fat clothes, airline extender belts, mobility problems, blood pressure problems, self-esteem problems--you get the picture. I'll give you the details as the stories in the blog move along. A year and a half ago, I wrote a manuscript titled One Hundred and One Common-Sense Ways to Lose Weight and Keep it Off. Several technically competent people, including a physician and a skilled editor, read it. I was about to self-publish it, but for some reason held off doing so. Now I am glad I waited.

A couple of months ago I came across Gary Taubes's book titled Good Calories. Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease. (New York: Alfred Knopf, 2007). Reading this book was like, as Ross Perot might have said in his inimitable twang, being knocked alongside the head with a two-by-four. To make a long story short, with details to be filled in later, I had been on a weight plateau for two years. Several years ago, starting at a weight of 305, I lost 40 pounds going to Weight Watchers. Then I had medication problems, diuretic problems, and blood pressure problems and ended up gaining most of it back in water weight. When I started to try and lose again by continuing with Weight Watchers, I went up and down 2, 3, or 5 pounds for two years. I was stalled, like being in a Wyoming snowdrift and unable to either forward or backward.

Then I read Taubes's book. And then the light went on. It's the carbs, stupid! Now I must interject that I love Weight Watchers. However, I've stopped going for awhile to try and get off dead center with something else since I could probably recite every Weight Watchers lesson by heart. When I get things going again, I'll likely go back to WW. I needed something to get my attention, and I received a jolt when I read Good Calories.Bad Calories. Being a faithful WW member, and having collected diet books for decades, I was a converted skeptic of the Atkins diet and still reject some of his suggestions which seem rather extreme. But the one thing that made sense in Taubes's book was the devastating impact of highly refined products like white flour, sugar in all forms, white rice, and other highly-refined food additives on weight and many related health problems. So, about seven weeks ago, I quit drinking two or three cans of sugared soda pop a week, a habit I had gradually gotten back into after not drinking it for years. I cut out toast with my breakfast meals. I skipped cookies and anything else with a lot of sugar and white flour in it. My wife cooked small portions of whole-wheat pasta a couple of times, I ate a little whole wheat bread, not much, and ate only a rare small piece of candy. We cut back on white potatoes in favor of yams and other vegetables. And, amazingly, after being stalled for two years, in seven weeks I dropped 11 pounds.

Obviously no one can say whether either you or any one else could or would achieve the same weight loss by following the same suggestions. What I am saying is that you need to buy and read this book. Reading it will stretch your knowledge of science and human nutrition more than a little. And the conclusions are crystal clear.

The main thing that impresses me so much about this book is that, essentially, Taubes has written a treatise on the methodology of science, on what we can provisionally, at least, accept as valid, and what has been part of our folklore and our standard views on weight loss for decades. Much of what we think we have known and have recited as gospel medical knowledge is based on either flimsy or biased "evidence" or none at all. If you are like I am, you are sick and tired of conflicting views on what will kill us and what won't; on what will work for weight loss and what won't; and whether we can ever really believe anything.

There are many other reasons to read this book. His discussions of the scientific evidence of the linkages between dietary fat and obesity and heart disease are also crucial to understanding what we have been taught for decades. I don't think any of this means that we can ignore common sense about being careful about what we eat. But Taubes is no novice journalist. He is a renowned science writer and spent seven years researching the science of weight loss and nutrition. A reviewer on the back cover of his book states "Gary Taubes's [book] is easily the most important book on diet and health to be published in the last one hundred years."

I will have a lot more to say about Taubes's findings and their impact on my understanding of the science of nutrition and weight loss. I think the book is so important that anyone who has been stuck in a weight rut for however long, whether six months or sixty years, should read this book. Don't gripe about the technical stuff. If you have a reasonable knowledge of basic science you can handle it. Don't pick it up and read a couple of chapters and give up on it. Read the entire book! And if you think you can't, go to the conclusions and let those sink in, recognizing that perhaps no one else has ever put the effort into documenting the science of weight loss that he has. This book will serve as a powerful foundation for the rest of what I will write about in this blog. And, who knows, if you take it to heart, you may not even need to read any thing else.