People treat diets and, to a lesser extent, exercise regimes as a transitory effort to get back to some goal weight or fitness level, at which point they seek to return to the previous behaviour. This is a mistake.
And it's perfectly understandable. Eating only rabbit food and spending your free time getting sore and sweaty is unappealing for many people. Tell them that they have to do that for the rest of their lives or they won't get any benefit, and plenty will arguably rationally decide not to bother at all.
I'd like to see more focus on improvements at the margin. No, I'm not going to cut out all sugar and bread, but if you tell me which of the foods I like to eat are the most and least unhealthy, I can probably make significant improvements while still enjoying my meals. Same thing with exercise; 10,000 steps per day is unrealistic for almost everyone, while taking stairs when feasible and grabbing the first available parking spot instead of wasting time trying to find a closer one is a much easier sell.
Completely agreed that walking to work is great if you can arrange it. Not only is it good exercise, it avoids the car commutes that studies consistently find are terrible for your general happiness.
FYI, for the last 6 months I've cut out major sources of carbs. No rice, pasta, bread or potatoes, and no obviously super-sweet stuff (sugar, sodas, etc), and very sweet fruits (apples, cherries, pineapples, grapes...) only in moderation.
I still drink beer. I make occasional exceptions (been eating some chocolate every couple of days recently since someone gifted me a whole damn box). I eat lots of veg (salads, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc) and huge amounts of meat (anything from fresh steak and home-made burgers - no bun - to chorizo, Parma ham, and other fatty meats). I still eat lots of dairy products too - cheese in particular, nice mozzarella, Camembert, gruyere, emental, etc.
Result for me? I eat whenever I'm hungry, however much I feel like, and always nice food that tastes good, and my weight hasn't budged. I also don't get the 1-3pm carb coma anymore. And I feel great.
YMMV, but this works for me for maintaining weight. For cutting down weight, just combine this with a calorie restriction method and daily weight measurements/charting, as per : http://danieltenner.com/posts/0018-how-to-lose-weight.html
Similar to you - though been doing it just over a year now - dropped about 12 kg (down to 72kg) and feel so much better. I carried a heavy parcel (10kg) up a long escalator the other day, and was pretty worn out at the top - then I remembered that I used to carry more than that all over my body, every day, and it made me so glad I started watching what I ate.
Being rid of the afternoon slump is a HUGE boost for me - I used to flag every day at about 3pm (after a sandwich for lunch) and would always have a chocolate bar and a coke to wake myself up - only then then crash again a couple of hours later.
Now eating too much sugar gives me a headache, and I am happy to steer clear of it. I still have the occasional bar of something, but I don't feel like it's something I need any more, and I am much much happier this way!
So if anyone is considering similar - give it a shot, I follow the 'slow carb' diet from the 4 Hour Body - but basically it's just the post above, except with no dairy and loads of beans.
Exersise health benefits follow a power law. It is damn near impossible to exercise enough to double the benefits of going from completely sedentary to twenty minutes of light exersise a day plus breaking up any long periods of sitting with a minute or two of standing and stretching every couple of hours.
And it's perfectly understandable. Eating only rabbit food and spending your free time getting sore and sweaty is unappealing for many people. Tell them that they have to do that for the rest of their lives or they won't get any benefit, and plenty will arguably rationally decide not to bother at all.
I'd like to see more focus on improvements at the margin. No, I'm not going to cut out all sugar and bread, but if you tell me which of the foods I like to eat are the most and least unhealthy, I can probably make significant improvements while still enjoying my meals. Same thing with exercise; 10,000 steps per day is unrealistic for almost everyone, while taking stairs when feasible and grabbing the first available parking spot instead of wasting time trying to find a closer one is a much easier sell.
Completely agreed that walking to work is great if you can arrange it. Not only is it good exercise, it avoids the car commutes that studies consistently find are terrible for your general happiness.