I think it should be obvious to anyone that has been overweight for years that in order to get in shape and maintain that shape you need to be changing some habits. So it’s important to review the reasons and behaviors that may have helped make you the shape you are now so that later you can understand what needs to change in order for you to succeed.
So I’m going to start to try to identify all the reasons why I’m fat to see if there is anything I can do about it. Some things are what they are and are difficult or impossible to change outright, which means you just need to be aware of how you can adapt.
My driving would be one of those things. I put on miles on my car, that’s just the way it is. Clicked over 125,000 on the way home from work last night. I purchased the car new on 10/29/2004 with just a few miles on it which means that so far I have averaged over 55 miles per day, every day. And really the actual numbers of miles per day I drive is much higher than that because I also drive my wife’s car, including for some long trips, and I’ve put on thousands of miles on rental cars during that same time.
So I am in a car a lot.
This causes two primary problems:
- When you are driving it means you aren’t doing anything physical. 55 miles a day is time taken away from doing anything else like exercising or shopping for good food.
- When you spend a lot of time in the car and you work long hours, it is a recipe for fast food stops. And we all know how bad fast food stops are.
I can’t really change the miles I put on without making some crazy move like quitting my job and working from home, so that isn’t an option for me. But I certainly can use this to recognize how dangerous the combination of driving and fast food is, and how likely and easy it is for me to slip off my diet if I allow the car to drive itself to McDonald’s.
So focusing on having healthy snacks in the car with me and putting a huge mental focus on not going through drive-through fast food will be key to me changes my lifestyle.
Do you drive a ot? Any secrets you have learned to making that work with our healthy lifestyle?
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I agree. You have to deal with the reasons you got so big to begin with. Telling an overweight person to just stop eating is like telling an alcoholic to just stop drinking.
When I was in college I walked everywhere. I was also in pretty good shape. Now i drive everywhere, and I’m soft and flabby—overweight. I’ve a lot about myself on this journey. My most recent revelation is that I’m the one who has to lose the weight. No one can do it for me—even if I pay them. Sigh.
Maybe you should not drive hungry. If you make sure that you had a healthy meal before you get in the car you should be less likely to want to stop for fast food. Also, if you are getting a huge craving for something, maybe stop and get a drink or some gum.
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