OnePhatMan

It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them! - Friedrich Nietzsche

Received via email:

I’d like to hear your opinions (in detail) on the following items. Also, have your opinions changed over the years and throughout your weight loss?

1. Vitamin, mineral supplements and anti-oxidants.
2. Pain during exercising. What do you do? Slow down? Stop?
3. Do you get muscle aches if you don’t exercise? For example, after your shoulder surgery did you ache because you didn’t exercise? What do you do for that?
4. What are your suggestions so we don’t feel so very hungry between meals?

The first question in the email asks if my opinions have changed over the years and throughout my transition. I’m not sure if the questioner is asking about my opinions in regard to the questions that follow or about some of my weight-related opinions in general. Since my opinions on the four listed items above haven’t really changed, I figured I would touch briefly on a couple of my opinions that have.

First, my opinion on what I eat has changed a little, in that I’m not as anal as I was a few years ago. While I still don’t eat junk food or fast food (unless I’m forced to by unforeseen circumstances) any day but Friday, I’ve lightened up quite a bit on some of the things I eat. For example, I eat spaghetti all the time, made with processed Ragu sauce. Is that the healthiest possible thing I could eat? Of course not. I use the healthiest one available, though, with the least sugar, no added oil, and less than half the calories of the normal sauce.

In my mind it’s an equation. I can cook 8-10 meals in 15 minutes, and have them be marginally less healthy than if I’d taken 2-3 hours to make the same thing out of all fresh ingredients. It’s a trade I’m willing to live with, because there is a balance between living healthy and being obsessive about it.

Plus, I’m lazy.

My opinion of certain fad diets, like the various low-carb things, hasn’t changed, but my attitude has. Back in the beginning, when I was a recent convert to living healthy (so to speak), I had a tendency to be a little preachy. No more. I choose not to eat that way, but I also choose not to rag on anyone who does. It isn’t my life, and it isn’t my business. All I ask is that they don’t preach at me because I’m not a subscriber to their choices.

I do, however, still reserve the right to poke fun at the Weight Watchers™ people and the godawful concoctions they can create wholly from a box of chemicals and a can of pumpkin.

Finally—and you might want to be sitting down for this one—I’ve come to the realization that a large number of people who seek gastric bypass surgery aren’t looking for the easy way out. Sure, you’re always going to have a few who are there to exploit things, to get a quick fix because they don’t feel like even trying to get a handle on things themselves, but those are the exceptions and not the rule. Most people I’ve talked to undertake the decision to have bariatric surgery only after carefully weighing all their options, discussing it at great length with doctors (including psychologists) and friends/family, and trying every other weight-control thing they can.

There seem to be people who aren’t able to do it on their own, people who are physically capable of getting rid of the weight, but can’t seem to let go of whatever is in their head causing them to overeat. I don’t know why, and I’ll honestly tell you that it’s something I can’t understand, but that makes it no less true. It’s not my place—or yours—to mock them, to call them lazy, or to disparage them for making a decision that may well be saving their life. For me, surgery would have been the easy way out, and I still believe that. For you? Only you know the answer.

And it’s no one’s place to give you shit if you decide to do it.

Now, on to the questions.

Vitamin, mineral supplements and anti-oxidants.

My opinion—and keep in mind that I’m no nutritionist—is that the supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar boondoggle fleecing a gullible public. It’s my opinion that if you eat a wide variety of natural things, you don’t need supplements, except perhaps one: a good multi-vitamin, just to fill in any spaces you might have missed in your dietary habits. I’m partial to Flintstones chewables, myself.

Are supplements bad for you? I’m sure if you over-take them they can be (it all depends on the supplement). Mostly, they’ll probably damage your wallet. I would offer one bit for thought, though. Remember, all the studies coming out today that show how good something might be right now don’t show what the effect of years of taking it are. I don’t say that to be a fearmonger, because we have plenty of those already, I just want you to use your head in making decisions. Don’t be a sheep to a marketing goliath.

Pain during exercising. What do you do? Slow down? Stop?

For me, it depends on the pain. If it’s simply the soreness from a previous workout, I don’t let that stop me. That pain will usually go away during the workout once I’m good and warm. Pain from an injury is a little different. For me, it’s a matter of how much pain there is.

Take my shoulder, for instance. Lifting weights hurt enough last week that I’m going to give it a few more weeks to heal. Hiking also makes my shoulder hurt, but not bad enough to stop me from doing that. Both activities cause some pain, but one’s not nearly as bad as the other so I push through it. It’s the same with my knee. Using the elliptical makes it hurt, and makes it hurt enough that I’m seeking alternatives to using it. However, the pain’s not so bad that I’ve stopped using the elliptical.

Did that make sense? Each person is different, and each person has their own level of pain they can tolerate. My general rule is I can live with some pain, and as long as working out doesn’t make it TOO much worse, I’m going to work out through the pain. Caveat: I’m a freak about missing a workout, so I may not be a good example.

Do you get muscle aches if you don’t exercise? For example, after your shoulder surgery did you ache because you didn’t exercise? What do you do for that?

I can’t say that this happens to me. I can’t recall ever having muscle aches if I don’t work out. Granted, the only times I’ve missed workouts have been after surgeries and if I’m injured, so I’m already hurting, but to the best of my knowledge I haven’t had the muscle aches of which you speak.

My aches are mental. Being inactive makes me nearly insane—Robyn can vouch for how I was after my surgeries / injuries—because I’m used to moving a lot, every day. For that matter, she can vouch for how crazy I get now if something happens to prevent me from going on a hike or kayaking. Having to sit still and not do anything is a form of torture for me these days, whereas before it was a way of life.

What are your suggestions so we don’t feel so very hungry between meals?

The flippant part of me wants to say “eat more at meals” or “have a snack”, but you’re probably not looking for the smartass answer. Ask yourself something: are you hungry because you’re hungry or because you’re bored? I find that the days I seem most ravenous between meals are the days where I don’t have a lot to do. As soon as I occupy myself, I discover that not only have I forgotten I was hungry, but time has flown by and it’s shortly time to eat again.

That said, if you’re looking for a trick, I’ve found that drinking a diet soda tends to make me feel pretty bloated for a half hour or so. I suspect it’s the carbonation, and the caffeine probably helps a little. Lots of people swear you get the same effect from drinking a glass of water, but I never found that to be true for me.

I hope I answered the questions to the submitter’s satisfaction (and yours). I’m still taking topic ideas via email if you have something to ask. Just please, for the love of God, read the frequently asked questions first.

It’s okay to eliminate the word “fail” from your vocabulary. You won’t miss it.