Diets

I've never paid attention to diets, of which there must be hundreds. They always struck me as fads, missing the point that healthy eating is a matter of eating a balance of foods in moderation.

Nevertheless, as I've aged and the pleasure to be had from eating has taken on more relative significance, I put on a few pounds over my supposed ideal weight (163, for my height and frame). While I was already noticing some difficulty buttoning my pants and bending over to tie my shoes, this seemed a small price to pay for that contented feeling of a stuffed stomach. (And, ah, the delight, immediately after a large dinner, of consuming a whole bag of freshly popped Orville Redenbacher's natural light popcorn, one plump white kernal at a time!)

But recently something happened to get my attention. I tipped the scale in a doctor's office at 180, my highest ever recorded weight. That same day I decided to change my approach. A story my wife told me pointed the way. When she was a child, she said, the fat lady who lived down the street was told by her doctor that she simply had to lose weight. He told her it wouldn't be easy, but it would be simple: Eat only half as much. My wife didn't know what happened next for the fat lady, but the story told me exaclty what was going to happen next for me.

I knew that the "rule" I'd been following when it came to eating was "eat as much as possible [without making myself sick]." For example, I loved Mr. Goodbars. If they were on sale for three for a dollar, I'd buy three...and eat them all as soon as I got out of the store. Now, applying the advice to the fat lady, I decided to "eat as little as possible." I'd not take seconds. I'd turn down offers of cookies or donuts at work. I'd eat only about half as much peanut butter for lunch, and on half an apple rather than eight or ten Ritz crackers.

Yesterday we purchased a bathroom scale. I stepped on the floor model of the one I liked. The digital readout made me like this one even more: 154.2.

On the way home I stopped at a Kroger to see if any chocolate bars were on sale. Ah, Cadbury 5.5 ounces for one dollar. I bought a dark chocolate for myself and a caramel center for my wife.

But we still haven't opened them. Go figure.