Congratulations on your weight loss, I hope you have recovered well from your injury and the return to bicycling goes smoothly.
Being a hobby chef you probably have a different point of view, but food is fuel, nothing more. You almost came to that conclusion yourself towards the end of your post then changed your mind. Food can be joyous but the question is should it? Clearly if we're overweight at some point along the line we have partaken in the joyous aspects a bit too much (barring the mini-hulks). We celebrate with feasts, we self medicate with food when we're upset, for some reason a cake is involved in nearly every social gathering etc, so in my opinion I would say the easiest way to clear this hurdle is to remove the joyousness from food and not life in general. It's apparent by your posts that food brings the joy into your life (you're a hobby chef after all and I am tempted to PM you for a potato salad recipe) and that's great, but your response assumes we all feel the same as you do.
Meh, it's late and my train of thought is still at the boarding the station.
Originally Posted by
theetruscan
UGH, NO! No, no, no. Food should be joyous. Sucking the joy out of life is a terrible idea. Between March 2007 and March 2008 I went from 252 to 213 pounds. I am a hobby chef, my housemate is a hobby chef. We regularly fed 8-12 people 3-4 times a week during that entire period. We ate delicious and varied meals and managed to have a spectacular time without sucking the joy from life. We drank lots of wine, beer, and whatnot.
Now, that's not to say I didn't change my diet. I did. I cut way down on snacking, I had a piece of bread to mop up the sauce, not a half dozen pieces. I stopped getting seconds. I changed what I cooked to be a little healthier overall. Now, obviously, that kind of moderate change doesn't explain that kind of weight loss. I sold my car, started bike commuting, weekend riding, and doing basic fitness work at the gym for core strength.
For us clydes who have perhaps more reasonable amounts to lose (I don't know about physiology and severity for people with 100+ pounds to lose, and can't claim to speak for them), there's no reason to do that.
I treat food for what it is. A necessary substance for survival. An excuse for social gathering. A source of great joy.
EDIT: I haven't lost (or gained weight) since March 2008 because of an injury and the sedentaryness that results. I just got back on my bike last week, and to the gym this week, so I should get back to shedding pounds in not so long.