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Advising Family / Friends

Blog Forums Dieting Sucks! Advising Family / Friends

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  • #17605
    LeenBee
    Participant

    I’m so concerned and frustrated. I’ve just come out of the nasty 2-3 year paleo valley and am coming right with my health by eating carbs and now my husband is on this calorie-restrictive diet and exercise binge. He’s not restricting himself terribly but he’s still not allowed more than 2000 calories a day and he has to walk at least 10k steps per day. I find he’s always trying to find time to walk and increase his step count. We went on a 14 kilometer hike on Saturday and then on Sunday, he went for a 4 kilometer walk. He didn’t even take one day to rest. He’s so tired and irritable and he’s not his normal self. Every time I tell him he’s going too far, he gets upset with me and says I’ve been reading other people’s opinions, and I messed up with paleo, so how do I know what I’ve now read is right? Excuse me? How come I’m much healthier (although I have put on some weight and gone up two sizes.) I think that’s it – he’s so determined to be thin that he’s compromising his health but he doesn’t see it that way. Other family members who are obsessed with weight don’t help. Anyone have advice on how to help family member or friends not to go down the horrible path we’ve been down? I can’t keep on pushing my ideas anymore. Should I just wait it out and let them learn the hard way? But that could be years down the line.

    #17607
    TinaT
    Participant

    One thing I took from Matt’s books, and also “Death by Food Pyramid”, is that we’re all unique, and our genetics, history and environment all go into how our bodies react to food.

    We each need to run our own experiments to determine what foods our bodies do best on.

    You found you need carbs – but for other people, the opposite might be true.

    I’ve gone the ‘mad scientist’ route with family – after dinner and the next morning, I’ll ask – how do you feel? How did you sleep? Are you depressed, anxious, fatigued, gassy, etc.

    For your hubby – I would say, “honey, you don’t seem happy doing what you’re doing, can we try something else for a week, and see how you feel?”

    Men definitely react to food different than women, so I’d recommend you not try to push what worked for you on to him – but see if you can help him develop his own experiments and hone in on what makes him feel better, healthier and happier.

    And, we don’t call it being “heavy” or “obese” here… we call it being “prosperous”.
    It’s a first world problem, for sure. :)

    #17614
    LeenBee
    Participant

    Thanks. Great advice!

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