Half Assed Fitness

This is a great article I found over at the Cultivate Greatness blog.

It's called 14 Habits That Make You Fat and I'm not going to reiterate what they say here (please take the time to read the article!) but I will comment on how each of them applies to my experiences.

1. TV Watching - I would agree with this 100%. When I had a TV in my life, that's what I did; watch TV. When I don't have one, I look for other ways to keep myself busy and a lot of times they are physical.
2. Eating Too Fast- I think the idea here is that you will eat more before you realize you are full...I don't know if this applies to me. I'm not a wolfer but I don't chew each bite 100 times or whatever the recommendation is either.
3. Task Snacking- I think eating in front of the TV counts here and that's when it's easiest to overeat. Only when you are fully conscious of what you are putting in your mouth, how much of it and how many calories are in it can you ensure you will not over eat....unless you know those things and choose to do it anyway.
4. Frequent Fast Food Consumption- when I was a teen, this was a problem for me, as an adult, not so much. The only time I end up eating a lot of fast food now is when I'm traveling for work and I don't take a cooler full of healthy food with me.
5. Eating to Manage Feelings- I just recently realized I'm an emotional eater. When my cat died, I headed to Starbucks for a mocha, and when I have a bad day at work, I don't want to cook, I go out to eat. For me, keeping myself mentally healthy so I don't have a lot of down days that encourage this kind of behavior is important.
6. Too Busy To Exercise- To fix this problem I had to add time to my days, by learning to get up at 5am instead of 7am everyday. (Not on weekends though)
7. Your Friends Can Make You Fat- Oh boy is this one true. We have a friend that does nothing but eat...and when you visit her, she does nothing but try to feed you. After gaining 5 pounds during a winter of hanging out with her, I just had to quit going over there.
8. Lack of Sleep- I can see this, I've caught myself thinking "If I was asleep right now, I wouldn't know that I was hungry!"
9. Unaware Of Calories And Fat- until you know, you don't know....one of my first posts says that until I started counting calories, I was fat. I work with a lady that thinks she eats healthy. I have watched her make a 1000 calorie salad for lunch, loaded with meat and cheese and dressing and say "I'm eating so healthy!" She has NO IDEA what she's doing to herself...the same woman complains about being overweight. I try to plug calorie counting when I can but usually get the "that's too much work" response.
   
10. Credit Cards- I can't relate to this.....I don't pay for food with plastic. Let us know if you have any experience with this in the comments.
11. Missing Meals- I can say that when I skip meals, I get so hungry later that I make hurried, bad choices.
    
12. Uncomfortable Clothing- the article says that people are more likely to move around more and burn more calories in casual, comfortable clothing than in dress cloths. I can see this. Another thing to think of is that everything is comfortable when you are thin. I remember coming home every day after work and I couldn't wait to get out of my work clothes and throw on my sweats. Now, most of the time when I get home, I don't even notice I still have my work clothes on, I'm not uncomfortable.
13. Neglecting Scales- I know that weighing myself every week helps keep me on track. I imagine if you have no idea how much you weigh or if you are gaining, this would be a major disadvantage. Can't fix what you don't know is broke. In this case, ignorance is not bliss.
14. Boredom- people eat more when they are bored....hmm, imagine that. Food should not be entertainment.

Tell us your experiences with these habits.

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