OKAY!!! back on track--at least for today and probably tomorrow too. It's not so bad, it's just that the planning out is laborious and I don't know how to make it quicker. Mostly it feels really good. The thing that continues to amaze me is how accurate my inner gauge is--I would have thought it would be completely out of whack considering that I've been overweight my whole life. But no! I sit down and write out about what I think I'd like for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks--and I mean what I'd LIKE--not what I think I ought to be eating and it ALWAYS comes out between 2,000 and 2,400 cal---usually between 2,100 and 2,200. Which, as it happens is right about what I'm SUPPOSED to be eating to maintain a healthy weight. It really is incredible---anyone who has maintained a fairly stable weight over a period of time is doing exactly this---we eat millions of calories every year and to maintain a stable weight--it would be impossible to figure it out on a day to day basis and yet all of us do just that.
So what happens? For me lack of exercise happens. Also, it's incredibly easy in America to eat badly. Take that trip to McCool's the other night. I often plan to eat a sandwich or even two and oven fries--and that fit's in just fine. A McCool's sandwich on the other hand, is the same amount of bulk, but with a HUGE calorie difference. Various forays into WW and trying to eat right in general have let me discover that it takes about 600 cal to become reasonably full--but if the food is good and/or high fat it easily overwhelms the 600 full signal. I don't know if there is an average caloric over-eat that I do--but I have no trouble putting away full giant restaraunt entree's. I think I get derailed by that kind of thing an awful lot. The other thing that gets me is that it's so easy to add little stuff. Today I'm having a brownie. Dave brought home girl scout cookies. I can have one or the other and stay within 20% fat but not both. That's a big problem with this or any other eating plan---it may be plentiful, but it isn't unconscious. It wasn't exactly hard to pass up the cookies because I wanted the brownie--but I would have preferred to have both.
ANYWAY--Today was a long walk day of two hours. I went back to Beus Pond because it was too late to belatedly plan a trip to Antelope island (next week!). I took a little footpath up above the pond and was rewarded by a huge deer jumping across my path. Dave met me there a little later to do the walk around the pond part of my walk with me. I took him to that little path--we ventured farther along and then saw TWO deer. Didn't have the camera darn it. They let us get quite close. I enjoyed the walk and probably went about six miles. So I'm feeling good today. PLUS--I was rewarded with the best and deepest nap I've had in a long time. Will plan again tomorrow--it's too cumbersome to do everyday, but it's worth doing as much as I can.
Losing weight in spite of myself.
I began this blog in February 2011 as a way to help me not quit trying to lose weight, and to learn a few things. It's been an interesting and powerful experience. It certainly confirms what I've long suspected--that although I am a genuinely happy cheery person in the main, I am NOT a happy cheery dieter. I DETEST losing weight. I resent being overweight in the first place and I am a virtuoso in the art of self-sabotage. And YET--I'm doing it! I'm fighting and kicking and EATING all the way down, but the weight is finally going down. The plan I was following in February was a half-baked one largely based on wishful thinking. I gained a little weight and decided to get real. I knew I couldn't just join weightwatchers or count calories or do any one plan and expect to be successful. I decided if I was going to bother to make the effort to lose weight I was going to throw everything I could think of at the problem. And so I do. My real "Day One" for this blog is April 1, 2011. I joined weight watchers, I joined caloriecount.com (awesome website), I read the blog losingweighteveryday.blogspot.com religiously, I keep this blog faithfully, I joined the health programs sponsored by my insurance, I use the principles from overeater's anonymous, I use my church's 12 step program as well, I subscribe--and use--Healthy Cooking Magazine.
The result of all this? Painfully slow progress (About 20 lbs in 10 months). But it IS progress and like the little engine that could I keep on trying in my rebellious way. I have no intention of quitting. This is by far the longest sustained weight loss effort I've ever made in my life. Successful I think, because for the first in my life I've done this MY way--which I've discovered, involves a lot of pizza and restaraunt food. I'm convinced this is the only way to lose weight. For me it must be MY way. For you it MUST be YOUR way. Not weight watcher's way, not your doctor's way, but YOUR way. Any plan or idea I use is only a tool.
The latest plan to lose weight my way began on Oct 29, 2013. It really is my own crazy plan. As you'll see if you read that post. I've implemented the best ideas of all sorts of eating plans and thrown out the scale. A couple of months in and I'm definitely healthier. I'm actually enjoying myself. I won't weigh until April 1, 2014, so I'll see then if this works the way I hope it will.
There is no magic weight loss bullet. But there IS a great deal of magic in the discovery of what I can happily live with (very different from what weight watchers tells me I can happily live with) and still have the body and health I want.
Good luck to all of us on this journey. It's quite a trip!
The result of all this? Painfully slow progress (About 20 lbs in 10 months). But it IS progress and like the little engine that could I keep on trying in my rebellious way. I have no intention of quitting. This is by far the longest sustained weight loss effort I've ever made in my life. Successful I think, because for the first in my life I've done this MY way--which I've discovered, involves a lot of pizza and restaraunt food. I'm convinced this is the only way to lose weight. For me it must be MY way. For you it MUST be YOUR way. Not weight watcher's way, not your doctor's way, but YOUR way. Any plan or idea I use is only a tool.
The latest plan to lose weight my way began on Oct 29, 2013. It really is my own crazy plan. As you'll see if you read that post. I've implemented the best ideas of all sorts of eating plans and thrown out the scale. A couple of months in and I'm definitely healthier. I'm actually enjoying myself. I won't weigh until April 1, 2014, so I'll see then if this works the way I hope it will.
There is no magic weight loss bullet. But there IS a great deal of magic in the discovery of what I can happily live with (very different from what weight watchers tells me I can happily live with) and still have the body and health I want.
Good luck to all of us on this journey. It's quite a trip!
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