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!







Tuesday, May 24, 2011

being "good"?

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Resort food not as fabulous as feared---that's not to say I didn't overeat, but the bacon was kind of flavorless.  The really dumb thing I did was eat two hershey's nuggets (that's 4 points) and then the other half of my mother's day almond joy candy bar when I got home (3 pts).  What was that about?  I already had two way over point meals.  Anyway--I'll do my best with the two more meals tomorrow and then I'm done.  I'll have a 8-10 point dinner and be right back on track.  At least I got a little exercise with yard work and a short walk with Catherine.  I'm almost recovered from the marathon.

About being "good."  A very heavy friend came by today.  She's on weight watchers too, but she struggles even more than I do.  She's been under a lot of stress and had put all of her lost weight back on and is feeling horrible.  She hasn't been tracking and she was telling us about some truly horrible food choices BUT she didn't have ice-cream with the cake! (She had a frosty earlier)..and lots of other "good?" choices.  On the one hand any better choice is a better choice and gets applause from me.  On the other hand--I do plenty of that kind of thinking myself (example yesterday--I had 1/3 of a rack of ribs rather than 1/2--but what was I doing with ribs at all?).   I bet I sound as silly to those who maintain a healthy weight as she did to me.  It's far too easy to justify poor choices under the banner of "but they weren't quite as poor as they might have been."

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