Here's an obvious truth. Being hungry makes it hard to stay on a diet. One of the things I really like about eating is being hungry and looking forward to a big meal knowing that I can have as much as I want and that I'll feel content and even luxurious afterward. That does NOT happen on weight watchers--at least not very often. It's difficult to be hungry, be looking forward to a meal knowing that I'll be almost as hungry when I finish as I am when I started. No contentment, no luxury feelings--just a hope that in 20 minutes or so I will feel adequate. This would be ok if it were just one meal--but it isn't--it's probably going to be most meals for the rest of my life. No wonder people can't lose weight.
Okay--now a return to reason--one NICE thing about being on a diet is that I actually do feel hungry before a meal--left to myself I'm rarely hungry and so never enjoy food so well as I do now. Also, it isn't true that I'm never full--truth be told, I'm probably more full than not, it's just when it's not that it seems to overwhelm the other times. Especially when I should be full. Tonight's dinner--steak, fried onions, masked potatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon. Should have done the trick right? Nope. I ate reasonable servings--the kind that would fill up normal people. I made some of my "baseball" rolls that I love and ate one even though it put me over points and I'll have to make it up. Oh well. On the bright side--I also made warm chocolate melting cakes. These were my favorite thing on our cruise a few years ago and the Cooking Light people came up with a recipe that's really good. The magazine recipe is supposed to make 10 servings. That recipe usually makes 4 servings for me. It would have been a 13 point dessert. Not totally un-doable, but a strain. I compromised---I did have smaller ramekins downstairs--I made a 1/2 recipe and divided that into four servings . And you know what? It was okay! We each had our own little melting cake and it didn't look unduly tiny or anything. It was fine, in fact. I'm toying with the idea that I don't need dessert every day (I prefer dessert with every meal--once a day is actually cutting back), I often do make do with a little 2 pt piece of chocolate or something. If I manage right I could save up 15 or 16 points for a really nice piece of something on Sundays. A thought. The other thought is that next week I'm going back on the other plan, where I can eat as much as I want off of a limited menu---however, since that menu includes milk and meat right now it sounds awfully attractive. 114 days and still trying. This is a record for sure.
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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