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Back from Aruba as of yesterday afternoon. It was amazing--looks just like all the postcards. For once I have time to recover before going back to work as its the Fourth of July weekend. One of the things I'm hoping to do is to get pictures posted and a write up put on my other blog travelenvelope.blogspot.com. I don't want to write too much about the vacation here except as is relevant to food and weight-loss. SO-----not too bad!! I'm up only four pounds--putting me back at 197. I'm hoping that isn't going to take a full month to work back off, but if it does--well it does. I don't regret what I ate--except maybe those last two meals which I'll talk about. What I want to accomplish is a real food life that I enjoy and that will keep me healthy. Not just some miserable artificial existence of deprivation that I can't wait to get rid of. So, in a way going on a big vacation and not worrying about food was part of the plan. On the whole I think I did pretty well especially early on---I could see old habits creeping up the longer we stayed there--I still have a very long way to go before I'm prepared to be really responsible with food. But even so, I ate what I liked and I didn't go out of my way to pig out. It was a very difficult place to eat healthy! My original plan was to try and focus on fruit and meat. HA! There IS no fruit in Aruba. Or barely any anyway, food is extremely expensive and fruit almost non-existant. Our favorite place to eat was Iguana Joes--the equivalent of Chilis. I did manage to eat some salads, but they were the exception not the rule. But although everything was off the chart as far as points go, psychologically, I didn't feel as though I lost control until the last day. Room service was actually no more expensive than going out so we decided for once to really order up a good meal and enjoy it. Up it came with a white covered table cloth and all. I ordered a tropical pizza because I was craving pizza and also chips which came with guacamole, sourcream, cheddar dip and salsa. The pizza was a thick crust 10 inch affair with ham, pineapple and gouda cheese. The best I can say is that at least I shared some of the chips. I think Dave ate one of my pieces and Catherine might have had one--but I'm not sure---in any case I ate ALL the remainder--a good 3/4 of that pizza and probably more AND plenty of chips and dip. The last two pieces were definitely past the point where I was full. That was bad, but what was worse was our farewell trip to Iguana Joes the very next day just before we went to the airport. They advertise "the best burger in paradise" and it really is. I wasn't hungry at all. I was still stuffed full of pizza. But it was literally my last chance at that burger. I ate it all PLUS the fries, PLUS my share of the artichoke dip appetizer. One principle I seem to have absorbed is that eating when I'm already full is the sure road to staying fat. I had a much more serious sense of "boy this is really a bad decision" with that burger than I did early in our stay at the fabulous buffet the conference provided that I was hungry for. Both meals probably had about the same amount of calories, but I think the burger meal WAS worse for me. It will be interesting, if I do go to Hawaii in December, to see if I do any better. Because the truth is, that if I had the chance of those two meals again, I would make the same decision again. That pizza and that burger were truly terrific. As of today I'm back on track--and today it feels good because I'm so full of trip food. I wasn't hungry for breakfast so I didn't eat any (unusual for me), instead I worked in the garden for four hours. Upcoming problem spots are the Fourth of July on Monday--I'm on my way to plan that out now. And the very last Harry Potter movie coming out on the 15th. I have every intention of having a food orgy at that movie.
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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