FUN day yesterday! Way off plan, but that's ok. It's another day now and I'm immediately back on track. It's wonderful that I can go crazy once in a while and still lose weight. (Though I'm not dumb enough to get on the scale this morning!). We had our German breakfast (genoa salami---6 points for 12 slices---not that bad!), for lunch I finally got to try the Union Grill---we ordered the Brie appetizer--holy cow! A huge chunk of Brie, lots of fruit and plenty of foccacia bread. Also a cobb salad to split--love blue cheese dressing. We were pretty full after all that and didn't get around to dinner until quite late 8:30. I do love the macaroni grill. As prophesied I had no trouble eating it all---an olive appetizer, about a loaf and a half of bread dipped in plenty of oil, a cesear salad,an order of the mushroom ravioli (rich and wonderful and not any left to take home) and the giradelli chocolate cake. I'm sorry to say that after eating all of that I wasn't overstuffed. Full, yes, but not uncomfortable. I loved having the day. It was so fun just to hang out with Catherine--we got our hair and nails done (more on this later), went to a paint it yourself ceramic place, went to Salt Lake and saw the aquarium, discovered the Chocolate Cottage, went to the Gateway shopping plaza and messed around in Brookstones, Build-a Bear and Barnes and Noble.
I felt really blessed the whole day. I'd read a few other blogs the day before written by women who were over 300 pounds and trying so hard to lose weight. I just wanted to reach out to them and let them know that it ISN'T THAT HARD to live at their goal. First of all I felt blessed that I was already living at their dream weight. Two ladies were fantasizing about being 190. I would love to let them know that you hardly have to live on carrot sticks to maintain a weight of 190. You can eat an awful lot of pizza and still weigh 190 and I'm not exactly exercising 24/7 either. One of the HUGE problems with weight loss, especially if one has a lot of weight to lose--is that the actual losing of the weight takes so much discipline and the life-style is uncomfortable, and the natural reasoning is that you're going to be stuck eating these tiny amounts for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. And in a way that's even true--you can't just go back to eating any old way and keep the weight off, but I know an awful lot of skinny people who are living perfectly happily at my dream weight or lower without measuring or counting anything. Sure, they eat healthy most of the time, but they also had some of the custard my boss brought to work whereas I passed it up. I'm betting it's actually not that much harder to maintain a weight of 155 than it is to maintain a weight of 200.
You know what's missing in the diet industry? A clear picture of what life at goal weight can look like. All the billions of dollars we spend and we don't even know where we're trying to go! One of the reasons I fail is that I don't WANT to go back to my high school swim team years and swim 2 hours a day. I HATED swim team, and part of me still associates all exercise with those feelings. I don't WANT to eat 1 ounce of cheese, when I really just want to eat whatever amount I really want, and I really don't want to be stuck eating measly little slices forever. What does life at goal weight look and feel like? seems to me to be a really basic question that nobody has ever asked, let alone answered! Of course it's going to be different for every person, but you could get a decent idea if you asked a lot of people. I would just love a glimpse into the lifestyles of people who have a healthy BMI. What are they eating? How much are they moving? I know for a fact that one skinny co-worker of mine would occasionally have a milkshake and fries for lunch. Usually, she brought much better food than that, but that was her occasional blowout and she was fine with that. My co-worker, Mike, is a health nut, but other guys are not and are still reasonably healthy. I would just love to see a collection of menus and lifestyles of people who are living at a healthy weight. What does it look like? Are all women 155 or less spending four hours a day at the gym and eating nothing but 1200 calories of carefully balanced food a day? Of course not!! They are doing what I'm doing---going to work and running errands and living their lives. But I bet they're also playing tennis frequently and only ordering the 1/2 sandwich combo most of the time. I need to see this. I need to know that where I'm trying to go--155 --somewhere I WANT to go.
If anyone ever wants to know what a life at 200 odd pounds looks like, just send a comment and I'd be glad to give you as realistic a sample as I can of what I eat and how I move when I'm not on a diet and easily maintaining that weight. It's a not a life of deprivation---it's a life of popcorn and chocolate milk and cheese.
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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