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!







Saturday, August 20, 2011

140 a tough week ahead

Saturday, thank goodness.  It's the week before school and all week I've been talking to frantic students who have holds on their records that won't allow them to register. They should have taken care of those holds months ago! This week will be a food challenge. Tonight is the high priest dinner. No idea what they're serving, but it's sure to be high carb, high point and mediocre. The plan is to save 15 points for it and try and be moderate. The rest of the week is a little tougher. Tomorrow is Catherine's last Sunday dinner before college. We're having rouladen--extremely high calorie and fat (meat browned in loads of butter), Monday shouldn't be too bad, but we'll be packing and loading the van and busy. Tuesday we take her to BYU--probably both lunch and dinner out and Wednesday Dave and I are celebrating our newfound freedom with our own dinner out just the two of us. Well, ok---that's only till Wednesday that's hard--and today and monday aren't so bad. I'll probably survive.  I suppose I could try to make healthy choices at the restaurants--but honestly, I don't want to. Going out is still a comparitivley rare treat. Partly it depends on the restaurant. If it's a so so place, I don't mind so much making the better choice because I'm not missing out on anything especially great. But if it's a place I REALLY like---not even necessarily an expensive place--but if it serves the things I really want, I resent passing up what I want and paying for something I don't want. I guess I'm just not quite ready to take the restaurant step wholeheartedly yet. And, happily, money is still tight enough that we're not going out nearly as much, so that helps. I guess with restaurants I'll fall back on the plan that helped start me on this journey and lost me my initial 30 pounds---if there's a good choice I CAN make and still be happy with it, then I'll make a point of choosing the better option. If not, then I won't worry too much.  You'd think choosing the better option would be no-brainer if two things are equal, but it's surprising how often I won't make the better choice unless I have that mind set.  I remember once vacillating between an italian salami sandwich and a veggie sandwich with avocados and sundried tomatoes on really good bread. They both looked fantastic and I couldn't decide. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to even put health into the equation, but it finally dawned on me that heeeey--the veggie sandwich might even be better for me. That tipped the balance and I ordered it.

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