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, December 13, 2011

252 Why WW?

Ok--continuing on with yesterday's post. What is it that I like about WW? Do I want to continue with it in the New Year or try something else?  WW does a couple of things right---if I stick to the program I DO lose weight. When I started writing this blog last Feb, I was trying the lean and free program, which sounds terrific, but I didn't lose anything.  Weight loss in and of itself is a terrific motivator. I also like the hundreds and hundreds of available recipies and I like the e-tools that allow me to track points and plug in any food or recipie to see what it's worth. I like the free fruits and veggies. But the thing that ww really does right that I'm not sure I can mimic successfully on my own is the extra weekly points. The problem with rigid calorie diets is that life itself is not rigid. There ARE days (many of them) where food is a major part of the day--there are also some days that are just plain hungrier than others. The extra points make a lot of sense to me, but I don't know what the caloric equivalents are (a closely guarded ww secret).  If I cooked up my own plan--it would be free fruits and veggies, the day's calorie total, plus some weekly calorie total that I could use whenever I wanted.  The only benefit that I can see of doing it my way would be that I would get to snub weight watchers. This would be a whole lot more effective if weight watchers cared that they were being snubbed.  I guess the real appeal of my own plan is a sense of freedom from WW or any other restrictive plan.  But that's scary too. I don't manage food well. I fight and kick at WW but it does set the limits I very much need. Besides, the calorie count website is where I can always go for motivating stories.  I will probably keep fighting on with WW as originally planned.
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