My favorite weight-loss blogger, Sean Anderson, often talks about his "steel curtain" zone. It's the commitment he made to himself and it kept him safe and on track all the way from 505 pounds to 230 and still protects him today. I admire him hugely, but you know, I don't trust that steel curtain. I've had too many experiences where I set similar rigid standards and did great until the one day something went wrong and the curtain crashed. After that I never could find the energy and desire to erect the steel curtain again--usually, deep down, I was relieved that it was gone. It seems to me that if the changes in a person's life are so drastic that you need psychological protection to maintain them, then the changes are too extreme no matter if the change is healthy or not. Every blue moon or so there comes along a Sean or a Richard Simmons who can actually turn things around overnight and maintain the change, but it seems that the rest of us simply can't do that--and there's a good reason, going from out of control eating to rigidly controlled eating is simply the flip side of the same coin. Both are extreme. One of the big problems with any diet is that the "steel curtain" is implied. Obviously if you stick to the diet, you'll have success, if you don't you won't. And since virtually no one (certainly not me!) can stick to any diet perfectly people are always either "on" or "off" whatever plan. Getting on and off the diet wagon is exhausting--I think that energy is much better spent moving along on the journey.
Anyway--when I get to goal weight it will be because THIS time was different--I deliberatley DID NOT erect a steel curtain. Just the opposite. I have a lace curtain. It provides guidelines and I can feel it if I cross those guidelines, but it has many holes and allows me through. I'm suceeding this time specifically because I CAN and DO eat as I like quite often. The piece of cheesecake the other night didn't destroy me because it was the only poor choice among many more good choices that day. Lapses like that are actually part of my plan. Sure, it would have been better if I hadn't eaten it, but I maintained a willingness to try again the next day. And THAT I think, is the real key to success.
Ok--enough preaching. I'm grateful today for---
blackberries on my cream of wheat
homemade rolls for lunch
That work is the perfect distance for me to walk to
laughing cow cheese
deli meat with cream cheese
Hungry Girl receipies--I'll be trying a turtle cheesecake this weekend!
That there are plenty of people out there who would be THRILLED to wake up at my weight today.
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment