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!







Friday, June 28, 2013

Still down

YAY!  Still at 196 today. I was a bit worried because the Zuppas dinner probably put me a little over my 2200, and yesterday I was quite hungry for dinner and had a second sloppy joe which put me right about at 2200. No problem!  Whew!  I'm trying not to be too concerned with the scale, which is oddly, why I'm weighing myself a lot just now. I don't want to weigh myself on the last day of the month and have the number reflect a flux either up or down. If I weigh frequently during the last week and take an average, that should give me a better sense of what my goal should be for the next month.

Today we're going on the ward campout and I really feel as though I can have whatever I want and still be ok. I'm not going to freak out over each calorie--I'm eating to leave myself a good 1000-1200 cal for dinner and I doubt I'll eat much more than that. That still means a good breakfast and lunch for me too. Here's today's happy non-weight watchers menu.

Breakfast--1 serving oatmeal with a whole apple and cinnamon
2 slices bacon
milk--about a cup 1%
juice--diet--almost no calories.

Snack--banana

Lunch
2 homemade pieroshis (meat turnovers)
yogurt to dip the turnovers
a thick slice of cheddar cheese
a large helping of peas
10 olives
apple sticks--this is junk food tastes kind of like apple jacks but you get a whole lot (38 sticks) for just 110 calories
Diet fresca

Dinner
2 hotdogs with all the toppings
Baked Lays
chip dip (fat free sourcream with onion soup mix)
1 or 2 smores

The ward is fixing breakfast for us tomorrow. No doubt it will be heavy, but who cares? I'll try to be moderate, but if I can't manage it, I'll adjust the rest of the day or exercise, or simply get right back on track with lunch.

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