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!







Thursday, November 13, 2014

portions? Anyone?

Crud! I've totally let go of the idea that portions mean anything. The concept of small just doesn't compute. On the plus side, I was able to walk to work yesterday--just in time for the cold snap. Kettlebell class is interesting too. I've discovered that I can work MUCH harder and longer than I think I can. I've also discovered that I don't like to. I should have been a farmer like my grandparents. I still wouldn't have liked it, but I wouldn't have had any choice either. I have at least tracked my food. And I'll catch up on gratitude too. :)

Nov 11.
Breakfast: Jimmy Dean sandwich, banana, milk, ok
snack: cracklin oat bran, mini reeses cup
Lunch: sm. amount of soup, the end of the summer sausage, bread and butter, two cookies, apple.
Snack: a reasonable amount of movie popcorn--$1 size
Stagecoach restaurant for dinner: western omelete, hashbrowns, 1 1/2 hotchocolates (I was freezing) a couple bites of cherry pie.
exercise: kettle bell

Nov. 12

Breakfast: muffin, milk, oj
Snack: string cheese
Lunch: chicken with frank's hot sauce (too hot!!), blue cheese, olives, 1 reeses cup, bread and butter, plum.
Dinner--very late b/c visiting teaching.  sugar cookie, chicken with gravy, potato, milk muffin

1. That I've become the "fun" project person at work
2. That I don't have to drive far today
3. For the first snow!
4. Gingerbread cookies
5. The book stranded at plimouth plantation--I read it every thanksgiving
6. That Lisa has a house big and nice enough for gatherings.
7. That our neighbors seems to have taken their dog inside.
8. That Erik seems to have forgiven me.
9. For online language courses
10. for online art courses.
11. Joanne's fabrics
12.  Dinosaurs and museums
13. toilet paper
14. ear muffs
15. cans of frosting (I"m not a good frosting maker)
16. the travelenvelope
17. The new testament--esp the beattitudes
18. That I got to work at REM
19. That I'm not in a wheelchair
20. For Kelly's example of dealing with a major illness with grace.

1. That there's so much laughter at work
2. That I can nap at work
3. That I can walk to the bank
4. That I get immediate notice if I'm overdrawn
5. That I can read
6. That my parents loved me.
7. That a spaceship has landed on a comet!
8. For the exercise bike
9. For concrete blocks and pressboard shelving
10. For our game closet.
11. That I got to sing in Mormon Youth
12. That I got to serve a mission
13. General Conference!
14. That some of the nursery kids will be leaving.
15. That Catherine wasn't a difficult baby
16. For the Taylor's testimony of Christ.
17. For Bro. Davenports updates
18. For the tv trays we inherited
19. For a two car garage.
20. That I dont' have to be on a swim team.

1. That it's Dan and not me doing the data today
2. That I think I can get to the library and get the mafia dvd 's
3. That we live near Yellowstone
4. For the Disney Sunday movies when I was growing up
5. For Tricia's friendship and her family
6. For Debbie
7. That my wedding reception was on the patio--not in the gym
8. That I've shaken the hand of a prophet
9. For ALLEGRA!
10. For Kyle and his love of zoology
11. For Nadine Riddle--so loving
12. That Stephonie Williams is my facebook friend
13. That I COULD publish my diet book
14. That I didn't marry Jeff or Stu, or much worse, Ken
15. That I was born middle-class. Not too rich, poor or famous.
16. That I discovered Pride and Prejudice
17. Many of the PandP spin offs
18. That it's so easy to get help at Weber
19. That English is my native language--helpful in today's world!
20. For my little scripture a day calendar

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