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!







Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Real change?

I don't think I'm making any real changes at all. Every day includes many good decisions and also many poor ones. Ergo--I stay about 40-50 lbs overweight. There are enough good decisions and habits to allow me to buy clothes off the rack and ride on airplanes, but just not enough change to allow any real CHANGE. It's frustrating and I don't know what to do. Diets just make me angry and don't produce lasting change, and IE simply isn't a strong enough program to cause me to really DO anything differently.

I'm thinking on paper here---I like definite goals and charts and planning things out--I get excited about programs like the Lazy Man, but I get frustrated when programs cause me any real inconvenience or change I'm not ready for. I also get bored with things easily. I also like a sense of randomness. I wonder if I could think up a number of healthy behaviors--each designed to cover just one week--like veggie week--every day the focus would be to eat at least 5 veggies. I could even scary ones like "low fat week" "two exercise a day week." I wonder if there could be much variety there--off-hand the things I'm thinking of most are deprivation kind of things like--low cheese week, or no sugar week, or ....well!! Let me just start listing and see what I come up with!

1: Jillian week--one Jillian workout per day (6 days)

2: Low carb week

3: Double exercise week

4: Yoga week

5: spa and facial week

6: Veggie week---at least 5 servings per day.

7: Nothing processed week

8: Fancy cheese week

9: Fancy dessert week---the idea to make something I wouldn't normally--thus lessening the "specialness" of it.

10: High Protien week.

11: No distracted eating week--a tough one! No reading!

12: Smoothie week--I don't normally eat smoothies, maybe a good habit to start.

13: Nibble week--little meals all day long

14: Swim week

15: Stretch week

16: One dessert a day week (I usually have much more)

17: Healthy choice at a restaurant week

18: weight watchers week--it's good portion control practice

19: Snack week--make at least four new good snacks

20: Morning work out week

21: 1800 cal week

22: Diabetic week

23: Vegetarian week.

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