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!







Saturday, April 5, 2014

UP

So far, so good. Last night I discovered that all it takes to make me happy is about 1500 calories per meal . I had a wonderful pizza dinner--pepperoni lovers pizza, breadsticks, wings, salad. I could have eaten more, but I'd "only" earned 600 extra calories. It really felt good. For wellness time, I walked and did the rowing machine. Then I did another 15 minutes of walking to be sure I did the full hour. Then the weather was nice after work and I went on my hike. Holy tamales, it went straight up hill! I huffed 45 straight up, and then minced straight down for another 45. This brought me back to my office. I picked up my stuff and walked another half hour home. I was good and tired and I thoroughly enjoyed my big pizza dinner. Later, I finished off the night with a couple of girl scout cookies and a mini hershey bar. Perfect.

Today is 1700. Hard for me, but although my choices probably weren't the wisest, I liked them. At the moment I'm at 1500 because I want dessert. I had two orange rolls and some sausage for breakfast. A random lunch of snacky stuff---spinach crab dip, homemade chips, tomato soup, an apple and some brie. No much of any of that. And for dinner I had ONE count it, ONE piece of pizza. It might be the first time in my life I've ever eaten just one slice. ONE slice pizza, one buffalo wing and a cabbage salad with three olives. I could have easily eaten 4 times as much, but really, I'm ok.  And now, we finally filed our taxes, and I'm going to have one of Catherine's pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and some hot chocolate with whipped cream (diet, naturally).  

Exercise-wise, I was still a little stiff and tired, so I did a gentle 45 min of wii with a lot of yoga and 15 min of gentle bike. I'll give myself 100 extra cal for that. One thing I always forget, is how well I sleep when I exercise. I slept like a rock last night.

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