Week 27 - 03/08/12

Week 27

Experrience, common sense, and public accountability. 

It's been six full months since the night I declared my commitment to a healthier diet and lower numbers on the bathroom scale. Frankly, I'm a little surprised by the success that I've had this time around. More than ever before the commitment seems to be paying off without reprogramming my life around a diet and fitness routine that someone else made up.

I don't know if I've told you but I've tried quiet a few diets over the years. Those that I remember include the Adkins (high protein/low carb) Diet, The Cabbage Soup (almost starvation) Diet, The Weight Watchers (Count Your Points) Diet, and if I go back about 30 years I was even on The Cambridge (powder in a shaker bottle) Diet. All of them helped me lose weight, but none of them felt like something I could actually live with and commit to for a prolonged period of time. Add in the usual need to sign up for a health club membership that goes with each of the commitments and you start to see the effort that shedding some weight can be. No wonder so many people have a hard time sticking with it.

I'm six months into my journey and have lost a little more than half the target of 100 to 110 pounds that my doctor and I agreed to. I've resisted all of the offers that came forward that would require me to change my life and all the choices I've ever made about food (and the tastes that I enjoy). Instead, I've borrowed from a few of the programs I've been on or have read about. It seems to be working... and it hasn't seemed all that hard.

Here are five of the things I've been doing for the last six months.
  1. Driving past every single fast food restaurant that I see. I won't even stop for a salad!
  2. Eat a small breakfast every day - usually a lot fat yogurt mixed with granola and/or Grape Nuts.
  3. Eating a salad for lunch almost every day. (I'm creating fans at the office salad bar. Mine are delicious works of art!)
  4. Chicken is my main meat. You can't eat too much chicken... or can you?
  5. Fruit and veggies are my friends. Thanks for saying that they are "free" Weight Watchers. And my very best new friend when it comes to fruit and desert is Yonanas... Brilliant and delicious!
And of course, the new step that I think is making the biggest difference is personal accountability. Going public with my effort and writing about it here each week is helping to keep me focused and committed. 
 
New weight as of March 8th - 269.6 lbs
Weight lost to date -  55.4 lbs
Weekly exercise: Goose Eggs! I didn't make time for one minute of exercise this week!

Your comments, suggestions, and stories of your personal edge are always welcome in my guest book.
 

Week 27 - 03/08/12