Watch and Weight

Thoughts on weight loss:



It occured to me as I pondered whether I would be able to lose 10 pounds by the end of June and what I'd have to do that my approach to dieting is all wrong. I was considering jumping on another bandwagon - one that had worked for me in the past, such as the purification diet, Weight Watchers, carb addicts - while I munched on one of the 3 pack of Reese's peanut butter cups from the work vending machine. The thought of starving myself just seemed horrible. That's what these diets are: starvation of one sort or the other. I'm miserable and fixated on food until I reach my goal or the event for which I am starving myself arives. Then I start eating the way I was and gain the weight back.



Obviously, this doesn't work. And obviously that is pointed out in many magazines. What I realized, though, is that even if I can't lose the weight by the end of June I still want to lose the weight. (Oh, and by the way June was the new goal after the April Hawaii trip goal was missed.)



What I have now determined is that I need to make some small, permanent changes that will likely not allow me to lose the weight by the end of June, but should make it possible for me to lose the weight and not gain it again.



So, to start with, I've made two changes. Sam and I are now going to the gym. Hopefully I'll still go when he is out of town. I have found that I love walking on the treadmill at an incline. I can't run; it hurts my knees. I can't use the eliptical machines because they make my feet hurt after 10 minutes. But walking "uphill" on the treadmill gets my blood pumping and doesn't hurt anything.



The other change is planning for the afternoon munchies. At the new job, I am bored. I am often bored, and therefore often eat. The only thing that I can eat from these vending machines are unflavored potato chips and some candy bars due to my gluten intolerance. So I was eating a candy bar almost every day, within an hour after lunch. I wasn't hungry, but I needed to eat. I brought carrots, but I didn't want them. I discovered that kombucha tea kills that craving. So now I have carrots, an apple, and kombucha tea to keep me from the vending machine (at least on a regular basis). I have found that if I drink the tea when I start feeling the cravings (usually around 2:00) I am not hungry before 5:00. However, at 5:00 I am starving and will make bad decisions on eating before dinner. Therefore I make myself eat the apple and carrots around 4:00 so that I can make better decisions later.



My next challenge is going to be after dinner. Usually an hour after dinner I am bored and too tired to do anything constructive. Why don't I go to bed? Because it's still light out until 9:30! So I end up drinking, and drinking makes me eat, so I start eating. This is what I need to resolve next.



We'll see what happens. I am determined to make and keep these changes. When my mom was my age, she was probably about my size, and concerned about her weight. But with the amount of stress she was dealing with at that time and thereafter, she never did get her eating habits under control, or maintain an exercise program. I'm not worried about dying young like she did; that's genetic, and there is really very little one can do about that. But I'm worried about gaining the weight that she did and feeling as depressed as she did. I wish I could have helped her, but at least I can learn from her.