Week One: The Weigh In

Proof that taking it slow and easy works: I love 5.5 pounds this week. I did a double take and stepped on the scale three times. I made Ruby get on the scale to make sure she still weighed the same. Yep. Five and a half pounds. Painless.

So, week two is under weigh. One pound. Just one.

I really think I'm on to something here. Embracing small goals, aiming for just a small amount of change each week instead of trying to go from 0 to 100 in the shortest possible time is working for me so far.

Start: 323.5 (I can't believe I'm admitting that I'd gone back up to my highest weight.)
Today: 318

Week One: Halfway there

Have I made perfect choices this week? Nope.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store during my lunch break. I was hungry and I knew that if I just ate the small lunch that had seemed like enough that morning, I was going to be miserable all afternoon and that it would probably trigger a binge.

So I went to the store. And I wanted sugar. I picked up a donut. I can tell you with out hesitation that last week I would have bought it. And chips. And a soda probably. But I'm trying to make good choices, right? So I turned the package over. Hello, 460 calories. For one little donut. A plain glazed donut. Okay then. Now, I'd love to tell you that I made the best choice and put the donut down and walked away. But I didn't. What I did was pick up a couple of other sweet things and look at the back. Twinkies have less than 300 calories. Did you know that? Not an excellent choice, but I saved more than 160, and a lot of fat since they aren't fried.

Instead of chips I picked up some almonds and an apple.

I'm pretty sure I've said before that lunch is my downfall. I don't know why, but I am so hungry at noon and if I don't eat enough I'm anxious and binge-y all afternoon and into the night. If I eat enough to feel good and full at lunch, I can eat a small-ish dinner and be fine. Here's to trying to listen to bodily messages.

Halfway there. I'm a little excited about weighing in on Tuesday.

Week One: Good Choices

So I keep thinking to myself: If I can only make one good choice a day that saves me 500 calories, I can easily lose just one pound a week. Just one, folks. That's my whole goal.

Yesterday I took Adrienne to school, and I came with in inches of stopping to get McDonald's. I'd already had some Special K for breakfast, so it wasn't a matter of being starved or anything. Just, I had some cash and I wanted an Egg McMuffin. Which, you know, comes with hash browns. That's 440 calories saved by just driving on by. Whoo!

According to this calculator I have been eating a whooping 4000 calories to lose weight. I've been keeping track that last few days on SparkPeople of what I'm eating and I've been shocked at how hard it is to stay under 3000 calories. Doesn't that seem like a huge number? Especially when there are so many 1200 calorie diets out there. No wonder in the past I have never been able to even stick with 2000 calories. I need to take this more like a turtle and less like a rabbit. I only need to stay under 3500 (for now) to meet my one pound a week goal. That, I can do. In fact, without too much trouble I can stick to 3000. By too much trouble, I mean without suddenly breaking out into dreams about Cherry Garcia.

I think we should make this a national movement. One pound a week. Not two. Not five. Certainly not 10 or 15, no matter what happens on the Biggest Loser. Just one. Who's with me? Just one. Any one can do that.

Later I'll post my recipe for Cabbage Soup, which sounds like diet food but is SO good that you'll eat it every chance you can just because...YUM!

One Pound at a Time

Have you ever had an idea come to you so clearly that it seems outrageous that you've never thought of it before?

A few days ago I watched the season finale of Biggest Loser. I've watched every episode of five (I think) seasons, usually with a bowl of ice cream or a bag of popcorn in my lap. Because, what the hell is the point when no one could lose 10 pounds a week without living with Jillian Michaels and having her kicking butt for hours a day. Right? Right.

Then something came to me whole. I'm going to be 40 in three and a half years. If I lost just one pound a week between now and then, I could easily lose all the extra weight I've been hiding behind for the last twenty years. Just one pound a week.

How hard is that? One 500-calorie good choice a day. A ten minute walk every evening. I can do that. I know I can. The Biggest Loser people losing ten or even fifteen pounds in a week seems so far beyond my reach, that it's easy to say "why bother." But one pound? Just one.

So that's my goal. One pound a week. Nothing more. One. Pound. By Christmas I'll have lost 36 pounds. How nice.