I hadn’t weighed myself in a few days, but because I ate an early dinner last night and kept very busy cleaning my house all the way up till bedtime, I felt like I’d have a loss this morning. The last time I weighed in was around Saturday or Sunday…can’t remember for sure…but I was pleased when the scale showed 175.8. As time goes on, each number – even one pound – is a milestone, it seems.
Well, this morning, I stepped on the scale and was thrilled to see 172.5. I have now lost a total of 17 pounds.
I face some intense challenges over the next few days, probably the most intense since I started my plan. My parents are coming to town, and they are staying at my house. They’re both big foodies, and ever since my mom has slowed down, they tend to focus most of their attention on food, especially restaurant food. I simply will have to cook, too. No way around that. Since in my family I am famous for my Caesar salad, I’m going to have to make that at least one night…and since I do not want the people close to me to know just how structured and intense I’ve been about my diet, I won’t be able to retreat to the safety of pre-packaged meals like Lean Cuisine entrees.
Although I adore my parents and am excited that they’re coming to visit, I’m also dreading it, all the way around. I don’t want to lose my great momentum! Today I weigh less than I have in at least four, if not five years. I feel so much better too. I really want to maintain my progress. But I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to do it in the face of restaurants and the fattening “specialty” foods that I always tend to fix when they’re around.
For instance, my mom in particular has a thing about “something hot for lunch.” Usually, this means either going out to eat, or else having a restaurant-quality grilled sandwich (with hot melted cheese oozing off of it). Both of my parents are huge fans of potato chips. I’m going to have to buy some of those, too. Then there’s the comraderie we all feel when we get Dairy Queen.
Sigh.
But you know, I can do this. I already feel a little sense of rebellion, like why should I have to give up my good habits just because everybody around me has no self-control?
And by the way – my mom has suffered greatly from obesity-related illnesses. To be fair, it’s hard to know what came first, her tremendous weight gain, or her inactivity brought about by some residual muscle weakness from having polio as a kid. But knowing how she eats – and more importantly, how deep in denial she is about how much and how poorly she eats – I’m thinking her steady weight gain over the past 15 or 20 years is what has caused most of her present-day handicap. This is just another thing that makes me want to keep my weight in a normal healthy range.
Anyway…here are some strategies for what I’m going to do:
1. I will eat at least 2 servings of vegetables every day. If we’re going out, I will have them before we leave. This trick does a number of things for me. For one, it serves as a reinforcement of my commitment to my goals. Doing positive things – making good choices – makes me feel like I can do this, and it makes me a lot more prone to making MORE good choices, such as selecting the low-calorie option at restaurants. The second thing that eating veggies does is, of course, curb my appetite. If your stomach is full of spinach or carrots, you’re not going to be quite so ravenous when you sit down to dinner. For me personally, veggies also seem to have the effect of evening out my desires. I tend to crave healthier things if I’ve eaten healthier things. I don’t think this is purely psychological – I have this instinctive feeling, though absolutely no research to prove it – that there is a scientific chemical reason for this…I literally feel like something in broccoli, for instance, shuts off certain receptors in my tastebuds and even my stomach, making certain foods (which tend to be healthier choices) taste a lot better and making others not so appealing.
2. I’m also going to exercise every day, no matter what…except perhaps on Sunday, when we go to church and might be out for a good part of the day. But even on Sunday, I may fit in a workout.
3. I’m not going to allow myself to get ravenously hungry, like I did a couple of weeks ago, when I sat down to dinner at Outback and went crazy over the cheesy-bacon fries.
4. I’m going to remember the good things about how I feel.
I already don’t think that I’m going to have as much difficulty maintaining motivation, because I’m getting more and more momentum as the days pass. The number of 172 is so tantalizingly close to the 160s! And I haven’t been in the 160s for at least four or five years. The 160s are when I can start to wear much better clothes…when I cease looking like a very large person…when I don’t feel all jiggly.
When I get in this mode, where weight loss is happening and I’m seeing and feeling results, I almost forget to feel hungry and cave in to Crazed Addict Fatgirl, so intent am I on reaching my goal.
I can do this. I will do this. I’m not going to have to write any reports of failure on this blog. I’m making that commitment now.
