I’ve been on a diet since 1958. I’ve been slim and I’ve been fat. Slim wins.
I’ve tried every diet known, they all work, for awhile and then I’m not sure what happens=My body screams “enough is enough”! No matter what anybody says, it comes down to deprivation. We are not a society accustomed to that, so we don’t take to it kindly. No matter how many times I start an exercise plan, I eventually fail. Despite the fact that I feel better and I sleep better. I keep learning that same lesson over and over again. (some lessons i.e: don’t touch the stove. I only needed to learn “the once”.) Why is that? If anyone knows, please tell me.
To simplify all this, I need to say, my body is just, plain, diet resistant. I can almost hear the fat cells yelling out ”here she goes again, shut down, shut down”. “Dive, dive, dive!”
So here I am, this time around. Maybe I’ve found the key, but probably not.
I have been counting both calories and carbohydrates. I allow under 1100 calories and 130 or less carbs daily. I eat a little more on the weekends. AND I KEEP A MEAL DIARY!! I don’t eat potatoes, bread, cereal, rice, pasta or fruit more than once a week. I just can’t afford the carbs. Of course there’s no place for dessert either or I have a sliver of something, but that makes me long for more. I don’t like milk, so that’s not a problem, but I have a yogourt/berry snack a few times a week. I feel healthy. I have ultra strong bones, take a few supplements (I swear on Omega 3-6-9) and have enough fat to survive a famine.
I think I’ve lost about 10 pounds in 2 months, but I stay off the scale, it’s my nemessis. I measure. I’ve lost about 7 inches total.
This diet is quite restrictive, but because I am eating low carb, my appetite, which is controlled by my blood sugar/glucose, is under control. I’m trying not to think about food. When it’s mealtime, I just put something together, making sure that I have lots of vegetables for a stir fry or a salad. I only plan a meal about 2-3 times a week, just enough to take something out of the freezer and to have leftovers. With my luck, my family will lose weight. They don’t need to.
I put the elliptical machine in the living room where I have decided it has to become part of the furniture. Not that snazzy, but it’s my reality, because if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. I do about 3 km 5x a week and trying hard to do a session in the afternoon or evening, but the spirit hasn’t moved me…yet. I have been doing a few light weights also. I can’t bring myself to do any floor exercises and probably never will. (It’s too hard getting up and down).
So there! This feels just like confession. Now, I’ll go and do my penance. Maybe, I’ll post again on this subject, and maybe not. Feel free to comment.
littlepatti
September 22, 2009 at 4:02 pm |
Hi Pat,
Here is my contribution to why we carry those few (I wish) extra pounds. I didn’t come up with it…but boy do I like it…plus my rationale is this…if I lost all the weight I dream of losing… who would recognize me? I might be thin but I’d also be lonely.
So, here is the rationale for coping with those extra pounds…just learn to love them:
“Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:
¨THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?¨
A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.
To Whom It May Concern
(Comment by me:…or whatever the French for that is…as you might gather…it has been translated):
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time together with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barren Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.
(Comment from me: I wish they’d have sense enough to keep away from Japan and Norway…or at least learn to avoid the fishing boats and factory processing ships of those nations -who for some reason adore eating whale and dolphin meat…get a life and a taste for curry or vegetables or something else…is what I say).
Whales are also wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and have virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected (sometimes) and admired by almost everyone in the world.
Mermaids, on the other hand, don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean or a some such breed of psychoanalysts due to a severe identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore, they do not have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me – I want to be a whale.
P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kid, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a drink (or two or ???) with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, “Good gosh, look how smart I am.”
Love ya! Keep up the news…it might make me start writing one of my own. 10,000 new friends…Wow!
W.
September 22, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
Thanks Wanda,
I vote for the whale scenario. As a matter of fact, that fits my profile exactly. Poo-poo on Mermaids. Not one has been my good friend, whereas I enjoy a plethora of whales in my “pod”, if not in body, then in spirit.
I wish you would write. God knows, (and I know) you have that talent. You have such an interesting background: work, world traveler, great thinker! As I said, I wrote and spilled my thoughts over a page at a time and in the process my life sorted itself out in my mind. It amazes me! It’s such a relief. I imagine it’s like keeping a diary or having a shrink…
All the best,
Pat