Am. Am not.

I am about to embark on an adventure. Not a new adventure, and at times, not even a fun adventure. I am sure it will alienate me from some people and draw me to others, make me stop doing some things I love and find other things instead. I am beginning the process to lose 60 pounds for what I plan to be the last time in my life.

I've been on a diet ever since I can remember. I have joined Weight Watchers so many times they don't have to give me the welcome packet - I always already have one. I can tell you the calorie count and/or WW point value of pretty much any food out there. I know serving sizes, and I know how many calories 30 minutes of most exercises will burn.

I am NOT a fan of exercise. Never have been. I don't find it fun, I don't get that elusive "high" those crackheads people talk about. I am an expert at finding excuses to avoid it.

I am also a realist - I need to grow up and just do this. It's not a diet, it's got to be the way I eat to improve my life. I am not doing this to look like some airbrushed model in a magazine - that ship has sailed, if it ever wandered into port in the first place. I am doing this because I owe it to myself to not sigh heavily when I look in the mirror. I do not want to lose the ability to walk when I'm older because I never got around to getting the weight off.

It will never be easy and it will never get any easier. I am still able to do pretty much anything I decide to do -- yoga, pilates, walking, even jogging -- but the clock is ticking.

For anyone who subscribed to my blog last year, this is a bit of a switch. There will still be random postings, but I am committing to tracking my steps for myself here. I promise my feelings will not be hurt if you choose to unsubscribe - this is not for everyone. I'll try recipes, new workouts, whatever strikes me. I'll start with Weight Watchers since I know it, but there may be a switch along the way.

If you've been thinking about something similar - 5 pounds, 50 pounds -- feel free to join me. I'd love to know what works for you, what you've tried.

Okay, I am about to push the publish button. I am scared. But I am also scared of NOT doing this. So throwing it into the blogosphere is my accountability. Here goes.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Calories and Weight Watchers.

What I've never understand about the Weight Watchers program (in any version, and I've done them all) is that it does not count calories. Anyone who has ever dieted has memorized the "calories in/calories out" mantra, but here's a hugely popular and successful program that completely ignores the calorie count of food. How can that even work? [For anyone who has not tried or read about WW, the current system counts fat, carbs, fiber, and protein, and assigns a point value to the serving of food. You're given a set number of points to use per day, with additional ones for activity minutes, and a bonus bank for the week. Stay within your points, and you'll lose weight.] So I tried an experiment. For about a week, I tracked my food on WW and on sparkpeople (dot) com -- an awesome FREE site that I highly recommend. I entered the same foods, the same quantities in order to see what, if any, correlation there might be. WW gives 26 points a day. Sparkpeople ...
Read more

Cheese, glorious cheese.

Image
I totally love cheese. On stuff. By itself. Any kind (except Limburger, of course). Melted, cubed, sliced, crumbled. If it weren't for cheese (oh, and bacon) I could probably be vegan. But anyway... If you've been on many diets, and especially if you've done Weight Watchers, you already know that cheese is not exactly friendly to most point-counting or calorie-watching plans. It does have an offset with protein and calcium, but I realized it's probably worth a little research.  First, a visual. This is one ounce of each of these cheeses. Generally, an ounce is a serving size - a sandwich slice, a string cheese stick, those single serve snacks in a bag -- most of those are one ounce. It's a little hard to tell in a picture, but the "bars" like Gouda and Havarti look like about the same amount in an ounce, but parmesan looks like a much more when it's piled up like this. Lesson #1 : All cheese is not created equal. It's hard to tell by ...
Read more

All the food!

Image
Hello, strangers on the interweb! I'm still alive! I still have my Blogger account. Now you can all breathe a little easier.  There are probably a dozen topics I need to write about, including how the child decided she was adult enough to move out of my house to college, of all things, but I can't do that one yet. Maybe in a couple of years.... BUT, apparently, I decided to cope with that change by cooking all the food...and eating all the food...and taking pictures of all.the.food! Here's what's been cooking at the hacienda.   I'd love to tell you that I just made all these up myself. Then I could start a new career, but this was way easier than that. I clicked a random link one day -- gatheredtable.com is my new life-saving menu planner site! You really should check it out. I've not made anything yet that we haven't liked. You can import your own recipes or ones from anywhere on the web and they'll work into the rotation. Cha...
Read more