Thursday, January 2, 2014

#1080 good luck with that...

I was looking through Pinterest for some inspiration and motivation and wise words to help me with my weight loss resolution. I saw this one:

loseweight45.blogspot.com





When I first saw this pin, I thought that it sounded like a good idea and that's why I pinned it. (To be honest, I know that it will take more than six months with or without these tricks to get this body bikini ready.)

The more I thought about it, though, the more I recognized that this is not the way for me to accomplish my goal. Once I deny myself something, once I tell myself that I am giving THAT up, whether it's a cookie or a french fry, THAT become the only thing that I want and I will sabotage myself in my deprivation.

One of the reasons I thought WW was very good and livable was that they didn't tell you anything was off limits. Instead, WW says that you can have anything you want, as long as you recognize what you are eating and you don't overindulge. I like that philosophy.

When I was being successful with weight loss in the past, I had a day, usually Sunday, when I could have a treat. I would plan my meals and make sure I had enough Points to take care of the treat. It worked well. Since I'm a list maker and a writer-down-of-things, I totally didn't mind doing the tracking and planning. It's not for everyone, but it worked for me. In fact, once I went online and used the app that WW has, I got lazy. It was almost too easy and I didn't track much anymore. I know. Strange.

I don't want to not have dairy the entire month of March. I like milk and yogurt and cheese! The Month Without program probably isn't going to work for me.

I think that weight loss and getting healthy is more about change than about deprivation. It's about making little (or big) changes that you can live with and sustain.

This afternoon I was eating lunch in the breakroom at work and a couple of my co-workers came in to eat lunch, too. They sat at a different table, but I could clearly hear their conversation. Of course, both of them had vowed to lose weight in this new year, also. The two of them are going about it in different ways. One of them is cutting down on her portions and eating more fruits and vegetables. She is also vowing to drink more water.

The other one is planning to lose weight by cutting the number of calories she eats in a day to around 500. 500! According to choosemyplate.gov, the minimum calories needed for a child age two to three years is 1,000 calories a day. For a female age 31 - 50 years who is not physically active, the number of recommended calories is around 1800. Even if you wanted to consume less calories than that, 500 isn't realistic because it's not sustainable.

I did not get involved with the conversation, but obviously I've been thinking about it all day. I worry that I will find this poor girl passed out from malnutrition in the bathroom one day. Yikes!

Sorry I got up on a little soapbox there. I'm certainly no expert and I don't know much about anything. It just bothered me, I guess. I'll do my thing and she can do hers and hopefully we'll both get the results we want.

I finished a book on 12/31 and it's my last entry on the 2013 Reading List page. Check it out!

1 comment:

Kteach said...

I think I already said that, but my mother's weight stayed pretty much the same all the time. Her secret, eat everything but small portions, she was overwhelmed at the huge amount of food we ate in restaurants in the US.
I do agree that giving up something only makes you want it more.