I am not doing a program. I know a lot of people like programs, I am just not much of a joiner. I like being at home and don't run around much. I have tried programs before, not weight watchers...but the kind you get in the diet of the month books...like atkins or south beach. I have tried just exercising, or eating 1200 calories and sucking down what I thought were "healthy foods" whether or not I liked them. I have gone through periods of being a gym rat. No program has ever, ever, ever lasted. I inevitably got sick of ....meat, cheese, yogurt, arugula, gym equipment, full lenth mirrors in the weight room, driving somewhere to work out, fake hype, false hope, sweating with strangers, magic pills, locker room nudity.....you name it. I kept doing things I hated. I hate salads with lite italian dressing. I hate rice cakes. I hate full length mirrors in the exercise area. I resent skinny women complaining about how fat their thighs look when my thigh is the size of their waist. I hate how military gyms always have the weather channel or the news on with NO SOUND. I loathe yogurt, wheat grass, green tea, tofu and starving myself. I hate "diets" where you eat meat and three cups of vegetables and stink just so you can lose weight. I hate spending money to "look good at the gym" and never again will I plop down one more dollar for a self help diet book telling me, (when you strip away the bs and you look at it's essential message) that you need to watch how much you eat and you need to exercise more. So I prefer to count. Count calories, count the miles as I walk and count the pounds I drop and count the dollars I save because I no longer buy books hoping they will make me thin. Some tools I have invested in this time around.
1.) A food scale- I have no idea what 4 oz. of ground beef or chicken looks like, I put it on a paper plate (0.5 ounces) and then add the meat till 4.5 is reached. Guess what, then I know that I am eating around 200 calories of meat. Same with 2 oz. of pasta or 100 grams of crackers etc.
Tim got it at walmart, it's digital and has a button for different units of measure. $23.00
2.) Good ankle socks-the cushiony kind. $6.00
3.) Nike walking shoes, half off. $33 .00
4.) A cheap watch, I hate to wear a watch, but this way I know how long I have been walking. $10.00
5.) Gas and an hour of my time. $2.50
I mapped out six or seven different walking routes, up to 2.6 miles, so that way with my watch and my pre mapped walks I know how fast and how far I am walking, therefore I know how many calories I am burning. Within two or three months, I will be doing this again for longer walking routes.
6.) A cheap analogue scale which doesn't really show me my exact weight ( I get that on my friends digital scale once a month) but it does show me if I am trending upward, downward or staying the same. $13.00.
7,) Internet blog and confessional-free
I am doing what works for me, it will look different for each person. Some people love the gym, or green tea. Yogurt is a delicious treat and they couldn't imagine working out without the benefit of a full lenth mirror and the weather channel on mute. I am counting on simple science to work for me. Calories in, Calories out. Supernatural Grace to sustain me and not let me quit, God is on call 24/7 (sure beats jenny craig). And good freinds to support me and keep me accountable.
Reason 4 W.I.W.T.L. W. or W.I.H.B.F- (why i want to lose weight or why i hate being fat)
UGlY Fat clothes: When your are Obese, clothing designers take it into their wee skulls that YOu, a relatively round individual, are going to LOVE Sequins, Kittens, Matching shirt/pants combos in sickening shades of purples and green, LARGE PRINTS and sometimes they even make matching suits in VELOUR. Just what we big girls need, thick, shiny fabric that clings
to every bump and lump imaginable. I want to wear pretty cotton dresses, short sleeve shirts and dare I say it.....shorts. Yes, I am in the shallow end of the pool today...I want to shop for cute clothes.
3 comments:
You are so right. I hate dieting and have decided to never do it again. Instead I am listening to the Lord and doing what He tells me to do. This works so much better.
Great post.
I'm with you on this. I cracked up at your dislike of 'locker-room nudity'! I think I was scarred for life at the YMCA when I was 12 and walked in on a busload of butt-naked women taking showers. Yikes! Freaked this little flat-chested girl out!
It was so nice to meet you IRL! Nice to put a face to your blog.
God bless.
I don't know how I found you, but I will ever be grateful that I did. I have been following your wit and humor the last few months and it has made a huge difference in my life. Your post on October 6th was especially profound. Because of you, I found the courage to make some much needed changes in my life. I even started my own blog that I have told no one about. No pictures, no names, just numbers and introspect. If no one ever reads, thats okay. It is for me. A place to record my journey as you have recorded yours. A place to see the progress and pitfalls and analyze my emotions and self. I decided I needed to go back to the beginning of your journey so I could understand where you were and how you got to where you are. This post resonates such a truth to me like the Oct 6th post did. I have also tried it all and am tired. It is only up to me. Me. No one else can do this for me. There is no easy quick fix. So, now I'm rambling - but what I really wanted to do was just to say thank you - but how do you do that to a complete stranger when no words are adequate? The only answer I could come up with is to say them anyway, then live by your example. So, Sweet Chris, the stranger who has saved my life, thank you. Thank you for your courage, your sacrifice, your life. Thank you. Loves.
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