So, lately I have been doing a lot of talking at work about my new healthy lifestyle. I feel almost like a broken record when I give my speeches about my food extracting, my healthy cooking, eating whole organic and clean, how easy it is etc.
But, yesterday I was talking to a woman who has had the same lifelong struggle with weight and she asked me what most people seem to want to know: "How much weight have you lost?"
I have no idea. While it's clear that the amount is significant enough for people to be noticing, I am sorry to say I don't know. A lot of people are more concerned with the pounds coming off or how much fat they are eating or how many carbs are in that banana.
I try to stress to them that it is a lifestyle change and not a diet. That I am not going to set weight loss targets and and a final goal. I want to sustain good health for however long I am going to live on this great planet of ours.
I set out to figure out why I struggle with food, to learn about my relationship with eating. I wanted to address all my triggers and why I would always gain the weight back. I wanted to figure out why I became a compulsive eater in the first place.
I have taken a long hard look at all of those things. And while I don't, and may never, have all they answers as to why food was my way through stress and grief, I now know that there is another way to use food.
I have done numerous weight loss programs and all I concerned myself with was eating however many calories, points, fat grams, or carbs were allowed on these "diets". I have learned much from these programs including what not to do. I have also learned that I had so many tools already and never knew how to use them.
I am not a vegan. I am not a total raw food freak. I am not only going to eat what has fallen on the ground for fear of hurting the plant or tree from which it came! But I do care what I put into my body.
Does this mean I will never again have a burger from a drive-thru? Most likely, yes. Does it mean I will never have ice cream or cookies or chocolate or pizza? Not on your life!
There are many alternatives to fast food and junk food. I still have chips and salsa. I still have cheese. I even have beef once in a blue moon. I dine out. I visit friends. I go to social functions. And, in all of these instances, I choose things that are most like what I would make at home. Yes, the chips are most likely multi-grain and organic and I might order something without some of the sauces and glazes. I make my own salad dressing. It's not that hard to do.
I reached a couple of landmarks this week and I am quite proud of both.
Tomorrow will start week number seventeen of eating healthy and taking care of myself. When I belonged to Weight Watchers, they had started something where, after sixteen weeks, you received a key chain that said "sweet sixteen". Behavioral professionals believe that if you can change a behavior for sixteen weeks, the new behavior you replaced the bad one with becomes a new habit. So you absolutely can teach an old dog new tricks!
There is still a long road ahead of me to get this battered body of mine back into shape and there is much learning on my part that still needs to take place. But I know in my bones that this is the right path for me. It's not for everyone. Lots of people can maintain good health and weight and still have the occasional Big Mac or ice cream sundae. They don't need to pre-think each morsel they ingest. But food has been my go to drug for so long that I have to continue to be wary of going back to my old way of thinking which was, when it came to food, not much thinking at all. I drove past a fast food drive-thru yesterday as a short cut and I realized that aside from maybe the actual taste of some of the food, I don't miss those super sized meals one bit. There are so many tastes that I am discovering that are way more satisfying and will lead me to better health.
My other landmark was fitting into ten pairs of pants that have been sitting in my closet for a few years. Some of them were almost brand new! When I began this whole journey, I was busting out of a size and could have gone up and the pants would have fit fine (maybe slightly loose). Now,I am squeezing into some that are three full sizes down. I won't wear those yet. Maybe in a couple of weeks. And, although I'll hold on to them a bit longer, I will be donating some of my "fatter" pants eventually.
I set out to make myself healthier. I think I am achieving that, more so each week. I knew that I needed to lose weight. DUH! But, I did not start out with that specific goal in mind. It has been a wonderful by-product of changing everything!
There's a weight loss product commercial on TV that says "Want big pants?" My response has always been "I already have big pants! That's my problem!" But I guess I forgot that I also had smaller pants that were just waiting for my ass to get smaller (and, maybe a little smarter)!
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