If you haven’t fought it you can’t imagine the endless struggle against obesity. For me it’s like something just shuts off and I actually reject concern about my weight or health. When that little window opens I don’t care about my future. Clothes? They’ll aways fit.
I’ve been thinking about my reflection in windows though. There are few things so disheartening for a person who has struggled to lose fifty or more pounds than to catch sight of our reflection in a store-front window and discover that ALL our weight is back. It seems impossible How can that happen?
It happens because obesity is an incurable disease that goes undercover when our weight is controlled. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone. (nodding) It’s there. It will always be there. And sure, we all no that food has calories and if we eat more calories than we use, those calories will be converted to fat. So what?
When you’re obese every day is like a final exam that you have to ace. Eat a little less?
- How much less?
- And what?
- And what about exercise?
- And did you know that you’re probably eating more than you thought even if you’re watching your diet?
- Do you weigh your food?
- What about between meal snacks?
- Is it OK to eat more than 3 meals a day?
These are the sorts of questions we’ll be talking about at Eat4Today. The question might be easy — but the answers certainly aren’t. And this fatty likes talking about food — even if she can’t eat it whenever she wants!
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I should probably say that while I have gained some weight through this time of tribulation, I haven’t come near to regaining ALL my weight.
Thank God — This blog has really helped me hang on, if only by my bare fingertips.
But I DID catch site of myself in a store-front window and thought — watch yourself sweetie….
Hi Katiebird, I heard in NY they list the calories for food at Starbucks, etc. . .. I wonder what book is the best for learning how many calories in what we eat.
Hi Florence, Starbucks has a very nice handout that they’ll give anyone if you ask. It’s also online.
As far as the rest? That’s what this place is all about! There are good books and a lot of good online and software tools too. I’ll pull something together for tomorrow.
I had a hysterectomy (spelling?) three years ago and found myself 35 pounds heavier than I should/would like to be. But I’m tall and have always been able to carry more weight than smaller women.
One day I woke up and said…what if? What if I lost 305 pounds…what would I look like? How would I feel?
So I went on my “latest” diet – lost 35 pounds and LOVED me. I didn’t feel old. (I’M 62…so I am not old!) And I felt so much better.
But now I’m fighting every day to stay as close as I can to my desired weight. And, as I age, I find the results are less appealing – the skin sags. The energy is less.
The strange part is that I know I don’t need the food I eat…sometimes I just want it – it makes me feel good, until I see my reflection in a window and feel bad again.
Arghhhh.
But we will prevail – not because we have to. But because it’s really better if we do.
Ha – typo…”what if I lost 35 pounds”! Dear heavens, if I lost 305 pounds I would have ceased to exist!
Hi Shainzona,
Are you exercising and drinking enough water? Maybe the weight that suited you in your youth isn’t exactly right now? And I’m not a skin expert. But I am a good researcher if that’s something you’d like to talk about more.
On the sagging — I think that’s why God invented industrial strength underwear.
I enjoy reading katiebird and shainzona so much at the confluence and now I come here and find we have a whole “nother” thing in common.
I quit smoking on 9/11. For me personally it just seemed “wrong” that people were dying for no reason and I was killing myself one puff at a time. And there were a lot of puffs because I was a chain smoker. I threw my cigarette and lighter at my guy and told him I was done. He didn’t think I saw the eye-roll but I did. Long story a little shorter, I’ve never smoked again. And since I’m afraid that a few beers, make mine Killian Red Rico, would lower my resistance, I quit drinking that day too.
But boy did I eat. All those things I had denied myself for years. I deserved them, I told myself, and myself dug right in. Long story shorter, I gain 80 pounds. 80!
I finally took my head out of my nether regions, took and good look in the mirror and fainted dead away. Well figuratively anyway.
I worked my butt off, well some of it, and managed to lose 43 pounds. Yay, more then half way there. And then I not only fell off the wagon, I jumped off and ran as far from it as possible. I gained it all back. Every damn pound. Now I am starting again and its difficult. I guess because I don’t trust me anymore. I try and tell myself I quit smoking and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done so I can do this. Can I? Quite honestly I don’t really know. I know that I am digging my grave with a fork and spoon and a bag of chips but I can’t seem to stop. Help!
{{Marge}} I’m right there with you every step of the way. And that’s what Eat4Today is all about.
I believe that Obesity is forever — whether we’re keeping weight off or not, it’s lurking there waiting for a weak moment. So many days I feel like I’m hanging onto control by my fingertips….
But, with this site — Eat4Today we can support each other through those weak times.
Marge? I mean that question in the Just 4 Today post. Taking it Just Today, what will you do? What can you do? It’s amazing how effective it is to write down your goal and share it.
xxoo
a fellow struggler,
katiebird
thank you for responding katiebird.
Just4today I dusted off my treadmill and walked for 5 minites at a time 3 times. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I have very bad knees and with all this extra weight I have to start slow or get so sore I can’t keep walking.
I also, just4today, will not have one bite to eat after 6 p.m. instead of grazing constantly till bedtime. (This is important to me because I believe that if a person’t word is no good then neither is the person. So when I tell you I will do this, Just4today, I will.) (No promises about tomorrow
“I will do this, Just4today, I will”
That’s a powerful commitment Marge. It’s amazing what we can do if we just focus on today…..
KenoshaMarge: What a great comment….you dusted off your treadmill! That means you’ve taken the first step – which is always the hardest.
Hooray for you! Please remember those words: “I dusted off my treadmill!”
As far as tomorrow is concerned….do what you need to do but remember “you will do this – just4today – you will!
You are an inspiration and tomorrow I will match you step for step, minute for minute. And we will both succeed.
:>))))
Shainzona is right Marge — I got caught up in stuff at work and didn’t have time to elaborate but, the dusting off and the 5 minutes is really fantastic! THAT is like a 6 mile walk. I know the effort of getting started.
Shainzona, thank you (and you are an inspiration to me)
katiebird and shainzona I cannot tell you what your responses mean to me. Due to my weight gain and the fact that I lost two teeth that I cannot afford to get fixed at this time I am almost completely housebound out of embarrassment. I feel so alone most of the time and that’s when the bag of chips come out. My guy tries to be supportive but he’s 5’11″ tall and weighs in at a whopping 150 lbs so he doesn’t “get” it.
Yesterday, that previously dusty treadmill was in use for about a total of 17 minutes. (I got to thinking about something the last five minutes and forgot to stop for an additional 2 minutes.
This morning my knees are fine so I’m shooting for 6 minutes at a time 3 times today.
For breakfast I had what I always have diet or no diet, weight worry or no weight worry, oatmeal. Not good ol Quaker oats or Goddess forbid instant oatmeal but Bobs Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. I cook up about 4 servings at a time with raisins and cinnamon and then add some chopped steamed apples when the oatmeal is done. A little Splenda and then I top it off with sugar free ice cream I make myself.
The rest of the day is when I tend to go down hill. I am a vegetarian so the white meat/whatever meat thing is not a problem.
Today, Just4today, I will commit to at least 18 minutes on my treadmill, no eating after 6 and drinking my water instead of so much diet soda.
Oh by the way, I did NOT eat one bite of anything after 6 p.m. yesterday. I am a woman of my word and I feel a little better about myself today than I did yesterday.
I cannot thank you enough. After all, PUMAs can do anything they set their hearts and minds to.
Sorry to be so long-winded. I’m just so damn excited and feeling a little more hopeful than I’ve felt in a very long time.
Marge…let’s move our chats up to the topic at the top of the posting list…so we don’t lose the thread….see you up top in a minute…..