FINALLY!!! I was thrilled to step on the scale and see I am down another 5 lbs. The fat percentage is down, too. I am finally out of the 180s and it's time to celebrate!!!
A five pound drop is especially significant considering the art center where I work hosted both a Wine Share AND a fundraiser devoted to chocolate this past week. If I had started the week dreading these events or complaining about being on a diet when these events took place, I don't think I would have dropped an ounce. I went into the events with a plan in mind and dealt with them.
During the Chocolate Fantasy, our center's annual fundraiser, I did sample a few small items on the "all you can eat chocolate buffet" but I limited myself to special items - award winning items in the cooking contest - and wasn't just stuffing things in my mouth because they were there.
I also had a glass of wine during the Wine Share - a small amount of my favorite type of wine (last year I over indulged) - and it was plenty. After both events I worked a vigorous bike ride into my schedule to balance out the extra calories consumed.
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A table of cooking contest entries during the center's Chocolate Fantasy
fundraiser. Imagine table after table of stuff like this and that's what I
faced this weekend - and emerged victorious! |
Chocolate and wine by themselves aren't bad. It's our attitudes towards treats that get us into trouble. What I am trying to do, now that I am getting close to the end of Phase I, is develop a healthier relationship with the foods I used to gorge myself on.... and I am amazed at how much I've changed in such a short time.
I'm still processing the events of the last two weeks and have been listening to comments from people I encounter every day, and it amazes me how weak we think we are. For example, I allowed someone's unkind treatment throw me into an eating binge and it took me two weeks to undo the damage of that binge. I put someone else in control of my life. I allowed someone I don't respect or agree with in a place of power and that's not a healthy way to conduct my life. I am so much more than one person's opinon.
We do the same thing with food. I recently made a friend of mine angry. My friend is a former model who has never had issues with weight in her life. She has been gaining weight recently and for the first time in our decades-long friendship, I am smaller than she is. When she saw my transformed shape we started talking about Ideal Protein and what the program involves. Her response to the restrictions placed during Phase I was "Oh, I could never give up cheese."
What made her mad was when I said that there was a time when I felt I couldn't give up cheese either but "when you get too heavy for your own knees, you'll give up just about anything to walk again." I got an earful after making that statement!
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A picture of me that was published in
a local paper this week. It was taken
during the Wine Share. Yes, I did drink
that glass of wine and discovered I was
capable of moderation! |
The issue isn't if cheese is bad for you or not, the issue is the power you give it. Whether it's chocolate, cheese, licquor, or bacon wrapped jalapenos - if you are telling yourself you "can't live without it," you have made that food more powerful than yourself. Think about it.
The reason I put this blog out here is to show that no matter how heavy you are (I have now dropped a total of 111 lbs!), no matter your age, lifestyle, etc. you have within you the power to get control of your weight. You can do it!
There was a time in my life when I thought my weight was a lost cause. Today I am living proof that everyone has the ability within themselves to conquer excessive weight. You just have to get your head in the right place and have the willingness to change. Once you convince yourself you can do it, the power is yours.
I have friends who are overweight and are unhappy with their size, but don't think Ideal Protein is the program for them. They often feel they have to explain themselves to me, as if I am in some kind of position of judgement over their life path.
I only know what has worked for me. If you don't like the sound of the diet I'm on, then find your own path. Quit complaining about the shape you're in, take responsibility for the situation and do something about it!
Like I've said before, there is no magic weight fairy out there who will do the work for you. You don't even have to go on a drastic diet or exercise program to do it. Just change one habit, or adopt a new one. Start out with small steps and ease into changing your life. When I first decided to lose weight, I started biking to work. I wasn't dieting or doing anything else. I just biked.
I picked an activity that I enjoyed and worked it into my schedule. I biked to work for a solid year before even attempting a diet and lost 25 lbs. during that time. It was also during that year that I worked hard on changing the way I thought about myself.
When you decide to go on a diet and you REALLY can't do without (insert favorite food here), then find a diet that will let you eat that treat and work within that plan. In my mind, the cheese and chocolate led to my ballooning weight and I needed to remove them from my diet in order to gain perspective and a healthier relationship with those foods.
When I am finished dieting, those foods will still be available .... and I've already found ways to deal with them when I am back in "the real world!"
