I will be 54 years old in exactly one month. During the last several years I have gone from playing softball and feeling pretty good to feeling like what I imagine an elderly man with a lot of ailments feels like. I began to believe that I would never escape my weight.
"Maybe it is genetic..." "I just need to accept who I am" ...etc, etc.....These are some of the thoughts that raced through my head, but everytime I want to get dressed for an interview or shop for clothes I couldn't help thinking about the negative aspects of being "large boned". Everytime I had to hold the bannister, pulling myself up the stairs and had to reach back and push myself forward to get up from a couch or even worse say "give me a hand" I would think "what is wrong with this picture?".
Now obviously, I did not mean what is wrong as in I was not aware that I had gotten large. One can't turn around without constant reminder that America has an obesity problem. I mean that I felt guilty and helpless and tried to make the best of it, but I felt depressed, overwhelmed.
People at the turn of the century were smaller and leaner and I doubt the term diet had even entered the American lexicon. I think we all realized that people for the most part were more active and that most households had a stay at home mom who cooked. Even so, stories of generous portions of potato and white bread and butter were common from my parents who were born close to a hundred years ago now and were both very lean as young people.
What factors explain the lean, strong America of the past that did so without any apparent special effort and the obese and floundering America of today that spends half the gross national product on diet plans, foods and gimmicks?
We are so obsessed by weight loss and so desperate for a quick cure that we have become innundated with half-truths and lies that we now have a difficult time recognizing the truth among the forest o nonsense. Choosing a weight loss strategy can seem like picking a path at random to get unlost from a wilderness only to find after days of trailblazing that you are back at the same rock you started at.
I believe I have found, if not the path, at least a method for avoiding the circuitious routing habit of the past. I have now lost thirty pounds in the last month. I don't say this to brag but in sheer amazement. I am leaner, stronger, more alert and not suffering from the cravings and rampant appetite that had hounded me in past diets. AS I said previously, I understand that you have heard this before. " I have more energy, I'm not hungry" , etc,etc...... as we have all tried diets in the past, I think initially we have had this kind of response and it is completely understandable that you are waiting for the bubble to burst. WHY is this any different?
We are tired of having our expectations dashed like the homemade raft thrown against the rocks as we are attempting to escape Devil's Island. The other prisoners try to temper there enthusiam, "They'll never make it". But if a boat actually makes it past the relentless waves and appears to have momentum the prisoners start getting excited, "They're going to make it" , "Go you crazy buzzards, Go".
Well, I am going to make it and then you are going to believe. Praise be to God. This is not my clever imagination or my determination or some secret easy formula although there are elements of all those things, but this is God's deliverance allowing all the elements to come together at the right to save my life and hopefully my fellow prisoners as well whoever you might be.
While I don't expect to lost another thirty by the cruise, I do expect to continue to drop wight steadily. I eat plenty of food each day, monitoring my calorie level and also the breakdown aiming for a 60 - 65 % complex carbs, 20-25 % protein and 10-15 % fat balance. Much of my protein comes from beans, lentils, tofu, whey powder, egg whites, with occasional fish and chicken.
I try to use a variety of fruits and vegetables each week, the fresher and more organic the better. Nuts and seeds are also good. It is really important to me to weigh and measure everything accurately.
Daily exercise is critical. I realize that since being laid off it is easier for me to find the time. That was especially true at the beginning, but honestly by the second week of the weight challenge, I was already at the point where I couldn't wait to get to the gym. It has gotten so easy that I barely think about it. I don't go and socialize. Bang, in and out. 30 minutes treadmill, go through the weight machines..bang, bang, bang and another some extra sets and an extra 30on the treadmill if I have time and then out the door.
One last thing, at first I thought it would be a lot of work to cook differently. I also thought it would be way more expensive. Wrong on both counts. There was some initial cost in both \money and time to get setup and adjusted but on a weekly basis it has proven both easy and economical to eat this way.
"Do not grow weary in well doing for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness..." I just want all you guys to know, I am there for you. When you start to see my boat leave the island and pull past the waves and belief and hope start to rise within you, I am there for you. I will be happy to share recipes and strategies and whatever I know to help you succeed. I want to help you pull free from all the untruths that may attempt to rob you of hope and keep you chained to unhealthy habits. You can get free. You are not the hopeless victim of genetics, illness or food allergy. YOU CAN GET FREE......
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