Patience, Grasshopper...

I am writing this one as much for me as for anyone else out there...I need a little motivation to stay the course myself this week. Even after a year on this path, I still have days where it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel or find satisfaction in the goals I've already achieved.

Or, could it be that the Easter Bunny - who looks a lot like me, incidentally, and was very hungry and starved of treats when she went shopping at WalMart - brought entirely too much of my favorite candy into our house, and it's sitting there in the pantry, tempting me each day? Seems it was actually easier to have to say, "Nah, I can't have that. I gave it up for Lent," and walk away. Stupid Bunny. Lent's over, and there the candy sits...waiting.

"Good things come to those who wait," right? There is wisdom in that old saying. Weight loss and change DO take time - a lot of time, but "to wait" is a passive activity. There's nothing passive about weight loss. It takes ACTION both physical and mental. So STEP ONE: DECIDE TO ACT.

I promised that in this post I would begin to chronicle how I took action and began this year of change. I am hoping that I've gone about it the right way, and that because it has taken so much time to see and feel success that I will have long lasting results. But even now - after over a year of hard work and lifestyle change - I'm still not seeing that magic number I'd like to see (I'm close, but gosh, I wonder if I'll really be satisfied when I do). I have faith that eventually I will; I just have to be patient, keep active, and stay the course.

So what did I do? Okay, the first thing I did after Easter last year was to decide that nine pounds was not as much weight as I wanted to lose, but it was enough to motivate me to lose more. Again, I decided to ACT. I decided to commit to - something, but what?

I know myself pretty well, and I knew I would never be successful with anything that forced me to totally give up the things I love (that's how I end up with a pantry full of Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs the week after Easter). But seriously, where's the fun in that? I have a passion for baking and a love of sweets, and as a family we eat a heck of a lot of pizza. These are things I either couldn't change or didn't have any desire to (and I still don't). I wanted to do something that would teach me to "budget" and live within my means, dietarily speaking. I'd tried a number of diets in the past, and frankly I'd had a lot of success with Weight Watchers Online in 2003, but I didn't want to go that route. I wasn't into counting points (at that time), but I knew I needed some kind of program and some sort of accountability.

See, I've been down this road before. What that little bio blub over to the right does not tell you is that three or four months after the birth of my daughter in 2000, I weighed in at 208 pounds. At the end of 2002 I was back around 190, but for obvious reasons I wasn't happy with that, so my New Year's resolution for 2003 was to "lose weight." I had no specific goal in mind, but I was motivated. I had a small child and an active life, and I needed energy to keep up with them. I worked long hours and didn't have time for any kind of meetings, and I didn't want to eat any crazy, expensive, packaged foods, so I joined Weight Watchers Online and instantly loved it. It "clicked for me" just like the slogan says. I also started exercising at home in the mornings; then my husband and I joined a local gym. I would get up very early in the morning, head over there, work out and be back before he and my daughter were even awake. I was a little obsessed, but I got pretty fit. By May of '03, I was down to 150 and had never felt better in my life. But because I'd gotten out of the exercise habit and then had another baby, here I was - basically back at square one. 

I didn't want to start out doing Weight Watchers again, though. In the interim, I'd rejoined again a couple of times, and WW is one of those things where you're either really into it, or you're just not. If you're really into it and can commit to counting points and tracking - you WILL succeed. No doubt about it. I rejoined again after this past Christmas (more about that in later posts), and am totally "all-in," but that was after months of success on "my" plan. I guess I hadn't been motivated enough any of those other times because I just couldn't commit. After Easter last year, I didn't want to start somewhere with the potential to fail, so I designed a program of my own.

I did learn a few things from my previous success that carried forward though:

A: Weight loss is all about calories in versus calories out. You've got to take in fewer calories than you burn. At the heart of it, it's that simple.

B. To burn calories, you have to put down the Dibs, get off the sofa, and exercise. Again, it's that simple.

C. Low and slow is the way to go. Slow and steady wins the race. Good things come to those who wait. Patience, Grasshopper... In other words, to do it right, it's going to to take some time - a lot of time. Accept that now, and you're ahead of the game.

But how you go about that is up to you. I did a little internet research and found this site: http://www.fitwatch.com/ They have a wealth of information including a very useful calorie deficit calculator.

To begin with, I took what I learned from this site and channelled my inner-nerd. I knew from my previous WW experience that food-journaling was key to my weight-loss success. I had also determined (from my visits to Fitwatch and other similar sites) what kind of calorie-deficit I would need to create in order to start really losing weight without starving myself or totally giving up my treats. I sat down at my kitchen counter and created an Excel spreadsheet that served for the next few months as my journal and as my weekly calorie-counting calculator.

At first, that was all I worried about - calories in versus calories out, and I journaled each and every thing I put in my mouth and each and every minute I spent exercising each and every day (except when we went on vacation - again, discussions for later posts). I still do this. I can't imagine NOT doing this. EVER. When I don't do it, the only person I'm cheating is me, so why the heck would I not do this? It's the only thing that keeps me on track and within my dietary "budget," and now, a year later - it's just a force of habit. Only now I do it on my iPhone.

If you are fortunate enough to have an iPhone (and maybe it's available for some of the other smartphones, too) there's a FREE app called "LoseIt" which does everything my homemade spreadsheet did and is very convenient. You can find the calorie count of nearly every food out there, especially at major restaurant chains, and many of them are even pre-programmed into this app. Same thing with exercise (negative calories, YAY!!). If you can get the app - get it. Use it. It can change your life. However, if you can't get the app, feel free to email me. I created a generic version of my Excel spreadsheet that I'd love to share with anyone who's interested. Again, you can find the calorie count of just about every food or exercise on the planet here on the worldwide web, so if you're motivated to get going, there are plenty of resources out there to help you get started.

Creating and faithfully using the spreadsheet (or the app) was the first thing I did, but it wasn't the only thing. It seems each week I tweaked my plan and added something new. Next time, we'll discuss the dreaded "E" word. Yes, you have to exercise. No, it does not have to suck.