Anne – The Perpetual Dieter

I was a pro at dieting. I had been doing it since I was 16 years old, losing but invariably gaining back the same twenty-five pounds.

I knew I was on the way to a different (permanent) weight loss experience when I found myself pondering one day on my way to my appointment with Susan why I felt so much more secure this time.  What was it that I had learned about myself that made me feel that way?  After all, I had lost this much weight before…lots of times.

Here’s what I think is different this time.  Even though Susan shared her personal tips with me, I realized that someone else’s list of tips is not necessarily my answer.  It’s the process she used to arrive at them that she was trying to teach me.  What I had never done before was go through that process of figuring out my own strategies.  I had always followed someone else’s program, never giving thought to why it worked for me – if perhaps there were tools I could take away and make my own.  Today I have lots of specific strategies that I am making into habits.

I know what I need to do – for me.   To begin with, I usually have a plan for what I am going to eat on any given day.  It is a routine now.  It usually involves eating breakfast and preferably one with lots of protein and produce that requires chewing.  I learned that I couldn’t count on myself to make good choices when I was hungry, so I generally leave my house with snacks in hand.  Apple and cheese are the easiest right now.  I figured out how to keep things in (by tweaking them so that they fit) that I would have thought I had to give up to be successful – like the lovely cocktail hour my retired husband would have waiting for me when I got done on Fridays.  I had naturally assumed that I would have to give that up, but Susan asked, “Well do you think you could find a way to work around it?”  That ritual ultimately displaced the theoretically unplanned but entirely predictable Friday late night binges I had regularly (and guiltily) rewarded myself with for a hard work week.

I have been keeping this weight off for quite sometime now.  I know there will always be weekends, holidays, weddings and cruises.  Now, I know that I can deal with these life events by “saving up” and losing pounds ahead of time or  by “paying back”  after the event. The important thing that I realized is that a high calorie day or days must be preceded and/or followed by a low calorie day or days.  I have learned that different things work for me.  I can’t depend on someone else’s plan.   At one time, salmon patties were my “magic” weight loss food.  I am always on the lookout for new healthy foods that make it easier for me to maintain my weight.

I also learned that it’s not just about food.  Exercise is the other part of the equation.  Previously, I would either diet or exercise.  I could never seem to get them both together.  I have incorporated exercise into my daily routine.  The turning point came when I found myself asking, “What am I going to do for exercise today?” instead of  “Will I exercise today?”

At the same time, I am recording my calories on a web site called mynetdiary.com, so I always know where I stand in relationship to my target weight.  I not only lost weight, I wear smaller sizes and I reached my normal BMI.  I have more energy then ever.  I have finally learned that I can keep this weight off.  My friends tell me there is a spring in my step.  At 66 years of age that is a good thing to hear!

I’m sure there is lots more to learn, and now I know what questions to ask myself to figure that out.  In the meantime I am keeping off that darn twenty-five pounds I had taken off and put on a dozen times before.  If I never get any more skilled than I am right now, I know I can still get the job done.