I must admit I almost forgot I'd agreed to post a diary in this series.
So, just after my daily walk with Lacey the dog, and before a meeting, here I go...
Before I had my first child I never had to worry about my weight. My job as an audio engineer for various entities kept me on the go, and living in a big city helped. I walked, carried, loaded, unloaded...But then came kids, a move to the country where there are no sidewalks... You get the picture. Add to that being home where there isn't much else to do but cook and clean when not watching the kids. Did I mention I hate cleaning? Add to that what someone once termed "The Toddler Left-Over Diet" as a riff on "South Beach" and the last 20 pounds of baby weight weren't going anywhere.
Fast forward a few years to teen-agers (another kid) and getting a bit (ahem) older. All my adult life I've gotten monthly migraines, which, as I found out, were linked to food. Especially cheddar cheese. Also, as a child I was prone to feeling faint/dizzy in the summer. It was always with me, but this past summer it got worse. I thought it had to do with heart/circulatory system, but actually it was my digestive system acting up. After journaling the episodes (I highly recommend journaling for any number of reasons), I saw they tended to come in the afternoon, either after I had eaten too much, or not eaten anything. Hmmm.
A friend of mine had been going to Weight Watchers and been successful. I never thought of joining, but decided to. Nothing else was really working.
What I learned at Weight Watchers was portion control and to be conscious of what and how much I was eating. I had gotten into the habit of passing through the kitchen and taking a handful of--whatever--potato chips, cookies. Not a whole box, or even a whole bunch, but enough to keep the pounds on. (and I have the dreaded abdominal flab). Weight Watchers has a point system, where according to your size and activity level, you're allotted a certain number of points a day to lose weight. They stress healthy eating, lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, etc.
I lost ten of the fourteen I want to lose. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a bitch, let me tell you. And if I go off thew program--boom, another pound comes on! But I have to say, I haven't had a dizzy/fainting spell since eating less and laying off the fats. Either I'm really lucky, or really unlucky, but when I eat unhealthy food, it immediately sickens me.
Aside from eating better, I walk at least 30 minutes a day and weight train at the gym two days a week. I'm still learning about weight training, but I don't want the dreaded arm flab and need stronger legs because I like to walk in the mountains and sometimes-- well, there's an incline.
I hope this short vignette is helpful to folks wherever they are on the path to wellness.