Did It!

Success!  Stepping on the scale last night confirmed that I'd reached my weight loss goal. I was pretty sure I had, because I could "feel" it, but the scale confirmed it.  Hooray!  It was "only" five pounds but it needed to be taken care of before it became ten pounds.  Or more.   I CAN lose five pounds, but not absolutely sure I have the will power or resolve to lose ten or more, plus that would indicate that I'd gotten careless about eating and exercise, and established some bad habits that would be harder to break.  Best to deal with this as needed rather than letting things (such as pounds) pile up (or on).

My weight has stayed within a 6 pound range for about 40 years.   I eat carefully (most of the time) and walk every day thanks to my dogs. I listen to my body and we normally communicate pretty well.  When I "feel" as if I've gained some weight, the scale always confirms it.  This summer has been harder.  Perhaps my age, or perhaps just the temptations, and I lingered near the top of my regular range most of the summer.  We eat out quite often, but I do it sensibly and almost always bring home leftovers for the next day's lunch.  I rarely bake, never chocolate chip cookies which I love, and we rarely have dessert when we eat out.  The heat and humidity this summer made it tempting to walk less, although I still walked every single day.  Argus demands that!  What I did though was get careless about "treats", started feeling a bit deprived I guess, and suddenly I was consistently a pound over my maximum.

I often stop at Kowalskis on my way home from work, to pick up some produce, or perhaps a deli item for dinner.  They have a really tempting bakery and I got in the habit of buying cookies, and unfortunately most bakery cookies are HUGE, three times the size a cookie should be.  Or scones - I love frosted scones.  And those lovely dips they sell in the deli.  I LOVE tortilla chips with a really good dip.  And then there is ice cream, something I buy rarely, but suddenly found myself buying more often.  A small bowl of ice cream at bed time was so nice, such a special treat.  Yep, I know exactly why I was having trouble with those pesky five, then six, pounds.  No surprises at all.

So back to sensible eating.  An apple instead of a cookie, a small glass of lowfat chocolate milk instead of a brownie.  A glass of skim milk at bedtime. No ice cream in the freezer - we'll go back to buying it for special occasions, not every day. Leftovers for lunch the next day.  I still have tortilla chips on hand, but I take a few out and reseal the bag.  No reading the newspaper with a bag of chips beside me.  No cookies in the freezer.  Longer walks in the evening, and brisker ones too.  Having Holly here has helped - extra walks required.

Diets are not a beginning and end.  When they are thought of that way the pounds will always come back.  Diets are really about lifestyle changes.  Eliminating the bad habits that so easily creep into your life.  All the tasty temptations.  Let's hear it for sensible eating!

No lectures about other people's weight issues, although I feel very strongly about what obesity does to our health care costs.  Yours and mine too, unfortunately.  But I am only in charge of my own health.  Nope, I will NOT celebrate with ice cream or a cookie, but one of those expensive fall apples - now that's a treat!