Thursday, January 7, 2016

Let's Fly



I hate counting calories...measuring...weighing...scribbling down that 1/8 cup of innocent cheese and forced to realize that I may have had enough carbs in one meal to last me three days. It's not fun seeing the truth. But reality is what makes us mad enough to keep going sometimes.
First of all, I suck at math. Forget adding it in my head. I need one of those giant old lady calculators with buttons as big as tortilla shells. Even then, I have to punch it in several times to make sure -(before I celebrate ) - that I still have 15 calories to spend before I go to bed.

A great way to organize your calorie and quantity intake is Fitness Pal. It's a free ap that tracks your progress and does all those crazy calculations for you. Even if you aren't actually counting calories, it also breaks down carbs, sugars, proteins and even some vitamin content. It will also graph your weight loss and exercise program.
To be truthful, I've downloaded and removed Fitness Pal several times from my iPad. I'd get three days into it and then abandon the "dream". I think part of the problem was that it was a lot like the mirror - brutally honest! Who knew one slice of S'mores Galore cheesecake was 1576 calories? Yikes!
My beautiful niece Olivia has used Fitness Pal with amazing results - and I'm convinced if I just make it a daily ritual ( like Facebook, reruns on TVLand, and watching dust bunnies play under the sofa), then I'll have a fighting chance this time to reach my goals.
My diet is fairly simple. I've cut out bread, sugar, high fat and sneaky snacks. Luckily I've never been  hooked on soda, so that's a plus. I eat scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast and sometimes add a link of pre cooked sausage. For lunch, it's salad. I do add some adornment such as cheese, raisins, peppers, etc. but I don't go overboard. And I measure out 2  tablespoons of oil based dressing to top it off. I can add 3 oz. of meat, too. And I probably will when I get to the grocery store! Dinner is 5 oz. of lean meat, a cup or two of green beans (or a similar vegetable), and a small baked potato. Sounds really, really boring, but I'm better off not given much variety. I've been known to make plain oatmeal into a chocolatety, walnutty, marshnallowy, brown sugary delight that blows the Fitness Pal up like a giant cellulite bomb. Enough said. You do yours, I'll do mine.

But seriously...
A few years ago I started a diet in January and lost 25 pounds by July. I literally threw away whole pies and froze a pound of good salami. At least being frozen, it was out of sight and no,t easily scarfed. I started looking for ways to replace fattening foods with fiber foods. I counted points. I kept a food diary. I began to feel less hungry all the time. My cravings stopped. I bought fun new clothes. I moved easier.
I don't know what happened.
Come that Fall, I ate pumpkin pie and Halloween candy and the whole fat world enclosed me once again.
And today, I am still suffocating. I am still a prisoner to this strange, fleshy suit - a heavy, alien body that keeps me from being the sweet, graceful butterfly that I feel inside.

Let this diet be part of your daily ritual. A selfish, pampering piece of your life that you'll never regret. 
Let's fly, girls!

2 comments:

  1. Love your determination and humor. It does take work to eat healthy, exercise, and treat your body well, but after only four days of working on this, I feel so much better than when I was eating the Thanksgiving to New Years diet. I have even dropped a few pounds with my 6 simple commitments. Kick it girls!!

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  2. Wonderful! I've not weighed yet. Thinking of adapting a Weigh In Wednesday into my routine, but gonna wait till next week. Sometimes the simplest changes can be the greatest. Congrats on a great start!

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