For many of us, maintaining a healthy weight is a struggle. We make questionable choices in what we eat and drink, we work at mostly sedentary jobs and convince ourselves we don't have time to exercise. In some cases we are just blessed with healthy appetites, and even though we strive to make good choices, too often we don't.
The reasons we fight and often fail in the battle of the bulge are legion. The solution is surprisingly simple, and yet complex at the same time.
The basic formula is: burn more calories than you eat and you will lose weight.
Why then does it seem so difficult to achieve?
We all have our own answers to that. I'm hoping sharing my story may help others find their own solutions.
I've never been a small person. I once was a towering 5 foot 10 inches tall, and although never thin, I maintained a healthy body weight between 145 and 150 pounds throughout my teens, 20s and 30s, and through two pregnancies. Somewhere in my late 30s and into my 40s, I began the slide into weight gain. It was gradual, but it was inexorable and over the space of about a decade my weight blossomed to almost 190 pounds. I wasn't happy with myself, but I seemed powerless to change the trend.
Although always physically active - walking, deep water hydrofit, cross-country skiing, rollerblading, volleyball, bicycling - the weight didn't shift and seemed destined to pile up some more.
Then a friend introduced me to Weight Watchers and their "point" system for weight loss. I had a strategy, I had a support system and I went full bore ahead. Between August and early December I lost enough weight to reach my goal weight of 155 pounds. I maintained through Christmas and eventually settled in between 152 and 153 pounds for a space of about five years.
Then
I took on new challenges at work, a development I used as an excuse to slide back into old, bad habits. At my high point in fitness and weight control, I was diagnosed with hypertension. That was a blow. The necessary medication became another excuse. My doctor assured me the meds were not a factor in making me fat, but they were making me lazy!
The weight started to creep back. I tried returning to Weight Watchers. At one point I struggled and struggled to lose five pounds. When I stepped on the WW scale the following week, it was all back! I gave up.
I remained active but, in the same gradual way, I had gained weight before, I headed back down the road to bulge. I convinced myself my body liked to be heavier, and as long as I was keeping active, doing good things for my body, the weight was OK.
It wasn't and the progression didn't stop. I hadn't gained back all my hard won ground, but I was inching (or should that be pounding) up on it.
Surgery set me back for a few months, but this fall I returned to Northern Athletic Club's boot camp routine, and was most pleased with myself when I gained back some of my fitness in the first six-week session. Drill Sergeant Ernie made a remark in one of her amusing, emoticon ridden emails that gave me inspiration.
Several times over the past three years I'd tried to put myself back on track to a healthier weight. I had a plan, I had the knowledge (Weight Watchers is an outstanding program and I know how to use it) and I had a journal all set up. And time after time I'd vow to "get started" then promptly fall off the wagon and abandon the initiative.
What did Ernie say? She said if any of us were concerned about not losing weight during the six weeks of boot camp we should consult Lisa (McEachern).
My inspiration, or perhaps insight, was this - all those times I'd tried and failed, I was lacking an essential ingredient Weight Watchers used to provide - answering to a higher power. And I saw that answering simply to the scale, as can be the case at a WW meeting depending on your relationship with other members and the leader, wasn't enough. I needed to answer for my behaviour as well. So I contacted Lisa and asked if she would be that higher power.
I meet her once a week for a weigh-in and a general consult. We talk about what is working, where I went off the rails and what challenges I'm facing the upcoming week. So far, she hasn't had to read me the riot act, but she is unfailingly upbeat and encouraging.
And it's working. I told her I wasn't expecting any magic results, and I am aware there will be weeks when I behave myself better than others, but as I began my journey, within nine weeks I'd lost a total of 10 pounds. That included one two-week stretch when I gained two pounds and one where I stayed more or less even.
But, the setbacks haven't had the previous effect of derailing my resolve. For the first time in several years I've seen the scale go down because of my efforts to make it do so. I am feeling empowered and pretty darn good about myself.
So, I've proven a Weight Watchers maxim - going it alone just doesn't work. You need that support system and I need that higher power. It's really easy to lie to yourself about how many extra calories you've consumed, or how hard you worked out at the gym, but it is really difficult to tell the same lies to someone who is trying to help you.
I still have a ways to go to achieve my goal of weighing 154 pounds by my 54th birthday in September, and to maintain that for the rest of my days. But I'm determined to achieve those goals! Stay tuned.
