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Dieting sucks, if you'll pardon my Shakespeare.

Chuck and I began the Nutrisystem program 46 days ago and I'm down 11 lbs.  I'm happy to be down 11 lbs. - downright giddy.  But why does losing weight take. So. Long?  This is the point where I start to wonder if the end is worth the means.  Do I really care if I'm a little on the heavy side? 

Yes, I do care.  I'm tired of looking frumpy and slovenly.  I'm tired of being depressed, fatigued and achy all the time and wearing a wardrobe that looks like a carry-over from the Eastern Bloc (evening vear?  svim vear?).  Chuck calls my side of the closet the Mao Tse Tung collection. 

When I was thinner and only needed to lose 3-5 lbs. at any given time, I'd simply fast for a couple of days and be done with it.  I've tried to convince myself that I could just fast for 30 days and be done with it.  I wonder, when Jesus went to the desert and fasted for 40 days did the devil tempt him with Quarter Pounders and Twinkies?

The problem is that I hate regimens.  I've always been good at planning and making lists and taking notes, but bad at discipline and follow-through.  I've trained myself to believe that I work best when I have a pressing deadline; when I'm forced to cram weeks of leisurely work into a few days of sleepless torture.  This behavior actually worked through college and my professional career days.  But, I gotta tell ya, there just aren't many deadlines pressing down on this housewife and home schooling mom.

Enter the sloth.

After the first 28 days of our diet, I slacked off on my daily food diary.  And, you guessed it, I started skipping, substituting or outright cheating.  So, I'm back to the diary...it really does help keep me honest.

Chuck has lost more weight on it than I, mainly because he doesn't always get all of his food in with his schedule.  He also does not cheat; if he doesn't have time to eat the prescribed meal, he skips it.

Neither of us has begun an exercise program, which I know is essential to weight control. 

One regimen at a time, please.

 

 

 

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Okay!  I'm it!  I've been tagged by Diane to participate in this, my first meme since I started blogging again. 

What is a meme?  Given ten minutes of internet research and my limited capacity to retain scientific terminology, here's what I've gleaned:  The term was first used by ethologist Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene to describe a kind of cultural gene; a mental virus if you will, which propagates and permeates and evolves our culture through a process of behavioral natural selection.

That's as far as I got before my eyes started to cross. 

For our purposes, we'll define it as a blog-based chain letter.

This particular meme calls for links to my 5 favorite personal blog posts according to the following rules:


Link 1 must be about family.  Easy.  Since my early blog was primarily family related humor, I picked one of my favorite stories.

Link 2 must be about friends.  I haven't written much about friends, but this got a laugh out of its subject, my friend Kim.

Link 3 must be about yourself.  Well, it's all about me, right?

Link 4 must be about something you love.  I love writing and this is short-short was inspired by an interruption during my writing time.

Link 5 can be anything you choose.  This is a short story length fiction piece based on a real story and was a cathartic exercise for me.  I've not tried to have it published, but many people have emailed me to say that they could relate.

Now, who to tag?  See, this is exactly why I never volunteer to be a Pampered Chef  hostess, either, because I just don't know who to ask. 

I'll get back to you on who to tag.  Maybe I'll tag 20 random blogging strangers.

 

 

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I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.  In the past, I’ve called them New Year’s resignations, as I resign myself to another year of falling short of my own potential.  Classic underachiever, don’t you think?

This year, however, I’ve decided to throw away my old convictions and set a goal worthy of a good self-flogging on December 31, 2008.  Er…I mean, to set a goal that is lofty, yet attainable, even for a sloth like me…uh, well…you know what I mean…to give it my best shot!

Those of you who are registered “members” of Gooblink know that I went on a diet a while back and I promised to keep a diary of my progress.  I was so disgusted at myself for getting fat that I knew this time would be different and I’d find the will to lose it and boy, did I! 

I lost my will, that is…but I gained ten pounds.

Last spring I reasoned that what I lacked was support.  You know, a group of like minded individuals working towards the same goal.  Armed with new fervor, a renewed sense of purpose, I joined Weight Watchers.  The first meeting had me so pumped and ready that I was sure this was my ticket to size 6 jeans.

It was Weight Watchers, all right.  I sat at each meeting and watched while everyone else lost weight.  After 10 weeks I’d lost 4.9 lbs.  That just wasn’t fast enough for me, so I dropped out and gained my 4.9 lbs. back in about 4.9 weeks.

Over the summer, one of Chuck’s business acquaintances mentioned that he’d bought his mom a Nutrisystem package for Mother’s day, but she didn’t like the food, so he had a whole box of stuff to give away.  Chuck asked me if I’d want to try it and I jumped at the opportunity.  We’d been accosted by ads for NS for the past several months; all these super skinny women talking about how they feel so sexy and energetic and how easy the program was to follow, and men who boasted that their wives didn’t think they were disgusting anymore.  I’d watch longingly and think, gee, I wish I had her body.  Chuck would watch longingly and think, gee, I wish Cindy had her body.

So, I got the box of food – minus the program instructions, mind you - tried the food and it was awful.  I was famished the whole time and 3 meals a day of food that doesn’t require refrigeration is just wrong.  Defeated, again, I decided a lifetime of Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) just wasn’t my cup of tea.

But, you know me and my convictions…

Back to my New Year’s resolution for 2008; since I’m a glutton for punishment, I’ve decided to make this year be the year that I lose 50 lbs.  70 lbs is my ultimate goal, but given my current age (44) and the fact that I’m not as active as I used to be, it may be a bit unrealistic to think I can get back to my high-school graduation weight.  At this point, I’m just looking to get back to my pre-fourth-pregnancy weight. 

So far this month, I’m down 5 lbs.

How, you might ask?  I decided to give Nutrisystem another shot, and signed both Chuck and myself up for the program.  This time, I got the program instructions and what I found was that the MREs are just a small portion of the plan.  We’re supposed to supplement with dairy, fruit and veggies.  Duh!  That makes sense. 

We’re 10 days into the program and I haven’t felt hungry, deprived or even a small tinge of buyer’s remorse.  The program isn’t cheap, but given the drop in our dining out budget (I track our spending with Quicken), I think it’s going to work out to about the same monthly expenditure.  The biggest budget savings I expect to see will be reflected in the business register.  Chuck dines out nearly every day and by bringing his NS lunch to work with him, he’s no longer spending that money.

Anyway, I feel very positive.  I think this time will be different.

Stay tuned.

  1. After the Honeymoon

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