The Happy, the Crappy and the Ridiculous

One of my goals for this blog is to keep things real. After all, we’re talking about a difficult topic here and one in which I think we need to address the challenges of food choices and weight loss, not just the triumphs. The tendency of many bloggers in general is to be positive all the time, but as readers of my main blog have known for years, I am definitely not all rainbows and unicorns. I like to tell it how it is, or as I call it; the happy, the crappy and the ridiculous.

Sometimes we have to laugh at ourselves. We just have to look at some of our behaviors and as crazy as they are, admit that sometimes “these things happen”.  Of course the goal is to make better choices more of the time, but I’d be lying if I said I was never again going to have an extra glass of wine, pair it with some cheese and try calling it “a vegetable”.

I invite readers to share not only their victories but their struggles as well because I think we can all learn from each other.

Celebrating Victories & Why this Blog Exists

First I want to share about how this blog came to be. The phrase “Victory Over Food” came up in a Weight Watcher’s meeting quite some time ago. Then last May I brought it up in a meeting commenting on how much I liked that phrase. It was that day that I secured the domain (still having technical difficulties in getting the blog on the domain, so for now it’s on blogspot.) It took me clear until this month to finally start the blog!

I initially was going to do tweets with what I like to call “VOF moments” but then I decided a full blog would be the better way to go. Now let me explain what I’m calling a VOF moment. Because losing weight is a choice that involves all the little and not so little choices we make every day, I wanted to focus on celebrating all the good choices made regarding food and post them for our own benefit and the benefit of others. Here’s a couple of them from my own personal VOF Journal:

Wednesday: Needed to get lunch during day of errands. Really considered getting a cheese quesadilla from Del Taco, but instead decided to go to Jamba Juice for one of their wrap sandwiches. To my disappointment, I discovered they discontinued them! Instead of giving in to something less healthy and higher calorie, I went a couple doors down to Subway for a veggie sandwich, but when I saw they served breakfast all day, I opted for the small egg white melt which is even less calories, filling and super cheap! This was a victory over food!

Friday: Went to Whole Foods Market: really wanted a slice of their pizza. Thought about making it “healthier” by having a pizza slice along with a salad from the salad bar. Ultimately decided NOT to have the pizza at all and instead make myself a large, healthy salad for lunch.  I didn’t have the pizza, even though I really wanted it. I made a better choice. Victory!

So, you see what I am talking about. Feel free to share your own VOF moments here. (I’ve been told some people can’t comment. I’m hoping I’ve had this issue fixed, but if not I’ll keep working on it! You should be able to comment either with a Google or other ID or even without any by just typing a name or clicking Anonymous from the drop down menu. I do have it set for moderation, so comments have to get approved first before they show up.)

And so it begins...again

As I was contemplating my next blog post, I hesitated writing yet again about weight loss, specifically my weight loss “issues”, since it’s clear from my blog I’ve been dealing with all this for quite some time. I don’t even want to think about what year it was when I started “Operation Fit; Back Into My Pants”. This gave me the idea and inspiration to start a new blog dedicated to this topic.

I read a quote the other day that said: “I wish I was as fat as I was the first time I thought I was fat.” Amen.  That reminds me of the time I ran across a couple of pictures I’d taken of the back of my thighs. This was back in the day before digital photography and when I ran across the old snapshots in a file folder I had to wonder for a second why I had them. Then I remembered; I’d thought my thighs were too big and had cellulite. I was about 21 at the time. I’d kill to have those thighs today. Okay, maybe not kill, but certainly maim a little. The point is, things got worse…a lot worse.

For me, and I suspect a lot of people, weight loss is more mental than anything else. Sure, you have to have a physical plan for eating and exercise helps, but overall if you are not mentally prepared to do what you need to do, you tend to naturally do the opposite. I’ve got the plan; as most of you already know I am a Lifetime Weight Watchers member going clear back to 2000. I still have some pounds to lose to get back to where I personally want to be. I’ve been working on this for more years than I care to admit and jokingly still refer to it as the “baby weight” even though my baby is in first grade. Food wise, my day goes great but by evening I tend to lose all resolve and kid myself that “tomorrow I’ll be better.” Then tomorrow I tend to do the same thing. This is what’s kept me with the same five or ten pounds I’ve been having a dead-end relationship with for years now. I want to say good-bye forever to those pounds, then lose the other ones I haven’t even attempted yet.

The other day I was thinking about things in our lives that are and are not within our control when an interesting metaphor hit me. I’ve always thought it would be awesome to win the lottery, but of course as we all know that’s totally out of our control; all you can do is by the ticket and it’s sheer luck for it to happen.There is no way to make it happen. Then I realized that weight loss is like the lottery win that you can make happen. It is totally within our control as to what food choices we make and what we do or do not do in terms of exercise. If you have a good dietary plan and follow it, you will eventually lose weight. It is something you can make happen. With so many things in our lives that are out of our control, this is one thing that is not. Of course we have to be mentally prepared to do it and then actually do it. But we can make it happen. To me personally, getting this weight off and getting back to wearing my clothes and feeling good in them would be like a lottery win.

I invite you to follow along with me on this journey and share your feelings and insights as well.