Weekly thoughts about eating healthy…

I made it thru Mother’s Day without doing damage.  I’m learning that I don’t have to be perfect, that I can have an occasional treat and it not sabotage my weight loss efforts.  I think why I did so well, even with family here for days, was that I didn’t fight it.  I didn’t brood about what I couldn’t eat, I just accepted it and ate healthy, except for that piece of wonderful strawberry shortcake.  I’ve now lost nine pounds since the first of April.  It’s a good feeling, my muffin top is shrinking just a bit, my jeans no longer torture my mid section, but when I saw Mother’s Day pictures of myself I was still horrified.  I hope to lose another twenty and stabilize.  That’s reasonable for my age.  It does no good to tell you all how much I weigh, as I don’t know myself.  No feet remember?  No way to tell, you just have to go by the size you wear.  I just know what the scale said and what it says now, and it’s telling me I’m down 9 lbs.  Size 14 is very comfortable for me now.  Since you lose a size every 15 lbs. if I lose another 20, I will be a comfortable 12.  Of course I would love to be a 10 again, but older women can look really bad if they lose too much weight.  Anyway, I have a long way to go before I really access when I want to stop losing and hopefully, maintain.

If I’m honest with you, I have few illusions that I will be successful with this.  That’s a defeating thing to say, but this is certainly not my first rodeo with weight loss, but I do think it’s my smartest.  All the stupid, silly things I’ve done, ATKINS to be exact, have been in vain. Low carbing is hideous, you’re so deprived and it doesn’t accomplish anything long term for me, but it has shown me that I need to eat adequate protein to feel sated, and to avoid sugar at all cost, because it spikes insulin and makes me hungry.  Weight Watchers is the most sensible eating plan of all, but I’m not doing it like I did when I was in my early 50’s, then I ate lots of processed food, ice cream bars, low calorie cookies, a lot of white diet bread, now I eat only whole grains, brown rice, few potatoes, except for those light chips.  That’s my treat, they’re so good at lunch, even if they are processed.  And I allow myself to eat 18-20 points.  I used to try and hold it to 16, and I was always hungry.  I’m not in so much of a hurry this time, and I’m much more satisfied eating within this point range.  I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I do eat beans, peanut butter and soy products for the protein.  I enjoy these foods, so it’s easy for me…

Yesterday morning we ate out, I ordered fresh strawberries, plain, they came with just a dusting of powdered sugar, and that was enough to make me hungry all day.  Sugar is just not a good thing in my life, and as long as I make things at home, I can substitute Splenda and still satisfy my love for something sweet.

I may ramble on about how I’m doing weekly, just ignore me if it doesn’t interest you.  I do this for myself.  I Tweet What I Eat because it keeps me honest.  Maybe nobody even reads it, I don’t really care if you do or not, I’m doing it because for now, today, it works for me.  As I’ve said before, the idea that I’m putting it out there for everybody to see is keeping me accountable, and it’s saving me the $12 I would spend if I attended Weight Watcher Meetings weekly…