It's looking like this blog is going to take me as long to finish as it has taken me to get the weight off!
So, on with the story...
In addition to being a Diet Coke addict, I was also a sugar addict. Bad. Really bad. I mean if one cookie was good, two would be better and six would be euphoric. I could not eat JUST one cookie, or cup cake or piece of candy. It was nothing for me to have a twin pack of Little Debbies with my Diet Coke for breakfast, then have another something sweet before lunch, then something else after school, then a bed time snack. ALL sugar. It truly was an addiction. I CRAVED sugar. It was IMPOSSIBLE for me to go through the checkout at WalMart and not get a candy bar of some kind. Of course it would be eaten before I got out of the parking lot, and it was usually washed down with, you guessed it, a Diet Coke. This habit was the one that PACKED on the pounds for me. There is NO TELLING how many grams of sugar I was pouring into my body every day. It really is a miracle I didn't become diabetic. When I finally decided that I was going to DO something about my weight, I knew that the first thing that would have to go would be sugar. And there was really only one way for me to do it. I KNEW I had to go cold turkey. I don't remember the day or the time, but I quit. I just stopped eating sweets.
Now this is where I need to put in some side thoughts. Rog made a comment to me that REALLY stuck in my head when I started this process. I'm pretty sure it wasn't original with him, but it made a HUGE impact on my thinking. He said, "Whatever you do to GET the weight off, is what you have to do to KEEP the weight off." WOW. How true THAT statement is!! That is EXACTLY why "diets" don't work!! Sure, you can lose 40, 50, or 60 pounds, but what happens when you decide to get off your "diet" and go back to your "normal" way of eating? Those pounds you lost are going to find you, and I promise they are going to have friends with them when they come back!!
PLEASE GET THIS! The pros aren't lyin' when they talk about "lifestyle change". See, I've lost 30 pounds before, but I gained every ounce and then some, back. That happened because I didn't change the way I lived my life. It's not about a PROGRAM!! I'm not trying to put down all those money making places that are out there. I mean, the "diet" industry is a multimillion dollar giant. BUT... will you just think for a minute? How many LONG TERM success stories do those places have? I mean, people who can HONESTLY say they have KEPT WEIGHT OFF for years because of this-or-that program. There's just not that many. Know why? Because whatever you do to GET the weight off is what you have to do to KEEP the weight off! And people just don't want to pay hundreds of dollars EVERY month for the rest of their lives! That's what LIFESTYLE CHANGE is about. I had heard that term thrown about for years, but I honestly never really grasped it until now.
Now, back to my sugar addiction. Because I know me, I knew that cutting out sweets a little at a time simply would NOT work. So, I repeated my "I WILL NOT BE A HEIFER IN MY DAUGHTER'S WEDDING" mantra, and I quit eating sweets. Now before you get the idea that I just shut the door and walked away and it was simple as that, PLEASE do not be mistaken. IT WAS HARD!!!!! I mean REALLY hard!!! There were days when I thought I was going to go out of my mind if I didn't get some kind of SOMETHING sweet. So you know what I found? Apple Jacks. I love Apple Jacks!! So when I would get a hankering for something sweet, I would eat a bowl of cereal.
Here is another side bar: My sister is a registered dietician with a LOT of letters after her name. I am not. However, I do understand that Apple Jack and Cocoa Krispies (my other fav) are laden with sugar. Here's another point I want to make. I have not gotten anal about things in this process. Notice I said I cut out SWEETS, not sugar. Just like there was no way I could throw down hundreds of dollars for some big name diet program every month, there was also no way I could count calories, or fat grams or carbs, or sugar or anything else for that matter. I mean, anybody can do that for a while, but to do it consistently for a LONG time...no way. So...this is where I deviate from the "pros". I REFUSE to count anything. So I will eat an occasional waffle with a little syrup, or I'll have my bowl of Apple Jacks or Cocoa Krispies and not wig out about it. What I WILL NOT eat is a piece of cake, or pie, or a cookie or candy bar. I know that all it takes is one little bite, and I will have to start fighting that battle all over again. It's a whole lot easier for me to not eat any of it than it is to limit myself. I do still eat bread or rice or pasta every now and then. If I want it, I eat it. Pretty simple. The difference is that now, I haven't had six cookies IN ADDITION to that stuff.
All this may sound extreme, but when you have to lose as much weight as I have to lose, it often takes extreme measures. It really does come down to motivation, and 'I AM NOT GOING TO BE A HEIFER AT MY DAUGHTER'S WEDDING!' dad gumit!!
Now there is one more piece to this LONG story...if you are interested, stay tuned for Part 4.
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