Food

For several years I have struggled with my eating. I am not one of those people who thinks I'm eating ok and that I shouldn't be overweight. Quite the opposite actually. I am amazed that I don't weigh more because of the way I eat.

I'm not one to follow fad diets. I did use Weight Watchers years ago before I got pregnant with our first child. It worked well and I lost all the weight I needed. I was motivated and honestly, it felt good.

Before getting pregnant with child #2, I did not lose all the baby weight but I was only about 25 pounds overweight. After Creative Princess was born, we soon discovered that she had some severe food allergies. She was reacting to the offending foods through my breastmilk. So for her health, I nursed her for two years while avoiding a large list of foods so she could be healthy. The result was a weight loss that put me at a healthy weight though I am sure I missed out on a lot of necessary vitamins and minerals. When I stopped nursing, I did well for a few months with adding back in the foods I had been avoiding. But too quickly, I became gluttonous again.

Gluttony-not a word that is well received in our culture, IMO. If someone is overweight, there is always some excuse-they were poor in childhood so they made up for it as an adult, it's a medical issue, they don't have the money to eat healthy, they are addicted to carbs, they have a desk job, they don't have time to cook and the list goes on and on. Reality is that the vast majority of us who are obese (yes, I wrote it) are fat because we eat too much and move too little!! We are gluttonous. (I do believe that a small portion of those overweight do have medical issues, but not every overweight American does-the portion is small.)

(On the obese comment--the Wii Fit reminds me when I weigh in that I am indeed obese. Some are uncomfortable with this-but it's a reality.)

For me, it's the food. I love chocolate and sweets. If I am eating something that tastes good, I eat until my stomach hurts. It's a sin! I struggle with it. Too much! Truthfully, I am tired of the struggle!

Over the past few years, I have thought "I just need to make healthier choices and not overeat." True. I know this. My head knows it. My body tells me this every day. But when faced with the temptation, more often than not, I have been making the wrong choice.

So, although I don't normally endorse the use of fad diets or pre-packaged diet systems, I am going to try one for awhile. I ordered 5 weeks of Nutrisystem. Everything is prepackaged and I don't have to think about how much to eat. I will add my own fruits and veggies. What I am hoping is that I can get used to eating proper portions and then transition to making my own meals more often. When i used the Weight Watchers program years ago, it took about 6 weeks to kick in. What I mean is that at about 6 weeks, it was becoming natural to make better choices and eat less and get exercise.

I am hoping that since I won't need to think about what I'm eating, that my mind will obsess about food less. I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to try.

Also, I would really like to lose 10 pounds. I think that may be enough to help motivate me to keep going. I can't stand the way my clothes fit and look on me right now.

All that said (or rather written), I am not concerned with getting to the "right" weight according to all the charts. My ultimate goal is to make better choices, lose some weight, and eat healthier portions.

I don't want to go in the opposite direction of where I am-from obsessing about eating the stuff I want to to obsessing about not eating. And for the record, I should lose about 50 pounds to be at a healthy weight.