It\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0The TV is on, so we\u2019re being treated almost non-stop to diet commercials, because if it\u2019s the New Year, all the folks are expected to grab their New Year\u2019s resolutions and get on board the dieting band wagon, right? Wrong!<\/p>\n
The concept of signing up for a diet where you\u2019ll lose twenty pounds for twenty bucks in twenty days or one where you\u2019ll get two weeks\u2019 worth of food and snacks for free both sound \u2026 well \u2026 counter-intuitive. \u00a0This kind of instant, wave-your-magic-wand, short-term success seems like a sure-fire recipe for long-term failure. \u00a0To me the word \u201cdiet\u201d says this is something you start one day and end on some other day far in the future. \u00a0At that point, everything will go back to being as it was before. \u00a0Should that be the case, if you really did lose those twenty pounds in twenty days for twenty bucks, you can bet they\u2019ll all be back and then some in a lot less than twenty days\u2014and for a lot less money.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing this today from the vantage point of having come through the holidays with my 75 pound weight loss still intact\u2014a weight loss I\u2019ve managed to maintain for more than a year. \u00a0My weight loss didn\u2019t start with a New Year\u2019s resolution a year ago. \u00a0It started with a mid-April trip to our doctor\u2019s office coming up on three years ago now. \u00a0When I weighed 264 pounds. \u00a0When I could barely make it up and down the single flight of stairs here in the house. \u00a0When I couldn\u2019t walk more than a thousand steps without sitting down to rest. \u00a0When I couldn\u2019t do a single sit-to-stand.<\/p>\n
At that point, our doctor said to my husband, either you walk or you order an electric cart. \u00a0He also told us that he was pretty sure we were too old to lose weight. \u00a0Since I knew Bill would rather die than be in a cart, we started walking the next day. \u00a0It took a while to work up to those dreaded 10,000 steps. \u00a0Now I usually walk 12,000 steps or 5 miles a day, whichever comes first, depending on whether my iPhone or the Fitbit is doing the counting. \u00a0I don\u2019t always get it done. \u00a0A week ago when I was in copy-editing hell followed by a chest cold, I had three red days showing\u2014days where I sat on my butt and walked less than a mile a day. \u00a0Orange days are those with two-to-five miles. \u00a0Green days are the 12\/5 ones, and I now have six of those in a row.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not a matter of just walking on a daily basis or going to a gym or working out with our personal trainer. \u00a0And it\u2019s not a diet, either. \u00a0We had to change the way we eat. \u00a0What we do is probably closer to Dr. Atkins than it is to anything else\u2014Weight Watchers, South Beach, or Jenny Craig. \u00a0We\u2019ve cut way back on carbs\u2014on bread and potatoes\u2014but they\u2019re not completely verboten\u2014one slice of Dave\u2019s Killer 21 Grain toast is heaven on earth. We\u2019ve learned to love riced cauliflower as opposed to rice. \u00a0(Goes great with curries or braised whatever.) \u00a0We have protein\u2014especially eggs for breakfast. \u00a0Measured ounces of protein with veggies (roasted Brussels spouts and charred green beans) along with salad for dinner\u2014no limits on the latter. \u00a0But wait, you\u2019re saying. \u00a0What about lunch? \u00a0\u00a0We don\u2019t have lunch. \u00a0We\u2019re retired. \u00a0We have a late breakfast and an early dinner, and we don\u2019t starve. And we don\u2019t feel deprived, either.<\/p>\n
Years ago, when we we\u2019re trying a low-fat diet, a visiting dog snatched a piece of chicken off my plate. \u00a0I was outraged. \u00a0Murderous is more like it, because when we were trying to do low-fat, we were hungry\u2014all the time. We thought about food\u2014all the time. \u00a0And meals became the whole focus of every day. \u00a0The way we eat now, food has receded into the background which, it seems to me, is where it belongs.<\/p>\n
We eat fresh food rather than junk food. \u00a0We watch our portions. \u00a0We have one helping and don\u2019t go back for seconds, but my mother would be proud. \u00a0You can damned well better betcha that we clean our plates. \u00a0And if we do want a snack? \u00a0Peanuts are good. \u00a0I\u2019ve lots 75 pounds. \u00a0Bill has lost 50. \u00a0We both have new clothes, and we look pretty snazzy in them, too, if I do say so myself.<\/p>\n
So what did I do yesterday? \u00a0I cleaned out my closet. \u00a0I dragged 10 bags of fat-lady clothes out of my closet. \u00a0It\u2019s the clothing I bought when I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever be able to buy nice clothing again. \u00a0When I thought I was always destined to be the shape I was then. \u00a0It turns out I wasn\u2019t and I\u2019m not, but it wasn\u2019t a temporary fix, either. \u00a0I want those 75 pounds that have gone away to stay away, so when I finish writing this, I\u2019m going to go outside and start walking. \u00a0It\u2019ll take me a little over an hour, but I\u2019ll get it done.<\/p>\n
I hope that some of the people reading this will join me. \u00a0Because, you know what? \u00a0However old you are, you\u2019re not too old to make some changes. \u00a0What\u2019s that? \u00a0Your knees are bad and you can\u2019t walk? \u00a0Maybe so, but you can change the way you eat, and you don\u2019t have to order your food from Jenny Craig, either. \u00a0They sell fresh green beans at Safeway, and you can eat as many of those as you can hold. \u00a0You can also look up the Sit to Stay Fit videos on the Internet and do the exercises. That\u2019s how our personal trainer started us out\u2014sitting\u2014and that\u2019s where a lot of our workouts still start and stop today\u2014in chairs upstairs, where we go with far more ease than we used to.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to make a New Year\u2019s resolution to do this. \u00a0You just pick a day and start and then you keep at it.<\/p>\n
Back in the old days when I was in the insurance business, my agency manager, Gilbert F. Lawson, always said, \u201cKnow the score; keep the score; report the score. \u00a0The score will improve.\u201d<\/p>\n