Early Morning Update

It's about 5:55 am Wednesday morning in my neck of the woods. Seems like I've been hiding out lately, hasn't it?

Oh my... you who know me well know that that is NOT a good sign. And... you're right.

Life has been crazy lately... and so have my eating habits.

I'm not feeling bad or depressed though. So I guess that's a good thing. I just feel kind of like... here we go again/story of my life.

One of these days I'm going to get it all together. I really am. I just hope it's soon.

Free to Fly

Is this what it feels like to be free???

For the first time in a VERY long time... I am not obsessing about food and calories every second of every day. I feel like a load has been lifted. I feel like I finally have control over what is going into my mouth... instead of what's going into my mouth controlling me. I feel like I am eating like a "normal" person for the first time in my life.

It took a gain of almost 40 pounds... and a whole lot of thinking and pondering and plotting... to get me to this point. I just KNEW that I had to do things differently... that I HAD to find something that would work for me for the rest of my life. And, God willing... I think I've found it.

I decided that I just can't live the rest of my life being food-obsessed. I need to focus on what I CAN eat instead of what I CAN'T eat. And that's what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks. And I feel fantastic... both physically AND emotionally.

I'm eating 3 small meals a day, plus 2 or 3 snacks. I'm drinking lots of water. I'm not counting calories, but I am being mindful of portion sizes. I'm not measuring anything except salad dressing, because over the past year I've learned how big portion sizes are for various foods. And I've just been focusing on healthy foods. I'm eating lean protein, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, whole grain breads and cereals, and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. And, since fruits and vegetables have NEVER put a pound of excess weight on this body... I'm allowing myself to eat as many servings of fruit and vegetables per day as I want.

Freedom from food obsession, freedom from calories, freedom from diets...

And, eventually... FREEDOM FROM FAT!

I feel like a butterfly slowly making its way out of a cocoon. And some day... I'm going to fly.

Eating and Losing

Well, I'm happy to report that the scale is once again moving in the right direction!

I weighed in on Wednesday, and the scale showed a loss of 5.8 pounds! Yippee!

But the benefits of being back on track for a week do not stop there. I have SO much more energy, and I have been sleeping like a baby! During my time "in the ditch," I had absolutely NO energy... and I was not sleeping well at all. It's amazing that I'm experiencing such a change-for-the-better already. My mood has even improved... and that alone is worth it all!

And... thanks for the comments on the last post. It seems a lot of you like the approach of just eating healthy foods and not obsessing so much about counting every little calorie. So far... it's working for me. And I don't feel like I'm on a diet or like I am depriving myself.

I hope this is the answer to my life-long obesity problem. I really do!

Learning How and What to Eat

So... I'm happy to report that I've been doing well with my eating since last Wednesday. And I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I need to eat for the rest of my life. I can't just look at this as a "diet." I need to learn how to eat.

Maybe I should focus on what I SHOULD eat instead of what I SHOULDN'T eat. Maybe if I commit to only eating healthy, natural, highly nutritious foods the pounds will just start to drop off. I won't starve myself or count calories... I'll just eat healthy foods. (I won't binge, either. I'll still monitor portion sizes.)

Hmmm... have any of you lost weight with this simple approach? Or do you swear by counting calories?

(PS: I'll be weighing in tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me!)