31 July 2003: My Weight Loss Plan… For Real This Time
I am fat. More than fat, I am obese. I can’t seem to locate the entry where I discussed how I’m not-quite-morbidly obese and linked to the scary Flash BMI calculator, but we’ve gone over the fact several times in the months before the wedding. I am still the same weight I was in November… which could be good or bad. I choose to be grateful that I haven’t gained any more weight. I maintain that there is some validity to the concept of a weight setpoint, since I seem to have stabilized around a given weight.
Oh, hell. I’m not going to dance around it anymore. I weigh 250lbs. *collective gasp*
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am 70 pounds overweight by the most conservative estimate. Being my ideal weight (my personal ideal weight, not what “they” say) would put me back in middle school — though I’m now about three inches taller than I was then.
My initial weight loss plan, after a month of just eating breakfast and walking daily had zero effect on my weight, was to cut out Mountain Dew in the first week, then cut out pasta in the second week, then cut out sweets the third week and see where that left me.
 Week #19/7 – 9-13 No Dew Week |
 Week #29/14 – 9/20 No Pasta Week |
 Week #39/21 – 9/27 No Candy Week |
However, one week after I began my self-designed Baby Steps Diet, Aaron embarked on the Atkins Diet, and I decided to join him. Atkins was a big success for me; I lost 50 pounds in 12 months and kept most of it off permanently.
In the end, Atkins didn’t get me to my goal weight, or really even close to it. It did get me out of my post-college obesity and back to a more stable college-era weight — even though I was still 20 pounds over what I then perceived as Goal. I just got burned out on the diet. Aaron and I both did. When he said he was going to go into Maintenance (i.e. eating slightly more carbs than during active weight loss, but still not as much as we used to), I jumped on that. Yes, please, I’m done with this shit. I feel 50 pounds better, and that’s good enough for now.
Over the years, Maintenance became Hallelujah, We Can Go Back To The Chinese Buffet. Eventually, we corrected course and got into Weight Watchers and sustainable healthy eating.
Still, though, it took an epiphany 11 years ago to get me to where I am today: a mere 15 pounds from my ultimate weight goal of 160 pounds, which will be a lifetime net loss of almost 100 pounds.
Thanks, Newlywed Me, for finally coming to terms with reality. Thanks, Newlywed Aaron, for jumping into Atkins and kicking us both into gear.