an unglamorous job (lyn)

Losing weight is exciting; maintaining it is boring.  I mean really, how can you celebrate staying the same?

According to a recent New York Times article, a doctor is quoted as saying, “losing weight is not a neutral event, and that it is no accident that more than 90 percent of people who lose a lot of weight gain it back.”

I’m not sure about this doctor’s statistic of 90%, but still, most would agree that keeping lost weight off is a challenge.

So this is what has helped me.  I:

Weigh myself regularly. 

If I see that I’ve more than 122, I start tracking again, and it doesn’t take long before I’m back to where I want to be.

Keep healthy snacks around. 

Last night I got in at 10.  Having eaten an early dinner to make an early screening, I came home hungry.  I was tempted to go for the sorbet in my fridge, but knew that if I did, when I weighed myself in the morning, the scale would register higher than I like.  I took an apple instead, and this morning I weighed 121.4.  I always keep my house stocked with low fat popcorn, fruit, some vegetables, salad stuff, and fiber one bars.

Don’t keep too many bad foods around

While I do have a big package of a newly-discovered sinful food (Costco’s dark chocolate pomegranates) in my kitchen, I never keep bread (unless it's 100 calories), avocados, regular cheese, sugar-based drinks of any kind, or anything else that is easy to put on but hard to take off.

Don’t eat spontaneously

If I want a big dinner, I’ll eat a small lunch.  If I know I’m going to be eating out, and I don’t want to be restricted in what I order, I eat less the day before and/or after. 

Buy and wear clothes that fit, and toss or give away the older, bigger ones.

I now have no clothes that will fit if I gain more than three pounds. I can’t afford to be one size larger than I am now.

Stay aware

I am never not cognizant of what I’m eating.  I pretty much eat whatever I want, but not without knowledge and awareness of what I am doing.  I think I’ve become a much smarter eater, and in the process, I feel as if I’ve compromised nothing.

I don’t get compliments often about my weight.  I wouldn’t expect to; I have been my current size since May of 2010.  I no long get those big smiles on the rare occasion that I weigh in at a Weight Watchers meeting.  But when I slide into my skinny size 27 jeans, it doesn’t matter at all what anyone else notices.  I know that I am thin.  And whatever it takes, I plan to stay this way.