I don't remember if it was Dr Phil or Oprah...probably Oprah because Dr Phill makes me throw stuff at the tv. Anyway I was watching a show 4 or 5 years ago and they were talking to (and about) a person who was seriously overweight. I believe he was around 800-900 pounds and there was a segment where the show staff brought out all the food that this man was eating in a day. It filled several tables. I remember looking at this and thinking "man oh man I sure would not want to have everything I eat put on display for everyone to see."
The first thing I did when I was working to lose weight was to start writing down everything I put in my mouth. I didn't have any idea what I was eating in terms of calories. They say that in order to lose weight you need to keep your calories down to under 1500 per day. I was eating well over 2500 a day. Just start with a trip to Starbucks. Vanilla Mocha. 720 Egg salad sandwich 450. That, right there is 1170 calories. And that's not breakfast or dinner...
The first time I tallied the foods I was eating I was so depressed. I thought "there is NO way I am eating that much". I just didn't feel super full. In fact there were days when I felt like I was holding back from eating and yet there was the proof in the numbers. It made a dramatic difference to me to actually SEE the numbers.
The math is very easy, if you don't exercise and burn the calories and you add more calories on they have to go somewhere. I started looking at it like balancing my checkbook, start with the total of calories that I should try to eat in a day and just don't go over that number. Of course it's a lot easier said than done. And I am of the opinion that for me to make this work I can't feel like I'm depriving myself of something that I want. I just have to want to lose weight MORE than I want the cheese enchilada meal. In fact I wrote myself a note that is on my fridge: "you have to want it more than you don't". And whatever IT is, is up to me.
So today I had a particularly stressful day at my job and when the telltale signals started to rumble through my stomach I was able to identify them as stress and so I concentrated on drinking my water (and Sobe lifewater - I LOVE that stuff!) and all of a sudden it was 2:30 and not only had I forgotten to eat but I wasn't dying of hunger like I thought I would be. Of course I am well aware that if you starve yourself that does no good so I made sure that I ate something (3 chips from the pack in my desk drawer that I hadn't thrown away) and then since it's my short day at work I came home and made a big, beautiful salad. I stopped at the store on the way home and bought a bunch of the Sobe Lifewater (zero points) and Crystal light on the go packs (zero points) and the salad that I made was HUGE and still came in at under 7 points. Mind you I will be eating some vegetables and grains and protein this evening. I haven't decided what yet. I have tofu and vegetables but we'll see. I always have sandwich makings. :)
Basically I just keep reminding myself that this is a 100% do-able process. That I CAN do this. Set small goals (15 pounds is my first goal, not the end goal). And it doesn't hurt to keep in mind that I don't want to end up on Oprah having to show the world what I ate today!
One day. One pound. One step at a time.
~N
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