I'm back!!!
I lost my 100+ pounds about 6 years ago, but somehow 23 of those pounds has crept back since I got married almost 5 years ago. I'm on track to have gained 5 pounds per year of marriage. I've lost little bits of it in the past five years but haven't been my goal weight of 145 since we were on our honeymoon. Somehow it's been a whirlwind of activity and certainly has led to changes in habits. I feel I did very well as a single person losing weight and keeping it off. What I haven't been able to adjust to is keeping to a healthy weight as a married person.
There's mental difficulties. For instance, if my husband eats a larger meal, I feel that I deserve that same amount too, not the smaller amount I would have eaten if I weren't thinking about it. It's a fairness thing even though our two bodies require different amounts of calories.
There's the celebration aspect of eating a special meal with someone you love. I prepare the meal in a more special way, and because it feels like a special occasion, I want to eat more.
There's his eating habits being different from mine. He's not hungry in the morning. I've ravenous. He can eat a medium sized meal and not be hungry for hours and hours and hours. I'm hungry every couple of hours no matter what amount I eat. He snacks in the evening. I've started to snack in the evening.
Then there is the cooking. I do alot of cooking now and I enjoy cooking. I eat different food now than when I was losing weight. We eat more fats and oils for instance. My husband is very against nonstick pans because of their chemical coating and potential health issues. I agree and we've switched to stainless steel pans for cooking - but that leads to using more oil - which it turns out is delicious but does have more calories. My husband also loves cheese. I'm not sure a day goes by that he doesn't eat plenty of cheese. So, I tend to make things like cheese potatoes, cheese bread, mac and cheese, cheese and crackers, cheese sauce, cheese pasta, lasagne and pizza, cheese eggs, cheese sandwiches, cheese whatever.
I know I just need to make a mind adjustment and some simple changes and I can do it, but I also know that I need support. My husband supports me, but he also doesn't quite understand what it takes for a woman to lose weight. If he skips one meal or takes a walk it seems he needs to take his belt in a notch and starts complaining about his pants falling down. It's not his fault. He just has no experience in women's weight loss. He'll learn in time by watching what I need to do, but we will always be different in this way because most men tend to lose weight much easier than most women.
So, I'm back. 145 here I come. My goal is to lose 1 pound per week for the next 23 weeks by boosting my exercise and cutting calories -- particularly the empty ones and the snack ones and cutting my meal portions a bit and not going back for seconds or thirds - especially on the higher calories meals. I can't totally count calories like I used to because we eat mostly homemade food now instead of packaged, labeled, processed food with calorie counts on the boxes, but I can take a pretty good guess, and I can measure some things. As I go along, I might plug in some numbers for some of the dishes I make regularly.
If I lose one pound a week, I will reach my goal of 145 by July 19th, and July 24th will be our 5th wedding anniversary. I would like to be that weight by then.
Jeanne
