June 3, 2006 9:21 AM
Diet update
17 weeks. Down 55 pounds. 16s are getting looser - I can imagine myself in 14s. Have a size 12 outfit waiting for me to wear to my book signing in Denver July 10.
But I'm not sure if I'll be that thin by then. While I'm over halfway to my goal, this stage of the diet is more difficult as the weight is coming off more slowly. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a battle. I want to eat something my family is eating (like Dibs last night - these little chocolate-covered ice cream nuggets, yum!) and mentally I become almost like a soldier in battle. I will win this battle with my spirit and my body!!!! I will never surrender until I have reclaimed the territory that is mine - a fit body, the better to serve my Creator.
Going public about this has helped me enormously. I am fasting today - with the Fat Flush cranberry juice concoction - to jumpstart my weight loss. with my college boys home, I've had to bring in and cook a lot more food. And tomorrow is family day - but no birthdays (oh, I did go off my diet on my birthday to have fajitas and ice cream cake). For me, a diet day like any other.
I know a lot of you out there have started dieting too. We are sisters on this journey/battlefield. Report in, if you care to!
Comments
I'm not on a diet to lose weight, seeing as I am 3 months pregnant and a fairly healthy weight, but I am in college with my husband and have to say that the strength to eat the right things is something we all need--whether size 2 or 22--because taking care of ourselves is so important! I have never been so aware of my need to eat the right kinds of foods as I am now, knowing that there's someone else depending on the food that I choose.
It's not always easy to spend the time to plan and prepare a healthy meal when I could send my husband out to grab burgers, or Chinese, or pizza, but the rewards are more than I am willing to give up. Energy, strength, and the ability to take care of myself, my husband, and most of all the baby, are far more important than the guilty pleasure of eating an entire order of large fries and an oversized burger.
I suppose what I really want to say is I draw strength in your example, Barbara, and in knowing that God wants me to be healthy, too!
Posted by: Emily | June 3, 2006 1:51 PM
I'm down 10 pounds but i am not as good as you are at turning things down... I just ate oreos with the boys. almost all my size 14's fit but i would like them to be a little too loose. If I only go down 10 more pounds, that would be ok with me.
WIll check in after these next 11 days
Posted by: janet | June 3, 2006 3:51 PM
Hang in there Barbara!!
I know you mentioned that you had started exercising. I was going to recommend a book called "Escape Your Shape" for you. I found it very helpful, and all the exercising can be done at home (I hate the gym!). It has programs for the very out of shape all the way up to very fit. I was able to lose a LOT of pounds and inches with this exercise program. I used to just walk or jog, which didn't seem to make any changes in me. I learned a lot about my body and good kinds of exercise to slim down for my "shape".
I'll send some prayers up for all the ladies here trying to eat better and take care of their bodies, me included! I have just 5 lbs to go, but it's always the last part that's the hardest...
Posted by: Jill | June 3, 2006 4:00 PM
Hooray for you!!! I just found your wonderful blog a few days ago. I feel like I've found a dear friend. I'll be praying you into that size 12!
Posted by: Lovejoy | June 3, 2006 9:47 PM
Barbara, you're doing so terrific. You're really an inspiration. Now if I could just get my butt moving! :)
Posted by: Michelle | June 3, 2006 11:35 PM
Barbara, I am so happy to read of your success (and also the other posters) with this prolonged fight.
I also would like to praise the Lord because without his help I could not succeed in this battle of the bulge.
Yesterday I went to the mall looking for a pair of shorts. I was shocked to find that a size 16 fit very well. I have not been in that size since 2001.
Congratulations to all of you!
Posted by: Vanessa | June 4, 2006 7:04 AM
You are so right, Vanessa. I should have said that!
I ran into someone yesterday who had read my column in the local newspaper about losing weight and gone to Overeaters Anonymous as a result. They use the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, which as a nonbeliever I turned to in 1980.
The first three steps are:
1. Admitted we were powerless over ______ (alcohol, drugs, food, whatever), that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that only a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. [beccause addiction is a form of insanity]
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
Those are just the first three steps in a powerful program that any human being - including Christians - could benefit from. Even Christians struggling with pride and negativity could use these 12 steps to turn to God and overcome the sin in their lives. Google 12 Steps (here at my site too) to read all of them.
Yes, I know "God as we understood him" sounds wishy-washy to some, but for a pagan like me, whose addictions kept my thinking warped and who would have died from my addictions eventually, this helped me come in and get healthy. Then, wanting to know more about this wonderful God who had helped me do it, I embarked on a search for him.
AA was started by Christians and the principles and steps are Christian through and through (as many things which are indirect are clearly Christian, like C. S. Lewis's novels). But the goal was to save lives and put people in touch with God.
The final steps read:
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs
In between are steps dealing with getting honest about the pain and suffering we've caused others, forgiveness, and repentance.
Since I became a Christian 19 years ago, I've found that I automatically run through these steps when dealing with problems. They really taught me a lot about how to conduct my life as a Christian, even though I wasn't a Christian at the time.
So, yes, thanks to God - who is like my Commander-in-Chief in this battle.
Posted by: barbaracurtis | June 4, 2006 8:25 AM
Barbara,
I thank GOD that I found you and your blog. I too am doing the FF Plan, and my weight loss, although not dramatic has been good. I've lost 7# in a week, then hit a bump. SO I am starting over on Week 2...
but don't you LOVE that cran-water? I do. It's broken my addiction of SWEET TEA completely. I am afraid though that the Wegman's on 28 no longer has any Stevia Plus in stock...I boguht it all! Thankfully I have a small healthwood store here in P'Ville that carries it.
Maybe after this is all over and we've acheieved our healthier weight goals, we can all host garage sales of our clothes that no longer fit us. I plan to donate some of my nicer stuff to a store that benefits battered women escaping. So I am doing TWO good things: geting healthy and helping women....
:)
Thanks so much for sharing with us. You're a blessing. I'd offer o buy you lunch, but going to eatieries is still very challenging for me.
Suzanne
Posted by: Suzanne | June 4, 2006 10:10 AM
Thank you for the diet updates...you are a source of great encouragement to me.
I am on week three...by week two I lost 14 pounds. Week three nothing. I am not going to the bathroom and it is driving me a bit nutty.
I have stopped the cranwater (cause i just hate it) but am drinking a lot of water....
Your story gives me hope to get over this little bump and continue.
Thanks again...and blessings!
(by the way...the last time I did weight watchers I lost 12 pounds in 24 weeks....I just gave up because of the slow weight loss!!! The fat flush really has been a boost :o)
Posted by: Miz Booshay | June 4, 2006 8:22 PM
I don't weigh myself and haven't taken measurements either, but I am now back into the clothing I was wearing before I got pregnant with Baby James. I'm doing Fat flush, but not as strictly as you, Barb, walking almost daily, but getting results. Thanks for the kickstart your story gave me.
Posted by: Cheryl | June 6, 2006 3:22 PM
Barbara,
I have been lurking on your blog for a while now, and I must tell you that I love your Diet Update posts. Your openness and honesty are such blessings.
I fell off the healthy lifestyle wagon while in college. I graduated a year ago, and am getting back on track, spiritually (I am now a Christian). The "food issues" have been harder to confront. But as my husband and I get closer and closer to starting our family, I figure that I owe it to my future children to heal my relationship with food. I start tomorrow.
You and your beautiful family are an inspiration to me. Thank you.
Posted by: Noelle | June 6, 2006 6:49 PM
YEAY!!!!! STICK WITH IT, Barbara! Now is the "testing" time!!! When the weight loss slows down and you seem to plateau...will you stick with it no matter what? Now that I think about it, it kind of parallels the Christian life. It's easy to say we're Christians when everything is PEACE and JOY and BLESSINGS...but are we willing to stick it out and NOT give in when the road gets a little tougher and the rewards are not as immediate???!!! Are we willing to be staunch in our beliefs and our behaviors even when their seems to be no results? Think about the Christians in the Hebrews Hall of Faith, some of them never saw their reward in this life! The weightloss battle is really a trememdous spiritual battle. The enemy has so many of us in bondage to food and apathic about our "temple".
I am cheering for you...and really stuggling...I have mentioned that I am PG....in the home stretch now (due July 8th). I have gained more with this pregnancy than the previous 6 and really, really, really want to diet with you all. As Emily said in the post way above, there is no reason I shouldn't still eat healthy (and in moderation) even though pregnant. I am planning to join you in the weightloss battle in Aug or Sept...as soon as I've recovered postpartum.
Oh, I wanted to tell you that my DH has been dieting for about the same amount of time you have (doing WW). He has lost about 50# also, and is in kind of a plateau as well. He still wants to lose another 50...so I am praying mightily for both of you to STICK WITH IT...and keep on the journey. Oh, a friend in WI has also been doing WW since last October and I have referred her to your blog. You have been an inspiration to her as well. :-) Thank you so much for being so honest and open with us!
Now, might I ask....is it possible to share the recipe for the cran-water drink??? I'd really like to try it for times of brief fasting. :-)
Posted by: Tara | June 7, 2006 12:28 PM
I'm down 20 pounds since Easter. Going public on my ClubMom blog (http://shrinkingmom.clubmom.com) has been tremendously motivating!
Posted by: Mel | June 8, 2006 1:38 AM
