In 2010 I decided to put years of diet failure behind me and try once again to lose weight. Needing to drop at least 50 pounds, I set my goal at one pound a month. I ended up losing 10 lbs. in 2010. I'll hope for 12 this year, but even if I just match last year's loss I'll be way ahead. In March my doctor gave me a diagnosis of prediabetes. That was bad news but it gave me new determination to get the weight off.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Seven Months of Progress

I started this particular journey back in January of 2010. I set two goals for myself. One was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas of this year. I see now that will never happen. Plan B was to lose 12 pounds by Christmas. That one didn't seem so challenging, yet still a worthy goal. If I could just buckle down I might be able to accomplish Plan B. Since January I saw a steady one pound a month decline in my weight. Then in June I slacked up on my efforts and my weight bounced up. I'm back to losing but I haven't caught up with my lowest number. I feel like I've got some momentum back now, so by the end of August I think I will be out of the red.

I hate counting and keeping track of calories, but I decided to give it a try in January. I think I started feeling a little too confident, and in June and July I tried to simply eat sensibly and forget counting calories. The chart shows where that got me. I'm back to counting now, and I've already seen some progress with the scale.

Fortunately I've discovered, through trial and error, that I'm the kind of person who does best with taking baby steps. With all the times past that I've tried and failed with diets, I'd restricted myself to a thousand calories each day, and sometimes 1200. It was just too hard and I'd "fall off the wagon" over and over.

The success I've seen this year is due to a much more manageable plan. I've tried to shave off a few calories here and a few there by eating smaller meals and being very careful with snacks. On days I give in to myself and take a second or third helping at the table, I'm much less likely to stay under my calorie limit. If I feel like sitting in front of the TV for an hour with a bag of potatoe chips or other crunchy, salty snack, and give in to that, I'm doomed. I don't know how to stop with a few bites.

My current plan, the one that has helped me come down slowly this year, has been to try and stay between 1500 and 1700 calories a day. I expect to reach a plateau with that, and I'll have to adjust my calorie limit at some point. But its something achievable, doable, and as long as I see a one pound loss each month, I'll stick to that.
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. EAugust 2, 2010 at 11:32 AM

    Hi Mom! I really like your chart! Did you make it yourself? I might have to try making something like that, with my different goals along the way. I'd like it to reflect a 5 pound goal, and a 10 pound goal. And maybe a 14 pound goal. And those are all my goals for now. If I did that, I think I'd highlight different lines as different colors. Love you! ~Em

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)