Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Adventures in Weight Loss

It's been several weeks since my pal Jess and I embarked on yet another adventure. Please understand that we have been involved in many adventures, some voluntary, some planned, and some totally out of the blue. This one we planned. Jess is a consummate planner (I am, too, she just has a better track record of making our ideas happen.) She is such a fabulous detail person. I'm always the one saying "what if...." My life without Jess is really not nearly as fun and productive as my life with Jess. We are outstanding partners, even though we don't agree on everything. We have this wonderful friendship that allows us to totally ignore each others' frailties.

OK, enough of that maudlin crud. A couple of months ago, I got really, really tired of listening to myself whine about not being able to lose the 15 pounds necessary to feel like a human being again. I got tired of feeling like Shamu, and really annoyed with myself for the whining. I used to be a very skinny person. I was not a skinny person any more. Every Monday I would wake up with a new mission....to lose this weight that was weighing me down. Every Friday I was a failure. Please don't think that stopped my eternal optimism. Each Monday I began again. the trouble was, I didn't have a clue about how to lose the weight. If I had the money back for every diet book I have bought, for every diet pill (Hey, Hydroxycut, you did NOTHING), I would be a rich woman.

I joined Weight Watchers, the last bastion of the hopelessly overweight. I did feel a little funny about it, but hey, nothing else was working. Within a short time, Jess agreed to give it try, too. With her usual enthusiasm (and ability to get up early) she jumped right in and began walking at 4:00 am. (She's an early riser, OK? She gets to work at 6:00.) I wish I could say that I had the same comittment to early morning exercise, but I have been good about using my treadmill. I am happy to report that Jess and I have (officially, as of today) lost a total of 20 pounds.

I tried to tell one of my coworkers who has been struggling with weight about our new "lifestyle". She assured me that she was eating like a bird. I think that's the problem. Birds eat their own body weight daily. She is still struggling, and I am strutting on the beach.

Jess and I are thrilled. We are accomplishing our goals. We are feeling better, looking better, and understanding that this is totally under our control. After the Labor Day weekend and a dinner at my favorite restaurant, I still lost 1.4 lbs. Come one you guys, it's not that hard once you finally take a real look at WHAT you are eating. That's what I never did before. A little of this, a little of that, didn't seem like much at all. It turned out to be more than I expected. We have all gotten to expect that servings should be super-sized and that we are immune to reality. You can lose it if you want to...

Join us in our adventure...you'll be glad you did.

2 comments:

Jess said...

Hey girlfriend...yeah we have had a lot of adventures, OH MY lots of adventures and fun, but ya know it's been worth it to have a great friend like you. You were always there listening to me and giving me advice and hoping one day I'd catch on and I did, best thing I could have done. Life is good now, for both of us. Thanks for supporting me in this, I couldnt' have done it without ya. :)

Deb said...

OH MY indeed! Adventures and misadventures. We've always been a great team - we still are! I'm glad we're in this one together.