You Have To Monitor Yourself

I am back in Illinois. Yeah!

Today I weighed myself in at 204-pounds.

What happened? Well, I couldn't weigh myself for one. Weighing myself has become an impetus for my goal. I look forward each day to seeing if I am progressing or regressing in my weight loss. The second thing was I ate a lot of food yesterday. I will soon explain. But, if you read my blog from yesterday you'll soon figure it out.

I had actually thought that by the middle of June, 2007 I would have gotten to 190 pounds. I don't think this is going to happen. Here is why? I'm not going to kill myself trying to lose weight. This is a "Steady as she goes" game.

Now, do I look at every piece of food that I eat with scepticism? I sure do. It's kind of a love hate thing here. I love to eat and enjoy the flavors. Yet, I love the benefits of not eating.

I have a friend who actually is in his own battle to get into shape and stay there. He made a comment about my blog. He says if we can't monitor ourselves and we do the right thing then we'll eventually get good results.

Hmmmm? Let me see, if you are like me, then you can't remember what you ate last week; let alone what you ate three days ago. If you are like me, you have a convenient memory. My memory is actually becoming inconvenient. But, that's a story for another day.

In manufacturing, every process is monitored. The nut's and bolts are counted. The raw material is counted. The results are tallied. Then some CEO gets together with his managers and his accountants and they go over the results. Everything is written down.

Yesterday I attended a track meet. All the results of the competition were written down. Every event was carefully recorded. Years ago they used to use a stop watch and a pad of paper. Now there is a computer. The time keeper just punches a button and WA LA the results are up on the board.

Here is my point. Why is it that we think that we don't have to monitor ourselves? Why is it we don't think we have to write down what has happened with our weight?

We gained weight because we lost track of what we were. The only way to get back on track is to start reviewing what we are doing.

I couldn't possibly keep track of all the food I eat if I didn't write it down. What makes anyone think that they can?

I am going to keep beating this drum, "Write It Down!" Get out your notebook pad, your handheld, or your computer and write it down. I mean it.

The other day I was talking to this woman who has a very pretty face, but she is round and pudgy. I asked her if she has read my blog yet. She made up excuses. Mean while I watched her eat two very thick pieces of raisin toast with a calorie count of probably 200 calories each.

There isn't anything wrong with eating big pieces of raisin toast, it's what someone eats after that which becomes the problem.

This woman has no perception what is happening to her. Since I have known her over the year she has gotten noticeably bigger.

Is this you? Are you reading this and not paying attention? I don't know. I suspect no one has except a couple of people.

Don't kid yourself. Don't rely on your memory. Monitor your results. Write it down.

Yesterday I went to breakfast in a buffet. These things are not a place for weak willed people. I am one. I had a large breakfast in anticipation I wasn't going to be eating lunch. I was right. But, I did have dinner. Read below what the results were.

For Breakfast I ate the following:

• Large Omelet (3 eggs, cheese, meat, vegetables (340 calories))
• Waffle - eight inches in diameter - (250 calories)
• Syrup (200 calories)
• Pad of Land O ' Lakes Butter (100 calories)
• Oatmeal -1 cup- (150 calories)Grapefruit -six pieces- (40 calories)
• Honey Dew Melon (20 calories)Orange Juice - 4 ounces - (65 calories)
• Raisins (Calories ? )
• Total Calories this morning were 1,165 calories

Now remember I had 400 calories left.

Look at what I had for dinner:

• Salmon-3 ounces-
• Cauliflower
• Green beans
• Corn bread-a small triangle
• Potato-two small halves
• Roast beef and gravy-one ounce
• Steak-eight ounces
• Chocolate Brownie with chocolate frosting
• Vanilla Ice Cream-1/2 cup

I went over board with this meal. I deliberately made an attempt to stop after my desert. At the desert table there were unlimited varieties of cakes, pies, cookies and other delicacies. I could have gone overboard there.

I stopped myself after the first taste of desert.

I could have taken this meal, since I wasn't paying for it, to just really go to town and stuff myself. If you were there and looked around that restaurant, you would see many, many very preponderant people. I mean these were big, wide, flabby people.

Obviously they eat at buffets often. What is really sad is their children are the same way. They are big and flabby.

I was with a bunch of College Track Athletes. These kids were in shape. Some knew when to quit with the food. Some didn't know when to quit.

I watched this young black girl who was skinner than I think she should have been. I was curious about why she was so thin. I saw what she put on her plate, and ate. It's no wonder she was so thin. She had small portions of vegetables on her plate. She didn't go for desert.

I think someone needs to talk to that girl before she dies from malnourishment. Obviously she has a serious eating malady. Compared to her peers, she was way too thin.

This is what happens when we don't put things in perspective. If we don't look at a standard for our age and height, we too can get out of whack with our weight.

The Army Had Weight Standards
I remember when I was in the Army every so often we were weighed. The Army had a height and weight standard based on attained age. If a soldier didn't meet that standard he couldn't re-up. He was bared from reenlistement by the comander.

It's not like that now unfortunately. Since the Army needs all it's people it lets them get away with breaking the standards. But not so long ago when I was in this wasn't the case.

I had a weight limit of 186 pounds that I was supposed to stay under.

I have been looking at the Body Mass Charts on the Internet. According to the Web-site by the Heart and Lung association I should (To be considered at a normal weight) start at 175 pounds.

I am almost 30 pounds away from there. I remember when I was in the full time Army I averaged between 160 and 170 pounds. I had a 32 inch waiste then too.

I don't know where I want to be. It's a struggle to get there. I know for sure I want to hit 190-pounds. I may decide to go lower than that.

I still have flab on my tummy. It's got to be at least 20-pounds of flab there.