Christmas Time: I Didn't Gain Weight Like Everyone Else

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto the Magical-Mystical-Digital-Scale weighing in at 183.8-pounds.
Woo Hoo...! I thought that it would be worse than that for sure.

Oh, I ate so well yesterday. Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum, I had ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, flank steak, and sausages. For dessert I ate ice cream, peach pie, pumpkin pie, and of course Christmas Cookies. Let's not forget I had chocolate too.

Yes, it was a nice day for sure. Then I awoke this morning to step up onto the scale weighing 183.8-pounds. That's not bad, considering.

So, that's all the damage so far for this Christmas Season. I think that I escaped gaining ten pounds here by the hairs of my chinny-chin-chin.

Really, I thought that I would be seeing 10-pounds extra too. Here is why, I haven't been killing myself to lose the weight. I haven't been depriving myself of a little sweet here, and a little sweet there. I haven't been ignoring certain foods, just because it's got sugar, or fat, or some other ingredient in it that's banned by the weight losing officiants.

Yes, I have made efforts to be careful, but hey, I get carried away too. I like food too. And I'm not any different than anyone else.

Here is the difference between me, and any other weight conscious American out there. I have a written record of what I ate yesterday. I have a written record for what I ate for the last six months. If I have a problem with my weight, I can diagnose the problem.

Most people can't tell you what they had for breakfast, let alone what they ate for dinner two weeks ago. If they did have a written record, then maybe they could figure out where it is they are messing up with the weight.

It gets tedious writing down everything that I eat. It gets tedious figuring out trying to remember what the amounts were and recording them. It gets tedious recording the calories.

Even though it gets tedious, I believe this is the one thing that has saved me from going over board day-in-and-day-out.

And I am not writing to anyone that it's convenient. I am not writing to anyone it's an easy habit to develop. Recently, I have worked late, late into the night. I have written food and drink down on pieces of paper. Then I have actually missed some days recording what I ate or drank. I've had to pull out the pieces of paper and record them into my journal.

My journal isn't complicated either. It's a spiral note legal pad. I write down the food, or drink and the amount next to it. I just make a list of what I ate. I put down the date, and the weight for the day. And if I think about it, I will weigh myself at night. That's it.

I have nothing fancy. A friend of mine told me oh that's too complicated for me. Oh, OK.
Yep, it's complicated. It takes time to get into the habit of recording everything down to. Because sometimes I will forget something, and then mentally backtrack to what I ate; then I record it for the day.

Also, I can think back to what I recorded for the day, and mentally justify depriving my insatiable hunger. Sometimes when I get hungry, I have to say to myself, "No, you ate today, now forget it."

Someone I was talking to yesterday said he lost 80-pounds and it was easy to do. I asked him if he struggled with hunger. He told me he didn't. I asked him if he had any diet plan, or a mentor. He told me he didn't.

Granted he lost a lot of weight. I don't believe it was easy. Denying self isn't easy. For me it's not.

I question the honesty of people when I am told it's easy to lose weight. Uh, uh, it's a struggle getting it off, and it's a struggle to keep it off. Especially as we age.

If I had consumed the amounts of food at 20, or even 30 years old that I consume now, I would have been at 160-pounds months ago. Things have slowed down in me. Aging has changed my metabolic rate. I don't burn the food like I used to.

Yes, I have gone from pudgy as a child to thin, back to pudgy, and back to thin. But, I seem to remember it all happening with a whole lot more food consumption than I am eating now.

It doesn't matter. I am now on my way to going back to thin. This time, I have a system that I will have to use for the rest of my life. I will have to be constantly monitoring my food consumption. I will be a factory that never rests.

I will have to fill out my logs, and watch what I eat. I will have to keep weighing myself and be ever alert for those pounds that seem to jump onto the body from no where.

I will have to be a pain in the back side to everyone at the table as I pull out my little piece of paper and pen. Yep, it will go on and on.

This is a life long battle. It's "The Battle Of The Bulge."
I don't like it. I wish it were different. It is what it is.

Bye for now...

And that's the way it is...I'm David Dane.