Like most thirty-somethings, my weight has been gradually creeping up over the last five years or so. Last December, it hit 188, which was ten pounds over the BMI normal/overweight cutoff for my height.
They say that most drug addicts can’t quit until they make the decision to do so, and that they usually don’t make that decision until they hit some personal low that’s a trigger for them. It’s different for every addict: some decide to go clean when they first wind up in the ED, or when they’re first arrested, or first imprisoned. For some, of course, it sadly never happens.
I think it works the same way for people who decide to lose weight; at least it did for me. When I hit 10 lb over the limit, I finally decided to get serious. I cut way back on (but didn’t eliminate) carbs, stopped eating sweets, and started weighing myself every morning with a scale that could provide accurate, precise (to +/- 0.2 lb) measurements. And amazingly (at least to me), the weight almost instantly started coming off. It didn’t, of course, happen overnight, and there fluctuations due to water or eating more than I needed, but the general trend was noticeably (0.2-0.4 lb per day) downward.
I hit a plateau in the low 170’s near the end of February, but I kept doing what I had been doing, knowing that I was on the right track. My goal was 10 pounds below the BMI cutoff.
This morning, I stepped on the scale.
It read 168.0.
I had done it! And I look better, have more energy, and my clothes fit better.
The best part of all this, though, isn’t the preceding. The best part is, after three months of eating differently, my habits have changed: I’ve finally shed (so to speak) my junk-food vegetarian ways. I eat more veggies and protein, and less garbage. And now that the habit is ingrained, I should be able to continue it in the future, continuing a thinner, healthier me.
I feel as if I’ve been walking around all day with AC/DC’s “Back in Black” as my own personal soundtrack. :)
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