Full disclosure: I don’t actually like Rocky Road ice cream. I probably just made some enemies there, but I don’t care for frozen marshmallows. The texture is too much. The fact that I even have a strong opinion about that probably says everything you need to know about my weight loss journey.
I’ve struggled with my bodyweight for as long as I can remember. By the time I started 7th grade I was around five and a half feet tall (maybe a bit more) and approaching 230 pounds. To that point in my life, I’d never done much in the way of physical activity unless you count walking from the couch to the pantry and back. That 7th grade year, I played football for the first time and dropped thirty pounds within the next few months. The rest of my life since then has been a struggle with maintaining a healthy weight and dealing with conflicting evidence about what “healthy weight” even means.
I have managed to successfully drop a little over 20 pounds since the end of May. My goal is to lose 10 more pounds. I would probably have met that goal by now except that I really (really) like food. Unfortunately, the only success I’ve had in losing weight is to restrict my food intake. It’s a bit of an internal conflict that I have. More peanut butter or less belly fat? The answer changes daily, but I’m trying to make good decisions.
In the past, I’ve tried exercise to lose weight, but the more I move, the more I want to eat. That becomes counterproductive when trying to lose weight. So, I’ve backed off of the exercise somewhat, and it has definitely kept my hunger in check. I do still try to exercise a couple of times per week for the health benefits.
Mostly, moderation seems to be the key for me. A lot of health experts talk about an 80/20 plan. If you can eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet 80 percent of the time, you can actually enjoy life the other 20 percent of the time while still working toward your weight loss goals. I was all over the 80/20 balance for a few months, but then it slipped closer to something like 70/30, and now I’m probably closer to 60/40. I’m not going to comment on which part is the 60 and which part is the 40. Ratios were never my thing anyway.
I’m blaming my doctor for starting me on this weight loss journey. When I went to see her after my most recent bout of vertigo, she mentioned that I could stand to lose some weight, especially since I’m approaching middle age. (Or maybe I’m already there?) Considering my doctor is young enough that I could have been her high school teacher, I tried not to take that the wrong way. Alas, I did just turn 44 a few weeks ago, so she’s probably right. Hopefully, I can keep the weight off until my next checkup in a few months.
Reflections Of A Middle Aged Nobody 