Battle of the Bulge
Sep. 17th, 2002 04:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikOne last one before I try to crash out asleep. It's my own damn fault for napping 3 hours this afternoon anyway... :)
5+ years ago I asked my doc about getting professional help in losing weight. At the time I was a member of the utterly annoying group known as Kaiser Permamente, also known as the 'slap a band aid on 'em and throw them out the door' HMO. I got two answers: Stomach stapling or liquid diet. No advice, no pointers towards good books, no recommended diets or even recommended behavior. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I researched both options, and found the surgery option to be scary, full of side effects, and stupidly expensive. The liquid-diet plan was more promising and safer... but the cost made me do a triple-take and back away slowly. I was pretty much told after that there'd be no insurance help on either anyways... so for weight loss, I'm on my own. Feh.
Swoosh forwards to modern day. I've learned a lot on my own, and by doing very basic but long-term-permanent changes, I'm seeing progress. Slow, safe, and hopefully long-lasting progress. Each little habit I chip away at enlightens me to another piece of the puzzle. The slowness is agonizing, though -- and I do indeed worry that way too much of my life will be past before I'm skinny enough to be a true adventurer again. I want to ride, hike, hang-glide, distance swim, explore, travel, dance, date, and just plain play. With the exception of hang-gliding, I already do all these things; I just want to do them better and with more vigor. The hang-gliding bit would just be a bonus.
One of my sisters is also overweight. She's downright skinny in comparison to me; hell, I probably outweigh my whole family put together. Still, her weight interferes with her quality of life and the choices she wants to make. Always the more self-motivated one than I was, she's tried every diet in the book and then some, often times getting me involved when time/distance permitted. I watch her attempts with great interest, as when she finds something that works I tend to try and mimic it.
She decided to sign up for the OptiFast system -- a doctor managed, liquid-diet weightloss system. It's really involved -- lots of pre-screenings, constant evaluations and blood tests during the weight loss cycle, and lots of counselling and group therapy during and after the weight loss to help you maintain it. It's also pretty expensive... but it's supposedly one of the safest ways to lose weight quickly and hopefully keep the weight off. Think of it as a giant Reset Button on a life's dietary habits. You get ground down to the utter basics and forced to stay there for a while, and then are re-trained on how to eat properly and slowly brought back into the world of normal food.
The OptiFast plan is instituted by each participating doctor in slightly different ways. The one up by the sister is more 'group therapy' based, and only starts up a batch of people when there's enough to fit into a group that makes it worth their while. As a result, she's been stuck waiting for a few months now and won't be starting her plan until October sometime. The one down by me is more centralized to the physiological side of things, and will start each person individually whenever they're ready... not being as concerned to get a coherent group together. This got me to pondering for a while. Should I do such a thing? Should I spend all the money? What would it do to my life, good and bad?
I sat and thought about the money involved for a while, and came to two conclusions. For one, I make a lot more than I did back in 1996. While still expensive, the cost of the program is relatively a lot less for me than it used to be. For two, if I stop eating out because of this... the money saved will probably pay for more than half of the darn program by itself. Okay, so Money isn't the big issue here. I could rule that one out.
The next big thing was social. Being a bachelor geek, my primary socialization outside of my roomates is Going Out To Eat. With friends, with dates, you name it. "Let's go get some dinner" is the way to say 'let's hang out'. It's scary to think about -- how much of your own life's interactions are instigated by food? This one honestly worries me somewhat. If I'm living on shakes and doctor-provided power bars, there go the fun evenings BSing with pals down at Chevys or weekend dinners in Japantown. This one will have to be addressed.
The final bit was follow through. So, since I was doing all other kinds of housecleaning-of-the-life today, I got off my rump and called. I had a nice long chat with the folks at the clinic, and set up an appointment to talk with the weight-loss doc on Thursday. I found out two very important things that should help me along with the decision of if to do this or not:
During the consulation Thursday I'll be deciding if I'm going to do this, and if so... which plan to use. I'm sure I'll journal a lot more about this as time goes on. I'm actually a bit excited about this, even though it's a cash outlay that's terribly timed. I just want to see the effect it'll have on me and how my body responds to it. I'm sure my sister will be playfully annoyed if I go for it -- as it means I'd be starting up before she would, even though it was her idea. :)
I'll finish out this post with a bit more information on this liquid diet thing, in case any of my friends reading this might want to consider trying it.
Most of the info is described pretty well on the OptiFast web page. What it boils down to is replacing the wide variety of food inputs into a single, manageable type of nutrition. Visits to the doctor involving blood-analysis provide the feedback loop needed to do it right, and set the proper amount of nutrition the body needs to be healthy -- while filling up the rest of the urge to eat with harmless bulk. It takes a few weeks to adjust... but once you get a groove going with it, your body stops feeling hungry at inappropriate times and stops craving certain flavors/treats.
The big advantage here is that you get on a very even chemical balance that few overweight people have ever had in their lives. Blood sugar is no longer all over the scale. Acid problems (like I have) are easier to control. Intestinal things stop being a problem for those more succeptable to them (like constipation, etc). Things just basically run on a more even keel, and at a minimum calorie level while remaining nutritiontally safe. This puts your body into a much more optimized contition to lose weight, and the pounds shed surprisingly fast.
The first downside is pretty obvious: you drink shakes, Booor-ing. The other downsides are more problematic. The two+ week transition period is a serious mental challenge; you really have to force yourself to stick with it until your body adapts. The social issues (as I mentioned earlier) have to be dealt with. If your life is centered around food, part of that life IS going to break down. This is why they include some levels of psychological counselling with these programs. Even though the chemical rebalancing often helps fight depression, the changes in lifestyle and human interaction can far outweigh that for some people. Even the simple act of not having 'comfort foods' can be enough to seriously depress some people to a dangerous point.
Due to these challenges, there is a 2nd option: The 'two thirds" method. Instead of going cold turkey and having only shakes all the time... you have shakes for 2/3rds of your day. You then pick one meal (lunch or dinner) to have normal food. You're encouraged to keep this meal 'reasonable'. Sound familiar? Yup... this is what all the Slim Fast commercials are talking about.
Advantages: The social worries all but disappear, as you can still keep dinners with friends/family/etc. The two-week transition time isn't a big thing. The cost is less in the short term-- you buy less of the shakes, and you only need bloodwork 2/3rds as often.
Disads: You don't get the benefits of a better blood-chemical balance, since you're still throwing random foods into the mix. The weight loss is significantly slower. The cost over a long period of time is actually higher -- as it takes you so much longer to lose the weight. You also stand a lower chance of keeping the weight off at the end of the program, as you never really hit the full reset button and aren't rebuilding your dietary habits from scratch... some old habits and desires may stay with you and re-surface once you're off the shakes.
Either way, full or 2/3rds... it's a challenge. Neither is a 'magic pill' ; they take time and the willpower to follow through with. Neither is a permanent solution: you have to re-learn how to eat and rebuild proper dietary/exercise habits by the time the program comes to an end, or you'll probably bounce right back to the weight you were at before.
Still... it's better than staying fat and doing nothing about it, no? My recent weight-loss, while minor, has given me a tiny taste of how much better I can feel. I want more of that good feeling, dammit. I want to be able to be active and _enjoy_ it. So I'm going to give it a go. Full or 2/3rds? I don't know. I'll find out after the Thursday appointment.
And finally... I sleep. G'night!
5+ years ago I asked my doc about getting professional help in losing weight. At the time I was a member of the utterly annoying group known as Kaiser Permamente, also known as the 'slap a band aid on 'em and throw them out the door' HMO. I got two answers: Stomach stapling or liquid diet. No advice, no pointers towards good books, no recommended diets or even recommended behavior. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I researched both options, and found the surgery option to be scary, full of side effects, and stupidly expensive. The liquid-diet plan was more promising and safer... but the cost made me do a triple-take and back away slowly. I was pretty much told after that there'd be no insurance help on either anyways... so for weight loss, I'm on my own. Feh.
Swoosh forwards to modern day. I've learned a lot on my own, and by doing very basic but long-term-permanent changes, I'm seeing progress. Slow, safe, and hopefully long-lasting progress. Each little habit I chip away at enlightens me to another piece of the puzzle. The slowness is agonizing, though -- and I do indeed worry that way too much of my life will be past before I'm skinny enough to be a true adventurer again. I want to ride, hike, hang-glide, distance swim, explore, travel, dance, date, and just plain play. With the exception of hang-gliding, I already do all these things; I just want to do them better and with more vigor. The hang-gliding bit would just be a bonus.
One of my sisters is also overweight. She's downright skinny in comparison to me; hell, I probably outweigh my whole family put together. Still, her weight interferes with her quality of life and the choices she wants to make. Always the more self-motivated one than I was, she's tried every diet in the book and then some, often times getting me involved when time/distance permitted. I watch her attempts with great interest, as when she finds something that works I tend to try and mimic it.
She decided to sign up for the OptiFast system -- a doctor managed, liquid-diet weightloss system. It's really involved -- lots of pre-screenings, constant evaluations and blood tests during the weight loss cycle, and lots of counselling and group therapy during and after the weight loss to help you maintain it. It's also pretty expensive... but it's supposedly one of the safest ways to lose weight quickly and hopefully keep the weight off. Think of it as a giant Reset Button on a life's dietary habits. You get ground down to the utter basics and forced to stay there for a while, and then are re-trained on how to eat properly and slowly brought back into the world of normal food.
The OptiFast plan is instituted by each participating doctor in slightly different ways. The one up by the sister is more 'group therapy' based, and only starts up a batch of people when there's enough to fit into a group that makes it worth their while. As a result, she's been stuck waiting for a few months now and won't be starting her plan until October sometime. The one down by me is more centralized to the physiological side of things, and will start each person individually whenever they're ready... not being as concerned to get a coherent group together. This got me to pondering for a while. Should I do such a thing? Should I spend all the money? What would it do to my life, good and bad?
I sat and thought about the money involved for a while, and came to two conclusions. For one, I make a lot more than I did back in 1996. While still expensive, the cost of the program is relatively a lot less for me than it used to be. For two, if I stop eating out because of this... the money saved will probably pay for more than half of the darn program by itself. Okay, so Money isn't the big issue here. I could rule that one out.
The next big thing was social. Being a bachelor geek, my primary socialization outside of my roomates is Going Out To Eat. With friends, with dates, you name it. "Let's go get some dinner" is the way to say 'let's hang out'. It's scary to think about -- how much of your own life's interactions are instigated by food? This one honestly worries me somewhat. If I'm living on shakes and doctor-provided power bars, there go the fun evenings BSing with pals down at Chevys or weekend dinners in Japantown. This one will have to be addressed.
The final bit was follow through. So, since I was doing all other kinds of housecleaning-of-the-life today, I got off my rump and called. I had a nice long chat with the folks at the clinic, and set up an appointment to talk with the weight-loss doc on Thursday. I found out two very important things that should help me along with the decision of if to do this or not:
- There are two plans, not one: A 100% liquid diet plan, and a 2/3ds plan.
- Most of the start-up cost is for initial medical tests: full bloodwork, EKG, etc. I just did those today, paid for by my insurance... and the weight loss clinic will accept those! So essentially, no startup cost.
During the consulation Thursday I'll be deciding if I'm going to do this, and if so... which plan to use. I'm sure I'll journal a lot more about this as time goes on. I'm actually a bit excited about this, even though it's a cash outlay that's terribly timed. I just want to see the effect it'll have on me and how my body responds to it. I'm sure my sister will be playfully annoyed if I go for it -- as it means I'd be starting up before she would, even though it was her idea. :)
I'll finish out this post with a bit more information on this liquid diet thing, in case any of my friends reading this might want to consider trying it.
Most of the info is described pretty well on the OptiFast web page. What it boils down to is replacing the wide variety of food inputs into a single, manageable type of nutrition. Visits to the doctor involving blood-analysis provide the feedback loop needed to do it right, and set the proper amount of nutrition the body needs to be healthy -- while filling up the rest of the urge to eat with harmless bulk. It takes a few weeks to adjust... but once you get a groove going with it, your body stops feeling hungry at inappropriate times and stops craving certain flavors/treats.
The big advantage here is that you get on a very even chemical balance that few overweight people have ever had in their lives. Blood sugar is no longer all over the scale. Acid problems (like I have) are easier to control. Intestinal things stop being a problem for those more succeptable to them (like constipation, etc). Things just basically run on a more even keel, and at a minimum calorie level while remaining nutritiontally safe. This puts your body into a much more optimized contition to lose weight, and the pounds shed surprisingly fast.
The first downside is pretty obvious: you drink shakes, Booor-ing. The other downsides are more problematic. The two+ week transition period is a serious mental challenge; you really have to force yourself to stick with it until your body adapts. The social issues (as I mentioned earlier) have to be dealt with. If your life is centered around food, part of that life IS going to break down. This is why they include some levels of psychological counselling with these programs. Even though the chemical rebalancing often helps fight depression, the changes in lifestyle and human interaction can far outweigh that for some people. Even the simple act of not having 'comfort foods' can be enough to seriously depress some people to a dangerous point.
Due to these challenges, there is a 2nd option: The 'two thirds" method. Instead of going cold turkey and having only shakes all the time... you have shakes for 2/3rds of your day. You then pick one meal (lunch or dinner) to have normal food. You're encouraged to keep this meal 'reasonable'. Sound familiar? Yup... this is what all the Slim Fast commercials are talking about.
Advantages: The social worries all but disappear, as you can still keep dinners with friends/family/etc. The two-week transition time isn't a big thing. The cost is less in the short term-- you buy less of the shakes, and you only need bloodwork 2/3rds as often.
Disads: You don't get the benefits of a better blood-chemical balance, since you're still throwing random foods into the mix. The weight loss is significantly slower. The cost over a long period of time is actually higher -- as it takes you so much longer to lose the weight. You also stand a lower chance of keeping the weight off at the end of the program, as you never really hit the full reset button and aren't rebuilding your dietary habits from scratch... some old habits and desires may stay with you and re-surface once you're off the shakes.
Either way, full or 2/3rds... it's a challenge. Neither is a 'magic pill' ; they take time and the willpower to follow through with. Neither is a permanent solution: you have to re-learn how to eat and rebuild proper dietary/exercise habits by the time the program comes to an end, or you'll probably bounce right back to the weight you were at before.
Still... it's better than staying fat and doing nothing about it, no? My recent weight-loss, while minor, has given me a tiny taste of how much better I can feel. I want more of that good feeling, dammit. I want to be able to be active and _enjoy_ it. So I'm going to give it a go. Full or 2/3rds? I don't know. I'll find out after the Thursday appointment.
And finally... I sleep. G'night!
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no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 04:35 am (UTC)If you can do it, fantastic. You have a heck of a lot more willpower than I could ever imagine having myself. Heck, the diabetic diet I was on drove me nuts. Shakes? Wow! But then, since you seem ready, you'd have sucess with it, and I would last 24 hours before turning into a crying puddle of goo.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 06:15 am (UTC)The most recent diet I've been was the Atkins Diet, where you can eat as much meat as you want (which sounded cool for me cuz I'm mostly a carnivore!) and very very low to no carbs. I must admit, it worked for me :) But then...I couldn't stand not having pasta (I'm half-Italian...Gimme my pasta, dangnabit!!), couldn't have potatoes, couldn't have breads..couldn't have lots of things cuz they had carbs in it...so...I got off of that diet too =P Of course, it doesn't help when you've got a husband eating chocolate or cookies in front of you >.<
What I find interesting is that I'm barely hungry and I don't eat very often. I usually have breakfast (or in some cases, brunch...depending on how attached I am to the net when I get up in the morning). I usually don't have lunch..cuz...I'm just not hungry =P If I *did* have lunch, chances are, I won't be hungry for supper, and if I forced supper down my throat, I'd either be complaining of how full I feel, or throwing up cuz I ate too much >.< I'd rather eat when I'm hungry, so I'm not "suffering" later on in the day =P
I'm 5ft2", and last I checked myself at, I was about 250 lbs. I've never been skinny in my life...and even tho I'm married now and live away from my parents, they still nag at me to loose the weight. I would *love* to be skinny, really I would...But I would like to do it for me and not to please everyone else. I feel like people are trying to force me into getting skinny because I feel like I'm not socially acceptable when I'm this fat...People won't hire you for jobs, or, you won't get a date, were just some of the things people told me to try and encourage me to loose weight...I'm glad I met my husband, he doesn't care if I'm 50 pounds or 500 pounds..He loves me for me, and will support me in whatever I choose :)
Personally, I think I just need to get off my butt and start exercising XD
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 11:32 am (UTC)For a change, the Geek Lifestyle is an advantage to me. The folks I live with and hang out with the most have no sense of regular timing for their eating habits, so it's rare I'll ever be caught sitting there drinking a shake while others in the house are chowing down on a steak-and-potatoes dinner. 90% of all meals my friends have are meals out (except for Frang, who is one hell of a chef), so I have the happy option of staying home or going for a motorcycle ride to kill time instead. I also tend to eat lunch at work around 2p, well after everybody else at the office, and this means no midday peer pressure to eat. :)
I actually was a skinny kid, scarily enough. A type-A, super-hyper, ADHD freakazoid micro-kid, with copper-wire-red hair. I was unstoppably overenthusiastic, making me both an explorer and a terrible brat. This is why my sisters _hated_ me when growing up. :) I was also the shortest, skinniest kid in any of my classes; the runt. Somewhere around 6th grade, some weird genetic switch flipped, and in a short, VERY awkward period of time I was suddenly the tallest, strongest, and fattest kid in my classes. Adolescence was a fun rollercoaster ride, as even though I was tubby I was really decently built too. That finally gave out into adult life, and I'm left with being tall, wide framed, and fat -- but without the strength/muscle advantages of my youth.
Some of my friends from that period are convinced I got swapped out by aliens or something. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 01:13 pm (UTC)And drink _lots_ of water.
Just my .02.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 06:40 am (UTC)I've never heard of OptiFast before. I was skeptial at first until you mentioned that there was some very careful screening done by doctors. Maybe it does hold some promise... I'm still wary of the fact that it seems it would be very easy indeed to fall back into old habits and regain weight once you're "off" the system, but I guess that's a matter of time telling, and personal inclination and, there's that word again, willpower.
Hope!
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 11:36 am (UTC)I need to do more, but in all honesty between the weight making me tired and the knee being unhappy, I'm finding it difficult to get more exercise. A good way around this is swimming, but the average gym membership out here costs insanely high and there's _waiting lists_ to get in the water at most of them. I kid you not. :/ What I'd give for a simple YMCA or school pool that was within a few miles of the house and wasn't packed solid with annoying valley-monkies.
The key here is to get the weight loss kicked off. I've already started; with luck, this system will get me farther along. Every few pounds removed makes it all the easier to get back to walking/hiking, which I really enjoy. The more I walk/hike, the more I lose. This is a nice positive feedback cycle. Here's to hoping I can get it goin'. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 07:30 am (UTC)Her group also does a lot of cool 'go out and do things' stuff, like this past Sunday they did the "Sam Spade" walk of SF.
So, take that as you will.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-18 08:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 08:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 11:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 08:44 am (UTC)It's great, and the only reason I left was because I moved and just didn't have the motivation to get involved with a new group. I have the bad habit of putting too many other things before my personal health. I really should pay attention to things again.
Weight watchers is good.
Date: 2002-09-17 10:18 am (UTC)As for restaurants, an option might be to learn to like salads. Even things like chicken caesar will be lighter on the waistline than, say, a plate of pasta.
Good luck, whatever you end up doing }:>
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 12:03 pm (UTC)I'll be brutally honest with myself here: the reason I want to try this optifast thingy is that it doesn't require me to think. The selection, acquisition, caloric computation and reprocussions of food are the last things I want to think about, and I honestly never have. When you're a tech geek working weird hours, you just forget about food until your body goes "hey, hungry now." Then you grab whatever is easiest and non-nasty: break room snacks, fast food, eating out at decent restaurants sometimes. The few times one actually grocery shops, the shelves end up with snack foods, sodas, and "Easy foods" like canned pasta. Eating therefore takes no physical or mental effort -- with the obvious penalty of being terribly unhealthy. :)
Most diets haven't worked for me due to this set of personal bad habits. Counting calories? Shopping for healthy things? Cooking at home more than one night a week? Aaaiugh, effort! Next thing you know, I find TacoBell food in my hand because it's stupid-easy, and there goes the diet. Feh.
Were I one of the uber-rich, I'd hire a dietician and chef who would come and prepare every meal. I have no problem eating healthy things when put in front of me, and I really don't have a huge hunger-management problem. It's just the effort to identify and assemble said healthy things that's the problem. So... shakes are easy, especially the pre-made ones. If I can just keep the shakes handy it becomes zero mental effort when mealtime comes around. I'm cool with that! At least that's the theory. We'll see if the shakes drive me nuts or not. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 12:40 pm (UTC)What do you plan to do once you loose all the weight on the liquid diet? Like I said, I lost 40 lbs when I started paying attention, and when I stopped, I put it all, plus some, back on. I know for a fact that no matter what you do, if you don't change your view on food, you'll gain back what you lost.
Now, willpower to keep paying attention, that's what I'm still trying to find. :)
Dalia
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 12:57 pm (UTC)The counselling/training during this program are supposed to help teach the participant how to eat healthy again, and therefore be able to keep the weight down. Once a month during the program I'd be going to such conselling sessions, and with luck, the knowledge will stick.
A side note, though: Given the options of continuing to do nothing, or to lose a lot of weight only to regain it again... I'll pick the latter. Even if it doesn't last, being skinnier _for a while_ will do my mental self image wonders. I'm just smart enough to want to do it by doctor-approved and safe methods... so that while my weight might bounce, it won't do so in an unhealthy 'fad diet' way.
Tracking food.
Date: 2002-09-17 08:53 pm (UTC)The counselling/training during this program are supposed to help teach the participant how to eat healthy again, and therefore be able to keep the weight down. Once a month during the program I'd be going to such conselling sessions, and with luck, the knowledge will stick.
After watching my mother and father count points for many months, I'm convinced that a heuristic system would work just as well.
They select foods pretty much along the lines of "eat a moderate-sized meal, don't take seconds, snack on veggies between meals, and have a small dessert once a day at most". Follow that, and you're almost certainly most of the way there.
My own heuristics are a bit different. I just avoid soft drinks, most greasy foods, and meats of questionable origin, and take only a moderate amount of anything heavy like pasta. Psychological tricks help with this - I'm now grossed out by greasy food }:>.
YMMV, as you'd still have to do a bit more to get a good match to the system you choose. Just don't worry about doing a THAC0 and armour-class calculation for every item on your plate }:>.
-Deuce
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 09:07 am (UTC)I have to confess that one of the mental changes resulting from my dedication to changing my body is that the essential contradiction behind "I lost weight on X diet, but I just couldn't give up Y food forever" now just jumps out at me. For me, there is no food more important than being able to ride my horses safely and tuning my body the way that I want it.
(I'm 5'9" and 288 as of this morning, so I've certainly got a long way to go yet.)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 12:10 pm (UTC)I have to wonder if I'd ever try riding once I lose the weight. Most likely not; I'd still be too prone to be on th' ground there walking with them instead of riding. I'm just weird that way. Someday I'll get the land I want, and will be more than happy to have a bunch of drafties out thudding around the fields. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 09:56 am (UTC)I don't know that OptiFast is going to be the One True Way (tm) or anything, but after a lot of research it seems to be the best option for me in my current situation. I'd be delighted if it works for you! (Yes, even if it means you start first and lose faster. Though I reserve the right to playfully grump atcha, Silly Hoss.) What I want most is for us both to be healthy and happy, however we manage it.
Nifty about the 100% and 2/3 options. The version I will be doing is more like a 90%, I'd guess. Three shakes, two meal bars (with the option of using Balance bars, instead of Optifast bars, for more flavor options and a slightly cheaper price), plus a minimum of 3 cups of veggies per day. And once a week 3 oz of chicken or fish, so I'm planning to use that as my "socializing/meal out with friends" thing. I also think we need to get the gang back to doing more bowling/mini-golfing/beach trips/etc., but that's a rant for another time. *grin*
If you decide to give this a try, I'll do my best to help you however I can. I know the first two weeks are gonna be a bear, but I'll help you and then you can help me. You know I'm always in your corner.
no subject
Date: 2002-09-17 04:56 pm (UTC)*hugshugshugs*
Over the biggest hurdle already...
Date: 2002-09-17 07:26 pm (UTC)If it's genuinely important to you, and if you can afford it, don't fret about the expense of OptiFast or whatever you decide upon. That was another mental hurdle I had to get over...as I'm just about the cheapest bastard alive, I'd usually just buy whatever's on sale at the market or the cheapest thing on the menu, and hate to see uneaten food discarded. So I've had to change some habits there, learning how to buy "appropriate" foods (and accepting the minor additional expense) rather than whatever just provides the most food-to-dollar ratio.
I'm a bit curious now to see if my weight will hold steady through the holidays. This is where that whole "self discipline" thing comes into play more than ever before. I've done okay with it this far, but there hasn't been pumpkin pie and home made cookies and stuff lurking around every corner up to this point.
When the going gets tough, I just think of my roommate. *rimshot!*