Thursday, January 17, 2013

Starting Over Again

Battling Obesity is an uphill battle.  It seems like there is no end in sight. It's a daunting task that so few can ever achieve. And why is that?  We know that we want to be healthy. I'm not talking model skinny here. I'm talking healthy.  We all want to be at that weight where we can run around, dance crazy, control our intake, and live a balanced, healthy life.  If you asked almost any extremely Overweight (aka Obese) person the question "If you had to give up chocolate for the rest of our life, and eat veggies 3 times a day, would you do it if I could make you skinny right now?"  The answer would be ABSOLUTELY!  I feel like if I were skinny right now, I could make that commitment to never go back.  Then again I make the committment that my room will never look like a tornado again each time I clean it up, but it inveitabely goes back.  There are important things that you learn in the process of losing weight.  So many people fail to lose weight, not because they are lazy or because they don't want to but because there is so much in biology and society goes against them. Just a few examples that I struggle with:

1.  Our bodies hold on to calories for those days when we were starving before electricity, transportation, and availablility of food in our country.

2.  We still have the sweet tooth from days before the world of corn syrup, so our taste buds and minds tell us to eat more, even when our body says stop.  This is my biggest problem to overcome. 

3. We don't get enough sleep.  Studies show that sleep is key in weight loss, because it helps your body process the food, and when you are overtired, you tend to reach for food that much faster.

4. Lack of Exercise, and time to exercise:   We all have time we could take to make exercise a priority, but instead it's eaten up by the fruitless time wasters like tv, facebook, smartphones, and other crap that adds nothing to our life.  

There are so many things going against us.  So many ways to fall off the wagon, and so many ways to lose hope.  It really is a journey that is a struggle, and you have to hit it from multiple directions, not just from your fridge.  I've renewed my efforts, and I've rejoined Weight Watchers, and I'm determined to make a difference. I can't just sit around and do nothing and let myself get more out of hand with each day.  

I'm really going to take the WW 360 plan to a new level and focus on my Spaces, and my habits.  I've been going for a week and lost 6.2 lbs my first week despite a birthday party and a girls night.  I know I can keep this effort going.  I want to focus this blog on dealing with my emotions related to eating, and tackling all the obstacles in my life.  I want this to work. I know I can do it. I don't want to go under the knife.