-30 Pounds and Counting

I was hobbling across the parking lot to the Orting Food Bank carrying my donation of 30 pounds of potatoes when a volunteer came dashing out to help me. I declined her offer to take them off my hands.

I wanted to experience and savor what it felt like to bear the burden of those extra 30 pounds weighing down my body. They were the symbol of the 30+ pounds I've lost since my first TOPS May weigh-in.

I was determined to be reminded with every step the impact my obesity has on my body and feel the difference these first 30 pounds I've lost is making. I was huffing and puffing before I made it to the building. My knees were literally creaking. My arms were burning under the extra load. And this was only for a 1 minute walk!

I left the donation and as I walked back to my car feeling the freedom of the loss of over 30 pounds, I did the math in my head of how many more sets of 30 pounds I have to lose to reach my goal. I calculate it will take me until the end of 2012 to get there.

I don't feel discouraged by the length of the journey ahead. Instead I feel encouraged with the realization of the difference these first 30 pounds is making in the strain on my body, and how much greater the improvement will be with each 30 more I take off.

30 pounds of pure fat. Just imagine it. Take a pound of butter from the fridge and wad it up into a ball. Now picture how many pounds you have to lose and how much fat that actually is weighing down your body, impacting your joints, your organs, robbing you of vitality, strength, health and energy.

I suppose it sounds like a silly exercise, but it is just one of the mental pictures I'm using to keep myself on track, reaching toward my goal weight and improved health.

I plan to make many more treks to the Orting Food Bank as I reach weight loss milestones, carrying the symbol of how many pounds I've shed. I want to feel the pain and impact of the burden I was bearing and be reminded of the gain I'm experiencing by losing my excess weight.

I'd love to hear about the things you do that reinforce the positive changes in your life. Send me an email to jrmadison@comcast.net and share your ideas.

JULY 4th FOOD & FREEDOM

Holidays and a bountiful feast seem to go hand-in-hand, or hand-to-mouth in my case. This Independence Day I decided to celebrate not only our nation's freedom, but make a stand for freedom from my addictive and harmful binge eating habits. You'll have to read to the end to see if I won my battle and lost, or lost my battle and gained.

I set my TOPS SMART goal for the week, planning for the temptations the holiday and our mini vacation to Orcas Island would bring. I determined to stick with my sensible eating plan of 1200-1500 calories a day, and enjoy being with family more than eating food.

I set the stage for success by packing the ice chest with healthy food choices and planning our meal menus ahead of time.We had lots of bottled water in the car for the long drive and ferry trip to the island.

Rather than planning to lay around, read, relax, and snack nonstop as we often do, I filled our days with active adventures with the grandchildren, parade viewing, beach combing, pottery making, playground and tree house exploration.

I did make a monstrous pot of whole wheat spaghetti for the gang to enjoy, but consciously limited my portion size, bypassed the garlic bread, and had a healthy salad serving.

Instead of pigging out on gargantuan bowls of ice cream as I usually would, we bought a carton of ice cream sandwiches, only enough for me to have one after they were shared with all, and I stayed within my exchanges and calories for the day.

The result was a very nice loss at my weekly TOPS weigh in last night, bringing me to a grand total loss of 27 pounds over the last 5 weeks since starting the program. The change in my measurements over these 1st 5 weeks on TOPS is 2 inches off my chest, 6 inches off my waist, 5 inches off my hips.

A very nice start in my battle to win the war over obesity and find freedom from fat.

“Grandma, how did this get so big?”

As I walked down the hallway of our home with my 3 year old grand daughter following close behind, I felt her little hands patting both cheeks of my rear end and her inquisitive little voice asking “Grandma, how did this get so big?” Later in the day my little grandson commented “Grandma, you’re really fat.” You have to chuckle or cry at the honesty of little children. At their eye level vantage point, the jiggling immensity of my size must obliterate the view of anything else. The photo in the right side bar shows me at the biggest I ever plan to be when I joined TOPS 5-31-11. It’s all downhill from here. I plan to be a smaller, better grandma in the years to come. A 16 pound loss in the first 2 weeks at my TOPS weigh-ins is an encouraging start down the long road to goal.