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Monday, December 10, 2012

Climbing Back on the Wagon

Ugh. I haven't written in this blog in a couple of years. You can guess the results; I've lost my accountability and gained weight. The reason weight-loss groups work is accountability. Each week, members weigh in and must be accountable to others, regarding any weight gain. If there's a weight loss, members can celebrate it with others. Accountability is everything when fighting any addiction, challenge, or weight loss. Once I stopped blogging or being accountable for what went into my mouth each day, I lost my accountability and regained a large portion of the weight I had lost.

In the past few weeks, the idea of getting back to this blog and getting back on track has been foremost in my mind, and guess what. Several people have brought up the issue of my blog. "Have you written anything in your 'Don't You Dare Call It a Diet' blog?" friends have asked. I'm sure it was their polite way of saying, "You can't see how big your ass has gotten, but I can."

Like an alcoholic who falls off the wagon and must get back up, brush himself off, and climb back on board to take  that ride of sobriety, I must again face the issue of needing to protect my health and prolong my life by eating right and working out regularly.

I have had a few excuses; I really did. I wasn't allowed to exercise for a while, when I was anticipating and then recuperating from surgery, but at last I have begun going to the gym again, after much too much absence, way beyond my legitimate excuse. Getting an exercise plan back on my schedule is major. Once it slid off my calendar, it was easily forgotten. Every time I go to the gym and do a thorough workout, though, I feel great afterward. How could I have forgotten how good it feels to move and push all the muscles in my body?

An excuse I had for not writing in the blog was that I was locked out of my blog, probably because of inactivity, and it took me quite a while to reactivate it. First I had to have the motivation to go through the motions to reactivate it. Next I had to "find the time" to write a blog entry. Excuses, plain and simple.

What's the difference between an excuse and a reason? As I see it, an excuse is an attempt to justify why I didn't do something I should have done. A reason, however, leads to the positive: I have a reason to be healthy, and I've used excuses to "explain" why I haven't been paying close attention to my food plan.

The holidays are looming; I can't lose weight now. Right; that's an excuse. Well, I'm not going to accept that excuse. I will eat right and still enjoy the holidays. I know it's possible; I've done before, when I was sticking to a healthy food plan.

For the past few weeks, finally, I've been back to eating more salads as a meal, and when I eat that salad at home, I remember to put two tablespoons of milled flax seed in it. It enhances the flavor and adds fiber, and flax seed is supposed to reduce cholesterol, an issue I'm addressing with my doctor. He wants me to take statins. I don't want to take statins. I have two more months to lower my cholesterol a few points, so he can see that I am aiming in the right direction.

Avoiding statins is my motivation. Feeling better is my motivation.

Blogging and being public about my weight challenges, those equate to accountability.

Motivation and accountability--I've added those two major elements to my food plan, and I know the combination works, as does my food plan, when I follow it.

If you have kindness and forgiveness in your heart, climb back on the better-eating wagon with me, please, and forgive me for falling off it.

Does any of this food-plan stuff equate to a major change in my lifestyle, one that I can't sustain? No. The change is subtle. Good choices, correct portion sizes, and variety; that's all I need to move toward a better weight.

Wagons ho!