You know you're overweight when you lose 20 pounds and nobody notices.
My weight was the elephant in the room. After determining I needed to lose 50 pounds, I gained 20. I've since lost that 20, but for the longest time, nobody said Anything.
It was discouraging. I mean, I'm only trying to lose weight to impress people and get them to talk about how great I look. If no one is going to do that, why should I bother?
Now that I've lost 5 more pounds, bringing the total to 25, people are starting to notice and ask the question many of us long for more than a marriage proposal: "Have you lost weight?"
When I hear about people losing weight there is only one thing I want to know and I want to know it immediately - right after I see the pictures of the person fat - "How did you do it?"
I don't know why, but I'm always hoping they will say, "Every time I took this pill I bought at WalMart I lost a pound." They never say that.
I'll tell what I did, but you're not going to like it. ...
Eating less and exercising more.
B-O-R-I-N-G, I know, but the figure being revealed underneath all of this fat is anything but. ;)
I started using Sparkpeople.com and counting my calories.
I thought that calorie counting went out of style with Jane Fonda, but it's actually like a religion, like yoga, or Facebook.
My most used phrase - after "Somebody give me a beer" used to be, (said in whiny voice) "I don't know why I can't lose weight, I don't even eat that much."
Turns out I was eating about 4000 calories in a day when between 1800 - 2000 would be what it took to keep my weight stable.
There are about 500 calories in one Arby's Chocolate Turnover, which is the saddest thing that ever happened to me besides two divorces.
As for the exercise ... I've upped it to one hour or more a day. Yeah, it's a lot, but I'm getting used to it and it feels good now, almost as good as that extra hour sleep I used to get. I've also started speed walking to the bathroom at work. I think it's helping.
I still have 45 pounds to lose, but instead of seeing it as an impossible feat, like climbing Everest, or getting people to believe Obama was born in the U.S., I know it's just a matter of time ... like death, I know I'll get there.
