Sometimes it feels like an uphill climb...

But then I'm positive your mother told you that anything worth doing was going to be challenging, right?  Well I'm playing catch up here but I do want to start off by encouraging you to stick with it. If you go back over all the posts you will find some hints, tips and tricks for helping you to lose weight and then keep it off not necessarily by dieting but by learning what to eat and how much to eat and the balance of movement/exercise on the other side which is pretty much a reformation of habits that are lifelong.  Here's the thing - it works!  You know how I encouraged you to relax and enjoy the holiday goodies.  Well, I did that.  So on January 1st 
or thereabouts I was no longer in my ideal 5 lb. weight range but had gained 10 lbs. above the high end of that weight range. Oh my!  The key is I had a plan. 

I started knocking off all the junk food, the alcohol and went back on my controlled portions, lots of water, protein enriched, low carb, low fat eating way of life and I'm happy to say that as predicted by 1/25/13 I had returned to my normal self.  Some of you might remember that I was reaching for being at my normal weight for sure by 2/14/13.  Well here's the thing.  So on that weekend when I found my old top weight I went out and over a couple of games of Top Golf with my hubby I downed a couple beers (no they weren't light and they weren't small!) and some chips, salsa and queso and voila!  I deluded myself into believing that by swinging that golf club a few times I was working out - ha! By Monday morning my body was doing it's happy fat dance and the scale was saying bad things again.  So I got it together and got back down again and don't you know that darn Super Bowl weekend came up which just had to mean super nachos, more beer (light this time proving that I learned something) and a fruit pizza, right?  BAD!  So I feel a bit like the picture but did some gardening for extra movement and it was only ONE day so it wasn't too bad.  And as predicted I will be on the straight and narrow until next week on Thursday, likely back to my goal weight, and it will be all about LOVE!  Please someone save me from candy hearts!!  I know I will be good though because I want to wear my red dress and I can only wear it if I have my weight under control so that's my motivational plan...what's yours???

I spend a lot of time with medical records doing what I do and I had to laugh when I came across an entry by an MD today that was counseling an overweight patient.  He told him to "shop in the produce and butcher departments and leave the rest of the store alone!"  Great advice.

I posted this link on facebook but I also wanted to share this with anyone who might be reading this blog.  There are 24 hours in a day and there's a fabulous prescription that is successful in treating many forms of disease and the cool thing is not only does it work but it's inexpensive.  Please go here and get yours. It's a short video - 9 minutes or so. It 's called 23 1/2 Hours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

Here are some obesity facts from the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

In the past week the New England Journal of Medicine published a study about several obesity myths.  Since I doubt all of you subscribe to NEJM  here is CNN's take on the information in the article.  There are many versions out there if you just google New England Journal Obesity Myths and look for a publication date in the last week:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/opinion/carroll-obesity-myths/index.html

All I can say is I know what's worked for me and it was about lifestyle change, not about diet.  Maintenance of weight loss once you've achieved it still requires some work on your part - you are never going to be able to go back to making large quantities of comfort food and eating it with abandon on a daily basis or enjoy fast food as a regular part of your diet or spend more money in the bakery than in produce if you want to be healthy - that's a reality. The good news is that when you re-learn what good food really tastes like and is you're no longer fighting an uphill battle!  It's like Free Air...   Enjoy the ride!

'Til next time
HV 13