I am an agility handler who carries too much body weight and I don’t like it.  I huff and puff and it’s uncomfortable.  So I decided to change this and therefore, my eating habits.  I started with a challenge to myself somewhere around July 6th that I would lose two pounds a week for the following six weeks of agility classes.  Being this is Florida, I assumed it would be easy.  One pound a week would surely melt off from the heat of summer.  The other one, I’d have to work on.

I lost two pounds as of July 14.  I was right on track.  Today is July 27, so I should be four pounds less.  This morning, I walked over to Publix, which is the chain grocery store in this area, and it has a big ol’ scale.  Nothing could be finer than weighing yourself in public on a Monday morning.  I stepped onto the scale, and watched the dial ping pong back and forth.  It landed on a number that was barely a pound less than 13 days ago.  I jumped off and hid the disappointment on my face by doing what I’m pretty good at doing, rationalizing.

“At least I’m a pound less than a pound more.”   That didn’t cheer me up as much as I’d hoped, but it was true. 

I walked over to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  It wasn’t ready.  That gave me five long minutes to think over this predicament I was in. 

Was it my age?  I’m closer to 50 than 40.  Way closer.  Surely that made a big difference in my metabolism.  Well, yeah, it did, but that wasn’t the reason I only lost a pound.  The reason was I have been putting more calories in than using in order to drop the poundage.  I could not believe that that rule still applied.  After all these years on this planet, it’s the same bottom line.  Calories in must be less than calories out to lose that weight.  Eegads!

Part of this is the sweet tea I’ve been drinking.  OK, more like the sweetest tea.  I poured so much sugar in the last batch I made, I had to brew another pot of tea to dilute the sugary taste.  It’s still too sweet.  I’m learning how to make this stuff.  And I refuse to use the artificial sweetners, so I’ll just brew another pot of tea to mix with what’s leftover.

That sweetest tea, which I’ve been drinking gallons of, and indulging in more food than I should is what’s behind this lack of success with my original conservative and realistic plan.  It’s not as if I’m asking myself to lose 20 pounds in four weeks, which might have been the plan had it been 30 years ago.  I’ve not only grown in size, I’ve grown in realistic expectations.  

So what is the plan?  I must keep the goal in mind when I eat.  I want to comfortably run agility courses with my dogs.  That isn’t going to happen ultimately until I drop (wait, let me get my calculator out) somewhere between 52.5 and 47.5 pounds. 

I’m one pound closer than I was two weeks ago, but I can do better.  Keeping the reason for my goal in the forefront of my mind when I’m facing temptation will keep me on track.  That big ol’ scale will be waiting for me to determine how well I follow that track.

Helen