Toucan Sam – My Proud Mascot

Five more days

There is more to be addressed than what I’m going to remove from my diet. I have very poor eating habits that must be changed. I routinely go all day with only multiple cups of coffee (cream & sugar) interspersed with glasses of water (I’ll take kudos points for that). I’ll end the day with whatever I lay hold of and a bowl of ice cream. Several years ago I was smacked across the head with a weight count of 200 pounds. Before stepping on the scale I had dreams of my marriage weigh of 176. I had gained 25 pounds of fat. I quickly changed my eating habits. I didn’t count calories and I really didn’t try to eliminate anything. In fact, I ate much more.

I got a lunchbox – something I hadn’t had since I was in grade school. I spent a great deal of time in the morning preparing small plastic containers and zip-lock baggies with small handfuls and scoops of a variety of things: nuts, fruit, carrots, rice, ham sandwich, celery, raisins, grapes, peanut butter crackers, baked sweet potato…whatever. I would stuff my lunchbox to capacity. Then, I’d eat…all day long. It seemed like I never stopped eating. I didn’t apply any extra effort to exercise or do anything else. I just ate. In two months I had lost 20 pounds.

If you are what you eat, I am amazed I get up in the morning and accomplish anything considering how I’m starving my body. I think this behavioral change is going to pack the most whop to my system – at least initially.

What’s included in such a change? That’s the question. Is it simply fortitude? My downfall the last time was laziness. I just got tired of spending that extra time in the morning in the kitchen making a boatload of food and washing out all the little containers when I got home to reuse the next day. Before I knew it…I had reverted back. And now? The stats are in. I weighed in last night. I have put on those 20 pounds I lost and just for kicks and giggles added an additional 10. Writing it down makes me nauseous.

Jamie took some before shots for the blog but has not sent them to me yet. This can’t be a good sign. She must be protecting me from myself.

While I’m not setting about this challenge as an effort to lose weight – I want to document and journal all aspects that occur along the way. So…my fatness is what it is – can’t ignore it any longer.

My daughter suggested last night we take a family walk each day. This is the same daughter who once thought my rear was peaking out of my shorts and laughed uncontrollably while I tried to convince her (she was five at the time) that it was my back and it only had to do with my posture at the time. While she’s not totally on board with my plan – I think mainly because she fears it’s going to affect her meal choices – her suggestion is a good one.

Pattern. Routine. Habit. Consistency. This is my hurdle, my nemesis, my ultimate challenge. Changing my food intake is simply an outward sign of a vast change in perception. To be vegetarian I must embrace by physical body as a being I care about and want the best for. It all sounds so…strange to me. Yet, it makes sense. I’ve been given this gift of life; I should want to treat it right. To participate actively in what goes in it to nourish it.

I used to think vegetarians were fruit loops. Funny, how things happen.