New Lifestyle Commitment

I've been struggling almost from the beginning of my weight loss journey for a name for my eclectic, home made program.  I steadfastly resist the term diet, because that suggests a temporary eating style in order to lose weight.  Fad diets come to mind, the unrealistic eating habits that no one can healthily maintain for the long term.  Which is why they fail, because people aren't being taught to make the proper eating choices. 

I'm convinced the lifelong weight loss/maitenance success comes from a commitment to eating right and exercising.  You gotta watch what you eat and you gotta move.  A lot of people say they've tried everything they can to lose weight and it just doesn't work, but when you look at their lifestyle and their eating habits it becomes quite clear why they're heavy. 

So I've finally coined a term for this thing that I've managed to turn into a 72 pound weight loss.  Are you ready?  Get your pencil ready, you'll want to write this down.

NEW LIFESTYLE COMMITMENT

Because that's what this is.  It's a commitment to live a healthier life, making better choices for health's sake, not just to lose weight.  It's something to maintain for the rest of my life, not just till I get to goal weight. 

The first element of this new lifestyle commitment was how I decided to fuel my body.  How a total food lover like me could learn to turn down some of the foods I love most - possibly for a lifetime. 

And speaking as the Queen of Deprivation, I can tell you the freedom to make these choices is liberating, not constrictive.  From the beginning after I ditched the South Beach Diet to even now with the low sugar guideline I've given myself.  Last night I had a strawberry shake and it tasted just as good as anything I could get at Dairy Queen, with a whole lot less fat and sugar.  I eat pretty much whatever I want.  When I found out that corn tortillas were in the "low" end of the glycemic index there was no stopping me.  I can have Mexican food!  This is big news for a native Texan!

I know I'm going to have my challenges when I get to Las Vegas.  Their Mexican food will probably be higher in fat (I can control this at home with low fat alternatives to tortillas, cheese and meat).  Their goodies will probably have sugar and I'll have to really work at finding something that I can eat.  But the good news is I have this new lifestyle commitment training that will help me make the best choices I can. 

The second part of this commitment is the hardest to incorporate.  It's the exercise part.  Getting out there and moving.  Finding something I like to do that doesn't feel like such a chore to get through.  So far, walking has been that magic formula for me.  Back in January I lost 12lbs in one month just by attempting 10,000 steps per day.  The summer has been unforgiving as far as heat goes, and Steven's night time schedule didn't help much, but I'm back on track to do this, 3 miles a day, as of tomorrow morning.  While walking all I'm concentrating on is getting from point A to point B.  It's not something I think about doing for the rest of my life.  But if I had to do something for the rest of my life, I can definitely see walking as an attainable goal.

So consider Las Vegas my final exam.  I'm flying blind, with only my hard earned knowledge of what works and what doesn't as my safety net.  I won't be able to count calories, and I have to tell you that's the scariest part.  Fitday.com is my lifeline.  I watch my calories like a hawk, micromanaging my meals and my day.  How will I react when I no longer have the lines to color within? 

Next week tells the tale.

Next week we find out if I really have a

NEW LIFESTYLE COMMITMENT

or a

NEW LIFESTYLE COMMITMENT EXCEPT WHILE ON VACATION

Get your red pens ready, y'all.  You're going to be grading me when I get back.