I did it! I did it! I did it!

 

I weighed 156 pounds when I stepped on my scale this morning!

 

Hooray!

 

This achievement may mean little or nothing to you, but to me, it means I'm no longer overweight according to my ancient  Metropolitan Life Insurance chart which says I should weigh 126-156 lbs for my height.

 

Even more amazing: I arrived at this figure after a day eating cheesecake at Border's and an incredibly dense oatmeal raison cookie from Wild Oats.

 

Of course, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

My Horrible History

 

From high school, when I first became a Yo-Yo, I bounced back and forth between 126 and 145. I'd dive down to 126 when I was manic, rise (like a loaf of bread) to 145 when I was depressed. So it went until October 1986 when I stopped smoking, boozing, and toking. Then I shot up up up up up to 182, my all-time high.

 

I became alarmed. An Alma, Nebraska, doctor said if I exercised enough, I could keep on eating the same way. He recommended a Nordic Trac and I bought one. Boy did I exercise! But all that working out increased my appetite, so I went back to the doctor. More exercise, he said. Get the Nordic weight-lifting machine. So I did. Same story.

 

Moved to Hays and joined a "let's not eat much but let's not beat each other up when we do" group. Watched the group leader get slimmer each week. Amazed. Envious. Until she stopped coming to meetings. She'd packed those pounds right back on. A sad lesson. As for me, I continued to Yo-Yo.

 

Found a book about obsessive overeaters which led me to their Internet site and their absolutely no sugar diet: if you eat even one morsel of sugar, you'll blow the whole weigh-and-measure diet. I maintained this anti-sugar diet for months. Went all the way down to 143, could wear a size 8 (compared to the size 16 I had worn). But I picked up sugar, and before I knew it, I was eating entire cakes, whole pies, donuts by the dozen, and gallons of ice cream. Sure tasted good. Went to 174.5 before I stopped.

 

After that, I tried this diet and that (as my friends, groaning, will tell you). But nothing worked. At best, I'd yo-yo again. Went to the gym and began working out. That helped, but not enough.

 

"Portion control, portion control," advised my therapist, but I'd been using portion control, weigh and measure, eat off a salad plate not a dinner plate for months.

 

So what did it?

 

My Recipe

 

This is how I did it. I'm not saying it would be right for you, but it worked for me.

 

I returned to the ancient "Eat less, exercise more" equation.

 

I went back to the horrid calories. Knowing that I must eat 1200 calories a day to stay healthy, I took that amount and divided it into four meals: breakfast, lunch, supper, and "ha ha I get to eat before bedtime" snack. Roughly 300 calories a meal.

 

I scaled my morning breakfasts way back, ½ cup of cereal, fruit and ½ cup milk or yogurt. Had open face sandwich for lunch with small salad. I discovered Amy's frozen foods (all organic) and began eating them. Most were 270-300 calories, perfect, with maybe a plum along with the 270 portion. I ate lightly for my 4th meal—fruit and nuts, or fruit and Jell-O's sugar-free pudding.

 

Whenever I wanted to snack between meals, I drink a slug of water and, if that didn't work, I'd chew gum. Sugarless gum, of course. 3 calories. A nice taste in the mouth and plenty to chew.

 

Re exercise: I stretch, I sometimes do push ups and sit backs, and I walk. For losing weight, I knew I had to walk more, even though winter hovered just outside the door.  I bought a good New Lifestyle pedometer and wore it all the time. The first week, I wore it to find out how many steps I usually put in on an average day. About 1,000 (or about ½ mile).  Then I began to up the steps. Two strategies:

 

1) Fool winter by walking indoors. I walked at the Joslyn Art Museum, the Durham Museum, the Space museum. I walked the malls. I walked big stores: Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart. This kind of walking usually boosted me up by another 1,000 steps. And I got to see some neat stuff. Especially the back aisles of Lowe's & Home Depot.

 

2) I danced. This I did at home, put on the radio or the CD and just danced away.

I enjoyed it, and it would usually bring me up another 1,000.

 

My goal was to rack up between 20,000 and 30,000 steps a week. About 10 to 15 miles. And I've done it. My best recent week was 36,408 steps; my worse, 21,500.

 

So congratulations are in order. But save the big burst of applause for when I meet my next goal: 150 pounds. That's what my doctor says I should weigh.  If I drop to that, she says, I'll reduce my chance of a heart attack by 32%.

 

How do they figure these things?

 

Never mind. I love a challenge, so I'm going to take my belt in a notch and rack up those steps. When you see me next, I'll just be a shadow of my former self! (Don't forget to cheer!)