Jeff Blogs

It’s hard to believe but I have now officially been on my diet for one month. On January 13th I made the decision that I needed to make some changes in my life. I had steadily gained weight over the past 30 years and had gone from 175 when I got married to just over 210 pounds a month ago.

I don’t really remember the weight gain; but looking at recent photographs and at myself in the mirror one month ago I was shocked to see the transformation. I was once an athlete who could run tirelessly and eat whatever I wanted. Suddenly I was plump around the middle and had a hard time catching my breath after walking up a flight of stairs.

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Today marks the end of four weeks having been on this diet. I have to admit, I am pretty impressed with myself. It hasn’t really been as bad as I thought it was going to be. Before I began this diet I had assumed that before the first month was over I would have gone all Donner party on my family after eating the majority of my meals from water and powder. I can safely say that at no time during this first four weeks did I ever sneak into the children’s bedroom in the wee hours of the night and test if they were plump enough nor did I refer to any of them as Hansel or Gretel.

Overall it’s been ok. Yeah there were days that I wondered whether I was making any headway and I really questioned whether all of this reading and homework was necessary but then I would step on a scale or catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and think, “I think I am starting to see a difference.”

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For as long as I can remember I have struggled with having patience. Some of that struggle is self-induced and part of it is environmental. We live in a society where instant gratification is not just expected but demanded. No one these days wants to wait for anything. Whether it be traffic on the freeway or service at a fast food restaurant we expect results to occur immediately.

Being impatient is not something I have just come to realize I’ve known I have this personality defect for quite some time and I have wanted to immediately fix it but that never seems to work. Before beginning this diet I needed to reach some sort of agreement with my subconscious that I would not freak out if I didn’t get results quickly.

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Today marks the end of the third week of being on this diet. I am one week away from my four week mark (see even when I am not playing with a full stomach I am still able to do simple mathematical problems). I’ve now started to get into a routine of eating every 2.5-3 hours. I am getting used to the powdered food that make up the meal replacements for most of the day.

I’ve become accustomed to having a protein and green vegetables for dinner and ending my day with a calorie controlled snack. I’m building a pattern of good choices and have remained committed to this eating plan to remain on track. I’m not officially supposed to weigh-in until tomorrow but I snuck on the scale this morning to see I had dropped another 2.5 pounds bringing me under 195 in a long time.

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Before starting this diet program I was given homework that included reading a chapter, cleaning out the kitchen and pantry, and taking a pre-test to assess how well or how poorly my decisions have been. The test was a disaster where I actually scored negative points.

The pantry and kitchen cleaning was likewise not good. I found junk food and candy stashed in the corners and you know you just can’t let that stuff go to waste so I “took care of it”. That may be the reason why I actually started the diet three pounds heavier than I expected.

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