Have Your Cake and Eat Your Veggies Too

I went on my first diet when I was fourteen. I was 5 foot 4 inches tall and weighed 115 pounds while active in basketball, volleyball, and running track. I didn’t have a weight problem, but since my body didn’t quite measure up to those on the cover of Teanbeat magazine, I thought I was overweight so I went on a diet. It was the first of many, many diets that I would go on in my life.

When I was a senior in high school I was captain of two sports teams and an avid hiker who tackled 100 mile hikes each summer. I thought my muscular 145 pound body on a nearly five foot seven frame was too fat so I put myself on a crash diet and lost twenty pounds. I was eating between 500-800 calories a day and was so weak I nearly fainted during basketball practice. I gained it all back and then some my first year of college.

My weight fluctuated while attending the US Air Force Academy. I was a starve and binger and I tried every diet. I tried the grapefruit diet, the Cybergenics plan, Slimfast, and even some diet pills all to lose a little weight initially and then gain it all back and then some shortly after. In fact I didn’t figure out the keys to lasting and permanent weight loss until my early thirties after returning from a trip to Costa Rica which was a sixteen day eat and drink fest. After viewing the pictures of the trip and seeing myself at my highest weight ever, I vowed to never again have a weight problem. I would get it under control once and for all.

I knew I had to devise a plan that would last longer than two weeks and it had to be one I could live with. I wanted a new way of life, not just a tortuous plan for a few months followed by a six month binge. I knew that restricting certain foods only made me crave them more. I came up with a plan and lost 8 pounds during the holiday season, learning as I went along how to stay on a plan during this tempting time. I hit a plateau with five pounds to go and I learned methods to bust through. I got down to my goal weight and kept it off for over a year.

Then Todd came into the picture—my gorgeous new boyfriend who could eat anything he wanted. We did a lot of eating out since it was a distance relationship and every meal with him was a chance to celebrate. The beer and wine flowed and those pounds crept back on over the next year. I then had to revise my plan for eating out, celebrating with beer and wine, and cooking for someone who could eat anything he wanted. I lost everything I gained and then some by the time Todd and I resided permanently together and I readjusted the plan to fit my new lifestyle.

I am not a dietician, a nutritionist, a personal trainer, or anything else. I am a woman who has struggled with her weight her entire life and after finding success wants to share what she has learned with others. Every person has their own method for permanent weight loss. Maybe some of what has been successful for me will work for you. Enjoy.