Safety Net

Where is everybody? Sean has vanished from blogland, and Hollie from 300poundsdown hasn't posted in nearly a week! Sean, I'm worried about. No blogging usually means a person is off the wagon. Which brings me to my thought for the day---a safety net. Nobody would dream of learning to walk a tightrope without a safety net. I'm sure beginners are only a few feet or inches off the ground. In high school gym class, the balance beam was ON the ground and for good reason. I don't think weight loss is so much different--here we addicts are, out of control on the ground, but we hate being down here, so we soar up to the ranks of those in control which is usually a very different lifestyle to the one that we're accustomed to, and start trying to balance our lives in this new way.  Like any beginner in anything, of COURSE we are going to lose our balance. Frequently!

A huge problem with the diet industry is that they can't admit this fact. Can you imagine an advertisement that goes--"Here's our great plan, but when you can't stick to it, here's plan B!"  No way. Nobody is going to admit that their wonderful plan is anything less that wonderful at all times. No dieter is ever going to have serious difficulty. A "difficulty" is usually thought to be something like having a cookie--and we're told not to worry about that, but to get back on track. Good advice. But hellooooo!!???? I don't think most of us ARE worried about the cookie! We're worried because suddenly the idea of tracking another point or calorie is totally repugnant. We're worried because there's a barbeque coming up and NO!! We don't want to be reasonable!! We're worried because we're spinning out of control and don't know how to stop because we don't WANT to do what you're telling us we must do!!!

This is what I want to scream at Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and all the rest of them. HOW WILL YOU HELP ME WHEN I DON'T WANT TO FOLLOW YOUR PLAN ANYMORE???  I might forgive them for not addressing this issue, if they weren't charging so much money!! So, what do I want from them? After all, it's not their fault I don't want to follow their plan. No. But it IS their fault that they make no effort at the psychology behind addictive behavior. Biggest Loser is the worst about this.  I expect them to know how to help people want to come back. Overeater's anonymous is the best--and ironically, it's free.

In the meantime, we need a safety net. What am I going to do when I'm tired to death of my slips and counting calories? I can see right now that 1500 is simply too hard for me to want to sustain--and thankfully, with my plan I don't have to. I love Sean's example which shows me that I can sustain it for an awfully long time--and since my plan is easier, I can sustain it even longer---hopefully some version of it for a lifetime.

But what's my safety net going to be? When I've had it? I could add 300-400 cal per day and go into maintenance for awhile---unless I'm sick of counting calories. I could "take a break" for a certain amount of time---but I'm not at all confident that I could get back on track right away when the time was up.

From this post you might think I was already ready to throw in the towel. Actually, I'm doing great! I used 50 earned calories yesterday so I could have a small cookie and I'm enjoying the sensation that I'm losing weight. I've also got 1000 calories in the bank for my book club group which is going to meet in a buffet. But I'm hungry right now. I'll have a snack in a few minutes, but I'm pretty sure it won't be enough and my lunch seems very small to me just now. I have to be very careful not to think that I have to be hungry all the time.  I want to store away another 500 for office birthday treats, and I also want to "earn" my favorite fix of popcorn and cheese. Tuesday is my late night, so I don't know that I'll want to exercise today, but even so--it might we worth using some calories (I'll have time to earn them back before monday), so I can manage today. I'll see how the snack goes (PB2 and rice crackers). I also have my birthday to look forward to this Friday---a real free day!!