This diet has been sold largely as a very quick way to lose a substantial amount of weight.  I don’t have that much to lose so my expectations for “quick” are pretty low.  I’d be happy with 2 lbs the first week and 1-2 for the rest.

Sorry?  Did I hear you say, “But that’s just like Weight Watchers!”?

Yes – I believe it is.  The thing is, lately I haven’t been able to shift these last few pounds for any convincing length of time. If I can lose the last 8 over the next 6 weeks, I’ll be a very happy loser.

Also – keep in mind that I’m not following the 17 Day Diet to the letter.  I’m not drinking the hot water and lemon or the green tea.  I’m also substituting 1% milk for one of my yogourt servings.  So I likely won’t lose as quickly as the all the promo materials say.

Anyway, even Dr Moreno (the author) admits that much of the Cycle 1 weight loss is water. From Chapter 1:

Q: But won’t a lot of the weight I lose be water weight?

A: Yes! And that’s awesome because water is weight too.

As I don’t suffer from any kind of water retention issues, I won’t/don’t/can’t lose any more than a couple of pounds of water.  So that knocks down the numbers from the start.

I’ve been journalling my food at Nutracheck and, basically, I’m finally on track for losing 1.5lbs per week at my age and current weight – at least as far as calories go.  Now I know that Dr Moreno says it’s more than calories but I’m a sceptic about weight loss being a result of anything other than reduced calories in and increased calories out.  If 5 pounds magically disappears this week, will I be upset? Ha.

Until that happens, though, I’m happy that this is forcing me to eat so healthfully. I’m not hungry. The scale is inching down. The belt is loosening.

Here’s to under 140, healthy and fit – in what?  5 to 6 more weeks?  Wouldn’t that be lovely…….

In all honesty, as I watch the unfolding of events in Egypt, these “last 10 pounds” are just not that big a deal. I’ll keep working on it but I’m fully aware that my struggles to shift a little weight are nothing.

I needed to get that out there.

In the not-at-all-important world of Me, my weight is bouncing up and down the same 2 pounds almost regardless of what or how much I eat.  Frustrating?  Yes.  Unexpected?  YES.  Once I start working hard at this, the weight usually falls off slowly but steadily.

OK – that’s out there too.

It’s one of those weeks with loads to do and little inclination to do it.  I think my commitment needs to be to just plough through and make a dent in my obligations.

So here’s the plan for the next 4 days:

• Keep moving – 5 miles today and 3 miles on Thursday – plus just moving in general.

• Make my To Do list shorter.

• Make my environment saner.

• Put energy into reducing the weight of my little world that is currently sitting on my shoulders.

• And take some time to visualise what I hope to get out of this Last 10 Pounds exercise – not to mention my job and my life in general.

Thanks to the weighing every day exercise, I’m now unmoved by the little ups and downs – but a lack of progress these past few weeks has really started to get to me. So I decided to look back at my most successful times of weight loss and do what I did then to get the same results.

What started as a straight-forward quest for information turned into a chance to stand back and see the big picture of these last couple of years.

Jan 2008 – Jul 2010:  The Show So Far

Jan 2nd 2008 – Weigh in heavier than any non-pregnant weight.  170 lbs

Jan, Feb, Mar – work really hard and lose 12ish pounds for a family wedding. (That’s from memory as I only kept my starting weight) 158ish lbs

Apr, May, Jun, Jul – Ditch gym, stop journalling (ie stop trying) and gain back all but 5 pounds. 165 lbs

On July 21st I step on the scale and something changes in me.   I weigh 165 lbs and am fed up, but I’m then galvanised by something Mardee writes over at BCB.

Aug & half of Sep – I lose 9 pounds by working hard and writing about working hard. It’s the first time I can see real change in my attitude towards the process of losing weight.  I’ve looked back at my NutraCheck journals and I was eating 1600 calories a day and counting things like cleaning and shopping as “exercise” – but I lost steadily over those 6 weeks.  Interesting and not sure what to do with that information.  156 lbs

Mid-Sep, Oct, Nov - I rush home to Canada to be with my dad because my mom is taken ill.  I lose a further 6lbs by simply being too busy and anxious and sad.  I’m also never alone in the house, so don’t engage in the usual bingeing behaviour brought on by that sort of stress.  I continue to lose a couple of pounds in November (148 lbs) once it’s decided that I need gynae surgery which leads to…….. 

Dec, Jan 2009 – Yes it’s Christmas and the kids are home and it’s festive – but I’ve also decided that I’ve lost weight so easily these past 5 months because I’m actually dying of cancer.  I start to eat to prove to myself that I can gain weight.  And guess what?  I do!  Up 5 lbs between Christmas celebrations, health insanity and then recuperation time. 153 lbs And then….

Feb - At the end of Jan, just when I’m starting to feel like myself again, my dad dies.  I fly home, go see a brain injured mom every day and sit alone in his empty house for a month – and eat my grief for both of them.  Walking saves me from anything worse than a 3 pound gain but that’s 8 over all and I go home feeling like I’m starting again – only this time I’m sad as well as determined. 156 lbs

Mar, Apr, May, Jun – Go back to Weight Watchers and lose 5 lbs in 4 months.  But I’m at the gym a lot so my body is changing and I’m not frustrated by the slow weight loss.  The net loss for 12 months is 21 pounds.  149 lbs And what a ride.

Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct – Back to Canada for the summer then return to the UK and Weight Watchers.  I’m playing with the same pound or two.  I’m no longer writing, not excited about the old Bootcamp board and in need of a change.  I know that WW isn’t really the answer for me even though I love the people. I am faffing around and going nowhere – so I decide to start this blog.  150 lbs And then…..

Nov – I lose 7 pounds in a month and look great.  I’ve also got chronic stomach issues and am once again flung back into the medical system.  Looking for gall stones, they find “something” on my liver.  Here we go again with the, “It’s been way too easy to lose weight, I’d better eat to make sure I’m not dying” thinking. 143 lbs And guess what?

Dec, Jan 2010 - It’s Christmas!  And I’m eating to prove I’m not dying and I gain weight.  This is not a pattern I expected to see.  It’s very interesting that the two times I’ve been down towards the weight I want to be, I haven’t been well so I bounce away from it as fast as I can. 147 lbs

Feb, Mar & half of April – I sort of try but am pretty caught up in either seeing doctors or worrying about seeing doctors.  I really do lose my mind when my health is out of wack. Lose 3 pounds  – mostly in a couple of weeks where I paid attention. 144 lbs

Apr, May - I’m worried about the fact that I lost weight while feasting over Easter so yet another episode of “eat to prove I’m not dying”.  Then back to Canada to sit alone in a house, not grieving this time but worrying about the thing on my liver. I have this mindset that, if something’s seriously wrong, then why bother with worrying about eating and exercise? I gain 5 pounds in the process. 149 lbs

May - There’s an awful lot of thinking about the weight loss process but not an awful lot of  DOING. I’m tempted to call “failure!” but the fact is that I still didn’t gain significant weight.  And this time, just seeing a couple of pounds up made me recommit to doing something for myself – to getting what I want rather than sitting around talking about what I want.  148 lbs

Jun, Jul  (ie now) I decide to go for what I want and what I want is to weigh in the 130′s – anywhere in the 130′s will do.  I also decide that, if I end up really sick, I want my body to be in the best shape it can be. (I’m still waiting on the official plan of action re: the liver) I’ve been running and feeling stronger and breathing better.  I know that I can get results with the weight loss if I don’t let my social life get in the way. Today I weigh 145 lbs.

And that’s the show so far.  Two and a half years from seeing that 170 on my scales.  Two years from deciding to write about the process of stopping the weight loss/weight gain pendulum.

Have I stopped the pendulum?  Not completely, but the swings are much much smaller than they were two years ago.

• I know that a 25 pound weight loss doesn’t happen on a straight road. Life means curves, switchbacks, deadends and hellish hairpin bends.
• I no longer do “all or nothing”.
• I no longer think in terms of on and off wagons.
• I know (boy do I know) that life just gets in the way sometimes.
• I know that it’s possible to keep going anyway.
• I know that sometimes weight will apparently fall off me – usually when I’m stressed.
• I know that exercise helps me stay emotionally balanced.
• I know that I can do this.

I have every intention of being where I want to be when the calendar ticks over to 2011. God willing. Health willing.

Am I the least bit embarrassed that it could take 3 years to lose 30 lbs?

No! Just incredibly grateful for the chance to sort out issues which have affected my life since childhood. And, when I say “sort out”, that doesn’t mean I have illusions of perfection. It means I know it’s possible to be sane and balanced and content with my body and my eating.

“Peace not perfection”  is the slow weight loss motto.

The only reason yesterday wasn’t a disaster was that I had exactly the right food in the house and knew what I was going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The evening was notable for the disastrous football rather than disastrous eating so that’s something.  I did have an extra glass of wine for medicinal purposes.

It seems that I’ve lost 1.8lbs this week.  That’s just a fact – not a reason to do a dance. But it’s the right direction and it reflects my behaviour this week.

**********************************************************************************************************

Little stars mean the start of an unrelated thought.  I wish I had little stars for talking – sometimes the conversational shifts are a little sudden.

One of my favourite things about Nutracheck is that, for a tiny monthly fee, I have permanent storage of my weight loss history for the past 2.5 years.  Sadly, in an effort to create a “clean slate” I wiped out Jan-July 08 – but I know that I lost about 15lbs then put 10 back on.  That gain was the turning point that prompted me to start writing about the process.

Once in a while it’s worth looking at the big picture.

Interruption: Why oh why do I feel guilty for not having to suffer as much as other people?  Or rather, why do I feel I have to apologise for not letting myself become obese?  I should be very proud of myself for stopping and turning and never going back to that high weight even during the most stressful 2 years of my life.  Right. That’s official.  I am genuinely proud of myself for not allowing my weight to get even more out of control than it was.

Interruption over.

The thing I learn most from the chart below is that I have a very very poor memory when it comes to my weight loss journey.  I thought I was going to see that I’ve been below my current weight many times in the past 12 months.  In fact, I’ve been bouncing around the same 5lbs since the end of November – not even seven months.

Is it too painfully obvious to point out that the gains happen during the breaks from journalling and, except for one Christmas/surgery episode, those breaks are when I’m in Canada?  Apparently, I did something right last summer and didn’t gain anything during a 6 week break.  I guess I’d better figure out what it was and do it again.

I truly thought I was stuck in a never-ending battle to lose the last 10 pounds.  Turns out I’m not “stuck”; I just need to pay attention and be committed to maintaining when I take a break from trying to lose weight.

I use the word “just” as though it’s going to be easy. I’d better rephrase….It turns out I’m not stuck; I’m prone to getting lazy when I’m not in losing mode.  So I will continue with the “hard work” even when I weigh exactly what I want to weigh.

And I will stop apologising to imaginary people for doing what I need to do to get what I want.

(And that makes me feel awkward just writing it.)

Nutracheck is now an old friend and indispensable tool for getting weight off by tracking calories and exercise.

I love how you can set your weight loss from half to two pounds per week and your calorie and exercise goals change accordingly.  There are so many options that it takes a while to find your way around, but after a few days you’ve got a fantastic tool.  The only thing you supply is the honesty.

Here are my favourite features:

• free mobile version is fantastic for those who travel for business
• 5 a Day (fruit and veg) and units of alcohol trackers.  Those are two areas where my “guestimates” are frequently “wishful-thinking-imates”.
• The “Week View” setting. This has helped me get over the “I blew today” feeling that often attends dieting.  Instead, you see how to develop healthy patterns of living over the longer term.
• I also love the fact that I can ignore the site for a few weeks but everything is there when I choose to go back.
• Affordable.  Nutracheck isn’t free but, having taken advantage of numerous special deals, I’m now paying only £4.99 a month which is almost free in my not-very-frugal mind.

It’s specifically British which will disappoint many.  Maybe my other comrades can help me by reviewing the North American options.

Thanks Nutracheck!