Half a Step Over

The Diet War            

 Like many women, especially we older ones, I have an ongoing fight with my weight. I frequently feel that I gain weight anytime I look at a carb. But I also really like carbs, so it’s an ongoing internal war. In 1999 I was at my heaviest (which was nowhere near the numbers you read about people losing). So, I decided that was it and weight would be coming off.

Two Parts

We all know that the issue is diet and exercise I’ve always been a walker, no matter what I weigh, so I pulled on sneakers and on my lunch break at work, I went out for a walk. If it was raining, I’d do some laps in the parking garage attached to the building. Otherwise, there was a huge circle in front of the hotel attached to the office building and I’d go there. I’d walk out the back—near the parking garage—work my way to the front, do the entire circle (probably over a half mile), then work my way to the back of the building and go inside I didn’t want to go more than a couple of miles because it was an office building and I couldn’t get a shower if I overdid it. Still, it was at least 30 minutes of walking 4-5 days a week (sometimes workload did me in), so I was trying.

Monday through Friday I was very careful in what I ate. After each walk I’d go to the cafeteria and get a salad and a bottle of water. I’d try to avoid any snacking, both during the day and at home at night—remember, I see a carb and I gain weight. On weekends I was a little less careful and sometimes dessert came in. Still, I began to lose weight. And to make a long effort short, in about 4 months I was down 25 pounds and all my clothes were so big on me. It was a great feeling—especially when people noticed that something had happened and there was less of me.

Years Later

Cut to 2010. I’ve gained back maybe 5 of the 25 pounds—something that’s really good since a lot of people tend to gain back even more. Then my daughter got married, and I looked really good thanks to a really good tailoring job at the dress boutique. But, I still felt I needed to lose more. So, back to walking, and being exceptionally vigilant. And over time I lost 14 pounds. Now I look really good   But it’s really hard to keep it off.

So here comes the baby shower. Yes, my daughter is pregnant and I’m part of the baby shower team. And I really didn’t think I ate all the badly that weekend, but I gained 4 pounds in 5 days – and I still can’t get them off. And the baby is 9 months old. So I promised myself new shoes if I can lose the 5 pounds in 4 weeks.

Age Is Catching Up

I’m walking more again. I’m watching everything I eat. But it is almost 4 years later, and I’m almost 4 years older, and my metabolism is really shot. And my arthritic hips really don’t like too much exercising—you know how it is: work out 1 day, suffer for 2 days. Or, spend 5 days helping with granddaughter, which means a lot of lifting, and you have to sit down for several days when you get home just to let your body catch up. But then again, I can still get into the smaller sizes of clothes that I have and there’s still space inside them. I just want those 5 pounds off again—actually, I’d like 7 or 8 pounds off but I don’t want to be cranky about it.

As I said, it’s a war. I think I’m losing it--in more ways than one.