Battle of the Bulge: A Report, a Reflection and a Rant

I am now in week 28 of my diet. I have lost 82 pounds. I lost 3 pounds this week. That means I am now up to two bags of dog food in weight loss. At this point in my journey 3 pounds is a good week. I would like to see more loss, but I am glad to be consistent in my weight loss.

Right now, I feel like I have made good progress, but I also feel like I have so much further to go. I am one pound from my next intermediate goal, and 14 pounds from my initial goal for the entire year.

What is frustrating is that the "shine" has come off of the diet. I am at the point where I have been doing this about 6-7 months, and I am tired of the discipline and craving foods that I have not had very often while on my weight loss journey.

This is especially true with the "liquid calories." I have been keeping with my rules and the weight watchers way, but as it gets hotter I want pop, I want slurpees, I want fruit slushes, I want ice cream, and I want them on a pretty regular basis. And no...diet drinks do not cut it for me. With the exception of g2.

These days, with Biggest Loser off the air, I am stuck watching EXTREME MAKEOVER: WEIGHT LOSS EDITION to fulfill my weight loss trash tv addiction. I am not sure I like this show very much. Especially after the show that I watched this evening.

First of all, the shows plan is to get every person on the show to lose over 200 pounds in a year. While this is definitely possible, I am not sure it is advisable for long term weight management. As a matter of fact, I think the overly high expectations set people up for failure.

That is what happened in EXTREME MAKEOVER this evening. And then, when the guy disappointed him and they parted ways, the trainer refused to look at his client, who was suicidal because he couldn't measure up to the goals the trainer had set for him.

Expectations are a funny business. You want goals to be ambitious enough to push you off the couch, but not so ambitious that you set yourself up for failure and then eventually give up. Each person has their own journey, has to find their own way, and needs to be encouraged as they go. Expectations are too high, and you give up. No expectations, it is hard to get anywhere. Expectations too low, you don't push yourself hard enough.

Currently, I have several step goals in my journey:

I want to lose 1 more pound to meet the goal I set for myself a couple of months ago

I want to lose 13 pounds after that to meet my goal for the year.

I want to lose 4 more pounds after that. This will put me at 100 lbs lost total.

My next goal after that is to lose 33 more.

I am a plodder. So while I have hopes for my timeline of weight loss, I do not have strict time-sensitive goals except for losing 96 for the year.

I am not sure I am right, or that my way is the right way, but that is where I am at in my journey. God bless you in yours.