Only 35 Years

That’s how long it took me to actually hit my goal weight.  And I am shouting it from the rooftops!  That’s how long it’s been since my third and final pregnancy.  It’s been a ridiculously long journey and I blame it all on potato chips.  Okay, there’s also the wine.

For the first 30 years of my life, I could literally eat anything and not gain a pound.  Even in college when I contracted mononucleosis and was down to 87 pounds and had to live in the infirmary, the nutritionists fed me three milkshakes daily and very, very slowly I got back up to 95 pounds.

After my first child was born, I bounced right back.  Even the nurses were calling in their colleagues the day after I delivered to gawk at my flat stomach.  What did I know?  I’d never had a baby before so I was puzzled by all the fuss.

Twelve and fourteen years later, I had my babies 20 months apart in my late 30s and, let me tell you, no nurses were coming to gawk at my fall stomach!  No, no, no.  I was appalled!  What happened to me?

Heaven knows, I tried.  I played racketball, took long walks, went on Weight Watchers, and became a huge fan of Jane Fonda’s workouts.  There was Jazzercise and high and low impact classes.  I tried yoga and water aerobics.  I kept a diary of everything I consumed.  That dreaded muffin top was going nowhere.

I’m an organizer but never seemed to be able to plan weekly meals.  Basically, I was overwhelmed by a stressful job and being a single parent didn’t help.  Plus, all of our schedules didn’t make for a Leave It to Beaver dinner time with the family.  Sad to say, fast food and Domino’s pizza delivery found its way to our home on way too many nights.  Not good for someone trying to lose 15 pounds.

Needless to say, I didn’t.  By the time I retired, I weighed the most I had ever weighed.  One of my vows when I retired was to workout every day, which definitely helped but it didn’t get me to my goal weight.  I recorded my intake and exercise on my Lose It app daily, but, then, I’d get discouraged when I hit a plateau and couldn’t make that scale move in the right direction.

I thought the South Beach diet was the answer.  Tried it but wasn’t wild about the no-wine-for-10-days rule.  That should’ve told me something right there but I soldiered on reducing my carb and sugar intake drastically.  Not enough, though.

And, then, intermittent fasting became the craze.  My cousin turned me on to it and he was living proof that it worked.  I started it three years ago and it was okay, but it didn’t get it where I wanted to be.  In March of this year, BH and I took a Caribbean cruise and, of course, I ate everything in sight….it was just all too delicious.  But, when I got off that boat, my whole attitude changed.

This time I was determined.  And that is what was missing.  I had a goal:  get to my goal weight before I get on the next cruise which is coming up on November 16th.  It appears I needed more discipline.  I got serious about intermittent fasting, eating under 1000 calories daily and only eating between the hours of 10 a.m to 6 p.m.  It also helped that my wine intake has been drastically reduced to one glass a week.  And, I don’t even miss it.  Never thought I’d say that!

On Wednesday, I hit my goal weight of 115.  Time to set another goal, maybe 110.  But, first, I’m going to reward myself with a delectable piece of key lime pie!!