This week is the eighth week that I've done something I haven't done before in my twenty-nine years.
That is diet.
I've been overweight a good portion of my life—since about third grade—but I never cared to diet or try to lose weight. Oh, I made those New Year's resolutions and every year I ignored them. Why stop eating what I love to eat? I'm just going to die eventually anyway.
Yeah, that was my attitude about it. I would try to eat better. For a day or two, maybe a week. Then when I didn't see results, I would give up. I tried exercise too much to the same effect.
As I near closer to thirty, I want to change. I'm tired being like this. Plus, it's setting a bad example to my sixteen-year-old sister. It was time for a change.
The past eight weeks I've watched what I eat. I'm a vegetarian, so I focused on soups, salads, and those frozen Healthy Choice/Lean Choice/etc. meals. I changed my yogurt to low carb. I eat a better cereal. I bought healthier snacks. I had to change my carbivore ways to more herbivore-like. I told myself I would make better choices and see what would happen.
The results: I've lost 14 pounds.
That's more than I've ever lost—except when I was on anti-anxiety pills and dropped twenty pounds without trying—and all just by changing my diet. I haven't even added exercise yet, but I plan to soon. I still have a long way to go to a healthier weight, and no, I won't tell you what I weigh now so don't ask, but it feels good to be fourteen pounds lighter.
I would like to lose another three pounds before the James River Writers Conference in October. I think I'll be able to do it. Of course, the true test comes in October, November, and December. Those holiday months are terrible for people trying to eat better.
Oh, and since I talk about writing a lot on here, let's see. Dieting is like writing. It's something you have to work at day by day, but it's awesome when you see results: acceptances, publication, etc. The key is not to give up, even on those weeks where you stay the same weight or even gain a pound...or receive a rejection letter. Have goals. Trim the fat/words.
And don't forget to make it fun too.
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