Back on the Diet. Full Steam Ahead and 5 Answers

Photo: Jessica

Earlier this year, after reaching a plateau in losing weight, I took a hiatus from being enrolled in the doctor-supervised plan I lost 60 pounds on. Shelly started up at that time and has been doing great.

Me? Not so much. I've gradually gained some of it back, prompting me to make a trip over to the doctor's office and I'm now back on the program. I'm hitting it as hard as I did the first time around to reach my goal and stay there. The last 9 months have shown me how easily I can fall back into bad habits and this is clearly something that I'm just going to have to deal with for the rest of my life.

It was truly humbling to have to walk in that office this morning and ask for help, but probably the best thing I've done in quite a while. You'll see my progress in the right bar.

On the same topic, I noticed Colin Devroe asking and answering 5 questions of those who were successful on "the diet". I wasn't asked, but here are my unsolicited responses. I figure as someone who has both succeeded and failed miserably at managing my weight, I thought I'd share.

What are the top five reasons you started to diet in the first place?

1. No one short of 7'6" should ever see 300 on a bathroom scale.
2. I ordered tailored pants and was absolutely appalled at how large they were. I'd been denying my actual size by squeezing into smaller clothes.
3. Airplane seats weren't just uncomfortable, they really didn't fit.
4. My cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure were looming on the horizon as threats to even living to average age, much less having a long life.
5. Vanity. No one wants to be the shape I was.

What was your biggest failure on the diet, and how did you overcome it?
Unpredictability. Not being able to follow the routine was the single biggest problem and still is. For instance, eating a normal breakfast at home only to discover a breakfast meeting at work. Or, someone chooses a restaurant with very few good choices.

Basically, if you think of meals as inputs into a software program, your diet is only as good as your exception handling. So, if someone drags you to a Chinese buffet instead of to Subway, you need to handle the exception to your plan. If you've only been able to avoid the snacks because you're planning on a 6:00pm dinner only to discover that your spouse won't be home until 7:00, you need to know how you're going to deal with it without resorting to eating "to get by". Not planning for the inevitable bumps in the road is pretty much setting yourself up for failure.

Did blogging help or hinder your success?
Both. It made it harder to admit failure, but also gives me a way to talk about it.

What things did you do to help ensure your success?
When I was most successful, I was ruthless about planning meals in advance and carefully measuring. My diet was straight calorie counting, so nothing was off the table as far as *what* I ate, but it all came off of my daily allottment. By thinking ahead, I was often able to really enjoy special meals without throwing the whole thing off.

What is one recommendation you’d have for someone on Day 1 of their diet?
I agree with Colin. You have to actually want to do it and want to do it for yourself. If your motivation is for someone else or to impress someone, you're setting yourself up for failure.

One of the other biggies is that results are not going to appear tomorrow or next week. You didn't reach your current size in a week, so you can't expect to lose it that fast.