Control is the Key to Weight Loss

Food has no more control over my life. It was something I confronted two weeks ago, and I’m holding my ground. It’s not like I’ve given up food. Instead, the power of what to eat and when to eat and how to eat is back in my hands (so to speak).

I’ve even gotten off the scales. When I lost the forty pounds of baby weight after my second son, I got rid of the scales. I trusted my clothes to tell me when I was losing control. Actually, it never dawned on me that I might lose control.

At 36, almost seven years after my second son was born, I found myself pregnant with a third child. (We say “found,” like we tripped over it in the woods. I knew it was POSSIBLE, but after years of hoping to get pregnant I had given up on the idea. SURPRISE!). Have you noticed that maternity clothes give you no indication of just how much weight you are packing on?

After he was born, I bought myself a scale. It calculates body fat percentage and everything – even keeps a record of my weight loss to date. Falling back into the habit of weighing daily was easier than slipping down a muddy slope. Since the scale reads the fractions of the weight, I was able to react to even a tenth of a pound up or down. There were days that I would get on the scale in the morning AND in the evening, just in case.

NO MORE! I’ve quit eating in front of the television (have pretty much quit watching the television except when I’m washing the dishes or cooking). Every afternoon when my energy starts to get low, I take a few minutes to play with the kids – usually outside. It’s had the added benefit of getting them up and moving as well.

I still have the scales, but I haven’t gotten on them this week. If the food doesn’t have control, then there is really no need for the scales. The weight is coming off. The clothes are fitting better.

1 comment August 2nd, 2007