There it is, in black and white (ok, maybe it's orange and white, LOL). I will lose 51 pounds this year.
Why 51, you ask? Because I just had my 51st birthday, and because 51 is about a pound a week, which is certainly doable. I could afford to lose a few more than that, but I'm setting this as a goal I can accomplish and feel good about.
Like many of you, this is not the first time I have resolved to lose weight. However, this is the first time I've had this much to lose. I used to be a fit, normally slender person until I (drum roll, please) hit menopause a couple of years ago; then, hormones, a depression and a lot of changes in my life contributed to a sedentary lifestyle and just plain ol' bad eating. That combination of things hit me straight in the gut -- which I want to fix now.
I know that on many programs I could lose the weight in half the time. I choose not to, because the ups and downs annoy me. I am not going to deprive myself of foods I love -- I will just eat less of them, and work to make better choices. I am not going to work out 365 days this year -- I will be happy with three or four times a week, sustained over time. In short, I'm going to be reasonable with myself. I'm going to change my behavior and let the weight loss follow instead of working on the numbers first, last and only.
In this way, I will lose 10 pounds by mid-March. That seems a long time away for someone who's used to seeing magazine headlines that say "Lose 10 pounds in 10 days!" It seems a long time for someone who wants to see the scale move NOW.
But on the other hand, as soon as I realized that, the pressure was off. Ten pounds in ten weeks is going to work. I can feel it. It seems doable, it seems realistic, and it helps me realize that it's not a crime to enjoy food. I'm in this effort for the long haul, so it's ok that the changes will add up slowly.
I will post here occasionally about how it's going. My first challenge is to keep healthful munching foods in the house -- carrots, celery, nuts, fruits and other things that will naturally fill me up and help me keep my (damnable) sweet tooth from being in charge. I'm finding that changing one habit -- snacking on sugar, for instance -- requires, first of all, changing another habit -- how and when you shop and what you bring home from the store. It's not rocket science, I know. But it's huge for me.