Saturday, June 04, 2005

Twenty days of Virtue

I like the title of this best I think. It has so much more flair than "almost three week diet". If you haven't seen it yet, go on over to Red Shoe Ramblings and read about it. As of today, you will also see her absolutely AMAZING self portrait that she did in JUST ONE DAY.

Before I get side-tracked on talking about all the amazing ART in this ring, I want to talk a little more about losing weight/ getting healthy. I like this twenty day thing because it doesn't seem as daunting as what I really need, which is a year of really hard work followed by a completely changed life style that never lets me lapse back into evil eating ways. In my lifetime I have TWICE lost and gained 100 pounds, and I am not talking about the gain 20, lose 20 cycle. No, I mean I actually spent months on end working hard and eating little and losing 100 pounds. It seems impossible to believe that I would actually let myself gain the weight back, but there are two reasons. I love food (remember my fabulous chef husband who likes to cook for me), and I hate exercise. My favorite things to do (when not eating) are making art, sewing, and reading. Not exactly athletic endeavors, at least not the way I do them. So where am I now? About half way into my THIRD cycle of losing/gaining weight, which means that I have about 50 pounds to lose. SO, thanks to Deb R for inspiring me to get back on track.

I was watching Oprah (yes, that's one of my guilty pleasures) and saw her interview with Kirstie Alley on her weight loss struggles. Kirstie said that she turned her living room into a gym. Seriously, ALL the workout machines, the whole nine yards. Um, well I don't have the budget to do that, but The GOOD part of this idea is that I dragged my eliptical machine into the living room, and I had my son help me set up another TV in there WITH an old VCR from the closet. Then I dragged out my dusty collection of exercise videos AND I found my stretchy band. (We actually use this room on rare occasions, usually spending much more time together in the family room or out on the deck.) So, I have been exercising, striving for 40-60 minutes a day. This is harder than you think, but I am determined.

I know some of you have succeeded fabulously in losing weight and getting in shape, and some of you are struggling like me. Anyone else want to blog about it? I can use all the help I can get.

4 comments:

MsT said...

Jen, congrats on coming so far! I think the best things that we can do as we age is keep our bodies and minds in the best shape possible. My idea of a woman in her sixties is Jane Fonda, not the Grandma from the Waltons! lol. Psst - don't tell anyone, but I'm not stopping at 20 days!

lizzieb said...

Oh do I know how you feel. The problem with exercise is that it takes so much time to burn enough calories to lose weight! Now I enjoy weight training and like having muscles but losing weight is pretty hard!

Lisa said...

Hi Jen,
I've been exercising all year and my weight has been going up anyway. I'm back where I was 2 years ago when I couldn't find anything that fit me for my husband's change of command. sigh. Went to the doctors Friday and was absolutely shocked at what the scales read. So I'm trying to start dieting. Getting started is always the hardest part for me. When we do lunch it may have to be Marie Callendar's instead of D. Z. Akins so I can resist my favorite sandwich and get a salad instead.

Gerrie said...

I'm with you! Started being virtuous this week-end, but will do it in earnest tomorrow. I love to exercise and fell really lousy when I can't get to my aerobic's class. I'm gettin' back in the groove ths week.