Weight Loss, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, WAIT!!!

Starting in January, 2005, I made the conscious effort to lose weight. My plan was to exercise more, and eat less. Yeah, sure that's what everybody says. But I was pretty successful losing about 25 pounds by August. (No, I'm not going to tell you my starting or ending weight).

By January, 2008 I had gained everything back plus about 10-15 more pounds, so I started again to try to lose weight. This time, we started using the smaller plates, which made smaller portions, we kept snacks in single servings around the house rather than great big bags, and even got Weight Watchers type ice cream and other desserts (also in single servings.) I cut out most sodas except for one or two diet sodas a week, and started walking more. Once again by August, I had lost 20 pounds. Between August and December, I gained back around 13.

So January, 2009 rolled around and I went back on the diet. In the first 8 weeks I've lost 8 pounds. I'm walking more, eating generally less, and I'm finding a lot of the usual treats too sweet (which I think is a good thing.

I'm not sure that setting goals doesn't frustrate me more, but currently my goal is to lose weight each week, even if it's only 1/2 pound. I also look at losing inches off my waist. Last year at one point I dropped 4 inches, and bought new pants that didn't look so baggy. When I gained the weight back, I put two inches back on and the smaller pants didn't fit anymore, or were tight and uncomfortable. I'm happy to say that I'm back down into the smaller waist sized pants, and hoping to go down 4 more inches this year.

And this year I will stay totally gruntled if I am able to keep the weight off between September and December.