Weight loss, weight control,
weight maintenance.
Interesting that I don’t mention
weight gain – and yes, I would have some (o.k. to be honest very little)
empathy for those who have that problem, most of us don’t.
A month or so ago I had the brilliant idea of asking a friend
if she was free for lunch (often have that one), whereupon she hesitatingly
told me that, as her husband was gone, she was trying a three-day whatever (not
really a diet, nor totally a de-tox so at loss as to what to call it) and that
if I didn’t mind, I was happily invited.
“Lunch” that day was 5 crackers and cottage cheese.
Having spent a great deal of this
year either not being able to walk, or eating all the goodies that came my way,
I pondered it over a few weeks then decided that it would probably be a good
idea if I would also do it – I mean what’s three days?
I discovered that yes: I can drink
my coffee black, that tea starts tasting very good as an alternative (never had
too much trouble drinking that without milk or sugar); that dry toast is not
too bad, as long as it is my “vitality” one with plenty of grains for flavor;
that I have always liked broccoli, cauliflower and that beets were acceptable
(if not perhaps for the number of times that they were on the menu); that hard
boiled eggs are palatable, but that tuna without mayonnaise just isn’t
acceptable!
My friend e-mailed me yesterday to find out if I had "gotten thin" - that was good for a whopping belly laugh: normal was 15 years and 15 kilos ago, thin was as a baby, a child, a young adult (o.k. scrawny was more like it; I had a few monikers such as "Long John Sliver") and then with my first child...
who was born 35 years ago.
Did I loose weight? Probably not
(having not stepped on a scale for years I really wouldn’t know), but that wasn’t
the point. I wanted to feel again what
it was to be hungry; I wanted to avoid having to go out and buy a new lot of
trousers (getting tight, they were!); I didn’t want to head into the
over-abundance-of-good-food season already straining at the gills; I wanted to
see what “real” portions were to remind myself that, yes, portion control does
count, and most of all; I simply wanted to feel that I had done something for my
health.
So I head into the holiday season –
if not lighter – at least with the knowledge that I can control what I eat and
that more is not necessarily better: bring on the champagne, popcorn and
brownies!
