As you know, I've been trying to lose some weight for the past several months, in order to look good when I go home to Oregon in a few weeks, as well as at the three weddings we're attending this year. I guess I shouldn't say "trying", because as of my last weigh-in on Tuesday night, I have lost about fourteen pounds, with about ten more to go until I reach my "healthy" weight range. And even with ten more pounds to go, I'm already pretty happy with how my body looks these days. I've even been told, by people who were not aware of my efforts, that I look skinny! My hips have narrowed out, and even though my belly will always protrude because of my spinal curvature, it is looking a lot flatter than it was.
Today I read a rather pessimistic article titled "You can not lose weight and keep it off". The first paragraph of the article reads:
The sad reality is that you have about as great a chance of losing weight and keeping it off as you do of winning the lottery. This is just a simple fact of life. Everybody knows it. Every magazine article and television show on the topic gives the same facts: 95% of diets fail, and for those who do lose weight, it's just about guaranteed that they'll gain it all back.
Well, it's true that this is the third time in my life I have engaged in a mission to lose weight. I was very successful each time, but eventually gained at least some of the weight back. But I firmly believe this is only because I allowed myself to slip back into my old habits: the same habits that caused me to gain the weight in the first place. Why wouldn't they cause it all to come back?
No, you can't just go on a diet for a little while, lose the weight you want, then go right back to eating the way you did before. If you do that, yes, you will gain the weight back. The fact of the matter is that to keep the weight off, you will have to be vigilant for the rest of your life. After you've lost the weight, you can increase your calorie intake back to an amount that equals what you burn, and that will allow you to maintain a constant weight. But if you go back to eating whatever you want in huge quantities, those excess calories are going to be converted right back into those pounds of fat you worked so hard to get rid of.
Of course, no one wants to track every calorie for the rest of their life, and deprive themselves of the things they love to eat. So the key is to balance it out. If you indulge one day, go back to your weight loss calorie goal the next day. And keep weighing in on a regular basis to keep an eye on yourself. If your weight starts to creep back up, cut those calories back down for a week or two to counter it.
My own plan, once I reach the upper end of my healthy weight range, is to alternate weekly between a weight-maintenance and a weight-loss calorie count. This way I'll be able to enjoy some of my favorite higher calorie foods, but still work toward getting my weight down closer to the lower end of that healthy range.
As long as a person continues to be aware of what they are eating and monitor their weight, even while occasionally enjoying some of life's sinful pleasures, I refuse to believe that it's not possible to lose weight and keep it off.
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