My Big Fat Greek Diary!

G

Gillian

New member
Hi:

I started my new way of eating and my plan of how to live peacefully in my body while placing it in calorie restriction -- or placing it in custardy of a sane diet for once in my life. I just found and joined this cool group on March 26th with my big-arse plan to lose thirty-five pounds. I have been learning how to spend time in my body because I have the tendency to be a kind of disembodied-type person, which has put me a bit out of touch to know whether I am really hungry or just wanting to eat for entertainment or boredom.

I do a lot of cooking and it used to be a way for me to make a living, and I admit I still love cooking for friends and family, so it will always be a part of my life, just not the heart of my life. I tried to be a vegan and that lasted two years, then I added fish and became pescetarian, then I wound up letting myself just be as sane an omnivore as I could.

I started preparing for the change in eating about two weeks or more before I committed myself to it on March 26th -- like I had to talk myself into it. I walked on the treadmill and ate carefully and consciously. I did the same on the 27th.

My weight on March 26th was 215 and I am now 214, but I do not consider it to be anything other than water loss for now, but I am glad to have a starting point.

Saturday is racing by and I have to figure out what to eat tonight and do a little walking. I am now able to do light exercise after four C-spine fusions and stage one ovarian cancer. By looking at me, no one would ever know I had five major surgeries in the past two years. If I had not quit smoking several years ago I'd be dead by now.

I hope a good weekend for all.

Gill
 
Glad to see you started a diary! I have a very big problem with eating out of boredom, usually in front of the TV. It's a hard habit to break. I just plan snacks now. It keeps me sane. lol.

I'm 214 now too. I'm guessing we'll both see ONEderland around the same time. :)
 
Good job on making it so far. I can tell this is going to be the start of something great for you! Keep it up and don't give up.
 
Thanks for the support -- it's great to have other members believe in me! I wish I had been in this forum and state of mind a long time ago. I have gone from 215 to 213 since the 26th of March. I am trying for one to two pounds a week, which may be slow, but I always regained when I went faster in the past. I am relearning and reprogramming my approach to food and diet for the first time ever. I want to make sure I can learn to eat normally for the rest of my days and I hope I have many more to come! Thanks! ;-) I look forward to your posts and I will be reading/seeing you!
 
Great job on the loss! 1-2 lbs a week is a great number to shoot for. Absolutely nothing wrong with that! :)
 
Gillian said:
Thanks for the support -- it's great to have other members believe in me! I wish I had been in this forum and state of mind a long time ago. I have gone from 215 to 213 since the 26th of March. I am trying for one to two pounds a week, which may be slow, but I always regained when I went faster in the past. I am relearning and reprogramming my approach to food and diet for the first time ever. I want to make sure I can learn to eat normally for the rest of my days and I hope I have many more to come! Thanks! ;-) I look forward to your posts and I will be reading/seeing you!
Click to expand...

Haha that's a great amount. I'm in the same boat as you.... 1-2lbs lost a week. It's slow but eh, better slow and permanent than fast and temporary, no?

And yea, these forums are great. Lots of supportive people and it really keeps you in check.
 
Wow! I just can't believe this. I have lost four pounds since I started on March 26th and I did not starve myself to lose it! I have gone from 215 to 211! I have just been eating healthy and normally. But, come to think of it, in my family growing up no one ate a reasonable balanced diet. My first diet was at the age of four. It triggered a life long body image problem.

I have never used common sense as a means of weight loss before -- and that blows my mind. It is so obvious to me ... finally. I used to over react and feel ashamed and then crash off the weight because of what other people thought of me, but never did I listen to how I felt. I would closely describe myself as Stewart Smally -- the SNL character who was played by Al Franken! "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!" HAA! All I need is the huge overly large sweater he used to always wear ... sheesh!

Since I really started listening to my body and believing what it was telling me, I have at times even worried I might be over eating. That is how out of touch I have been with myself. No diet out there would address the neurotic behavior caused by a starvation diet. I am so grateful to have found a forum with other people who really get all this. I always expected to endure deprivation, and if I didn't, there was truly something very wrong with me!

I am 46 years old and have tried every diet out there. I wish I had not wasted so much time on worrying what other people thought of me. I am never turning back. Those days are behind me from now on. People are more than their weight and if others can't see that, there is something wrong with them. You guys are great! This is a wonderful place!
 
Does weight loss really depend on sheer willpower alone? I just started reading a new book that claims willpower alone will never work because people all run out of it eventually. I tend to agree. Willpower got me very thin and attractive, but it simply was not sustainable. I am trying to reprogram my eating habits so I do not experience deprivation that sends me out of control by making me ill. I am looking for new books all the time. If you have any that have helped, please let me know. I started reading Geneen Roth books over 25 years ago -- but her book "Women, Food and God" rubbed me the wrong way and it was as if she was cashing in by selling out for the first time. Otherwise I really like her.

I am doing very well by using moderation. I had two days of light Easter candy, but nothing over the top. I still feel very much on course.
 
Gillian, you are doing well by...... " I have just been eating healthy and normally." You've got this! Building up your self-esteem is very important. I have used so many things to try to build my self-esteem & I think it's really important to try to counteract all the negative comments & feelings about yourself that have built up over the years. Most of us have "eaten our feelings." I started a thread years ago that has a gazillion quotes & sayings & the link to is here http://weight-loss.fitness.com/threads/33533-Motivational-sayings-and-or-affirmations. Some of them I might find embarrassing now, but at the time they were important to me. Like most things in life take from it the things that you want to & don't worry about the rest.
I also think this forum is a wonderful place. The compliments & support I have received over the last 8 years( :eek: ) has really helped me so much that I can't really find the words to describe it. Just be yourself here & we will support you xo Cate
 
Gillian said:
I do a lot of cooking and it used to be a way for me to make a living, and I admit I still love cooking for friends and family, so it will always be a part of my life, just not the heart of my life.
Click to expand...

I'm a chef so I understand loving to cook. From personal experience, I can offer you this piece of reality - cooking healthier food options will give you just as much, if not more, enjoyment as cooking unhealthy meals. Personally, I find a little more enjoyment from cooking healthier meals because it makes me feel like I accomplished something impressive. I mean, it's easy to throw a bunch of butter, salt and fat into a meal and make it taste delicious - most anybody can do that - but it's a little more difficult to turn 'healthy ingredients' into something mouthwatering. So, when you cook a delicious tasting healthier meal option, you feel more pride - you feel more bad ass.

And, the best part of making a healthy meal that tastes good? When your friends and family sit there eating it like, "MMMMM, this is SO GOOD!!!" You get to sit there, silently bragging to yourself like, "HAHAHA, FOOLS!!! You're eating HEALTHY. And, you LIKE it, MMMWWWUUAHAHAHA!!!"
 
Dear group:

It's so good to be back among the living!!! I was hospitalized and am currently prepping for surgery at home instead of inpatient like the old days of medicine. I start my Lovenox injections (light weight heparin) so I'm still protected after going off my coumadin, plavix and aspirin. Wow, "not this again" is what I have been thinking. I never thought I would wind up losing weight because my stomach stopped working, a kind of gastroparesis that so far is idiopathic until they can safely run tests and do exploratory. I never wanted to lose weight that way. Damn. But, the great drugs they had me on made me forget I was even hungry! Ha-ha! I was bombed! I miss the old days when the gold standard intravenous pain treatment was Demerol!!! I do not like Morphine or Dilaudid and would make a lousy drug addict. Oh well, (sigh) I guess train spotting is not for me (thank god).

I have missed this place so much. I have never found a place like this before. I have lost eight pounds in a little over a month -- so I am still eating, but I have to put cooked vegetables in my food processor if I want to digest them. Raw vegetables are making my symptoms worse. I am so glad I can tolerate good yogurt!
 
Hi Cate in Australia! Thanks for the wonderful affirmations page! I know how much I need to insert them into my mind! I believe what we tell ourselves about our perception of ourselves and that it can make or break us apart. Being positive is like healthy mental exercise. When I lived on the east coast, I met this musician guy from New Zealand who was on tour -- Dave Dobbyn. Did he get any airplay in your part of Australia? I was a student at Berklee at the time. Wow, I miss my life and want this medical farce to end. I'm holding up, but I am freaked and frustrated. Your collection of affirmations may save me from buying a pint of Graeters ice cream!!! I am going to go out and buy some Vegemite instead!
 
hihi! i hope the surgery goes well. yay for the 8 pounds! i just had to do a smelly face when i see the words raw vegetables. it doesn't go well with my tastebuds lol.
 
ChefChiTown! How are you and Jen_Renee doing? So I take it you are in Chi town ... ? Heheee! I know, I know, what an observation! HAAA! My husband and I have been waiting forever for a job transfer to Chicago and we finally may be moving there this fall or next spring. Chicago is where the great cuisine is. I can't wait to eat at Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, or XOCO! It's a wonderful feeling to prepare healthy dishes for my husband and not have to worry about sacrificing taste. I have been learning to stick with great olive oil instead of loads of butter. I loathe margarine, and when I tried being a vegan for two years I nearly cracked up! I ate everything that was not superglued to the counter after that long. I still remember what tripped me up; a pepperoni pizza! My husband and I both went NUTS -- I became Eve, seductively devouring a slice right in front of him .. and before we knew it, we could barely move. Man, it was great fun!!! But way back then it was for political reasons. We hate this factory farming thing. I am happy I can still digest cage free organic eggie weggies! Have you watched Food Inc? Everything changed for us after that documentary.
 
Thanks jubilee! My stomach goes bonkers from them, not to mention they have no flavor for me anymore. I found I actually could tolerate them if they were roasted. Welcome to the group and thanks for stopping by! I will visit your page and see how you are doing and if there is anyplace around here to find recipes, I'd be interested. I have barely scratched the surface of this huge forum. It is like a new city here!
 
Today I am 206, but I have strict dietary restrictions because I can't digest certain foods. We intensely dislike this backward hellhole of a cow town we are in because medically and culturally -- it will never be Boston/Cambridge. Anthony Bourdain hated it out here and gave it horrible culinary reviews. I want to be home in Cambridge, but the only open transfer is Chi town, which I have visited many times and the rent is cheaper there than in Boston/Cambridge. We have renamed this faux city, "Stubbville" -- where the men are men and the sheep are scared to death! I am so sick of being sick. I hope I don't go like our old friend Hitch.

Exhausted, Gill
 
Hi Gill, That sucks that you are having so much trouble health-wise. I hope it gets better for you very soon. I'm glad you have gained something from the quotes thread. It used to help me on days when I was struggling to maintain focus. Mostly I would look for something specifically to try to help someone else, but it would help me as well.
I have never had any idea what Chi town was until today! Never a day goes by where I don't learn something new! Get well soon xo Cate
 
Hi!

Thanks, Cate in Australia! Hey, did you ever watch that wonderful Aussie animation film callled "Mary and Max?" It was based on a true story and my husband got it for me a few months ago.

But to stay on subject -- thank you so much for writing. I have read through your affirmations. I will have time to really participate more after four medical appointments and one hospitalization. Maybe they will be able to find out what on earth is wrong with my digestive system. Losing weight can only help. I also find inspiration in writing to others. I try to write what I would want to hear given I were them, and it's very healing.

I am headed out to help my husband find a few casual shirts. I actually hate shopping and so does he! We consider ourselves *anticonsumers* !!!

Again, thanks, because I am sick of being sick! It is a good thing we laugh so hard around here! I have four new pieces of writing to send in for copyright protection. I must have laughed off two pounds writing that stuff!

Stay well,
Gill
 
Hi Gill, I forgot to say Dave Dobbyn's song "Slice Of Heaven" was big here. It was very catchy! You just had me da da daaing! I haven't seen Mary & Max. We don't go to the movies & don't watch them much at all, but I'll keep an eye out for it. I'm more a book person. I'm curious to hear more about your writing.....
Hope you find out what's wrong soon with your digestive system! Cheers, Cate
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top