Sunday, December 10, 2006

Two steps back, one step forward

The saga of trying to find a livable diet continues at the Dill household. The lead up to the most recent crisis actually began about a week before Halloween. The wife, trying to be a good doobie, bought reese cups and almond joys to pass out to the kiddies for trick or treat. Now aside from the politics of passing out candy to already fat children, these two candies happen to be our favorites. So I think at some level there was some attempt at subversion of our carb controlled eating habits. It started out innocently enough, it always does, as "lets treat ourselves", or "I'm only going to eat one". Heard those before? By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, we were regularly having a treat every night after dinner. Sometimes one leading to two. So in-spite of eating a mostly reasonable diet, and not really over doing Thanksgiving by a large margin, we both gained several pounds. During this time we both seemed to neglect to weigh ourselves, as to avoid any reality check, and reign in our sugar high. To further exacerbate the matter, our motivation to exercise became less and less. Isn't it funny, how a little candy can take a person who ordinarily eats a healthy diet and routinely exercises, and lure them down the path of the couch potato. The stuff is more insidious than heroin. The come-uppance arrived promptly at 7 AM on Friday Dec 1. While still drinking my first cup of coffee, I hear a disturbed, painful sound coming from the master bath. Mrs D had stepped on the scale. By 7:20 AM, the house was junk food free. No left overs, no cookies, no candy, no pie. For the moment, I was still serene, watching the flurry of activity that usually accompanies such events, wondering what would be the resulting dietary intervention. A bit irritated by my rectitude, Wife demands that I go weigh myself. Feeling self assured that what ever damage had been done, it would not result in any significant gain. WRONG! My feelings were a bit hurt seeing the number on the scale, but deep down, I really wasn't surprised. To here accusatory stare I answer "15 pounds". I knew better than to ask her, if she wasn't going to volunteer, I wasn't going to ask. Been there done that, not worth it. By Lunch time, she had decided to go back into Weight Watchers, a program she had been successful with a coupe of years back. Some of the women she works with were doing it, and she felt the flexibility, social support, and peer pressure of the group thing might help keep her on track through the holidays. For me I choose the Low Glycemic Load route, with a daily GL target of 80. Our food choices are still pretty much based around the South Beach plan, but with the added control of counting points or GL. Both of us have returned to our normal exercise patterns. In the first week I lost 3.5 lb. and she lost 2.5. My goal at this point is to get to Jan 2, and only be 5 lb. heavier than I was in the middle of October. We shall see how it goes.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey Kevin, we all get thrown off from time to time. Just get back on that horse.

Lucky for us our next door neighbors have six skinny kids and they clean up over here after Halloween like six Dyson vacuums.