As a 169-pound woman it’s not easy being the sibling of a 109-pounder who also happens to be my twin! She is my fraternal sibling.
Oh, I LOVE HER…. it’s that 4-letter word I didn’t much care for.
I can tell you whether or not a DIET, any diet worked for you. That’s where things got complicated. “Will-power” is, after all, just a figure of speech and can’t be relied on.
Most diet gurus and websites will have disclaimers that tell you “check with your Doctor before beginning.” That’s it! The doctor can tell me why all the food I ate made me feel at home in my fat cells. And then, I can decide to stay there!
The prognosis was not good. The doctor warned me of getting plastic veins (whatever THEY are) by the time I was 50 if I didn’t get down to 115-pounds and stay there. Worse yet, I didn’t appreciate being compared to a perfect model for a Renaissance painter.
Have you seen these images in the Sistine Chapel’s gallery? I’d never get out of the diet section at Boarders hanging’ with those broads! However, I did add the latest calorie- and carbohydrate counters to my cookbook collection. Even at 165 lbs., I have a 28″ waist. (An hourglass figure. But the numbers were off-the-chart.)
Co-workers rolled their eyes in a “She’ll never do it” way. Eight months later, I reached 135lbs. I was happy, and I thought the doctor would too. He wasn’t.
To get the ball rolling again, it was going to need a new incentive. Was just one “wolf-whistle” too much to ask? I thought about finding a crowded construction site and slipping a hard-hatted hunk a 10-spot to ‘make my day.’
Low carb diet was what worked best for me. I was a meticulous reader of labels and looked for a substitute if it was too high.
I discovered that I love cottage cheese. A Carbohydrate Counter should be a must. Mine was a “brand name” carbohydrate counter, in fact. If it wasn’t in my counter, I didn’t eat it.
Dieting is never easy, I don’t care how easy some make it sound. Because I cheated quite a lot, it took me two years to lose the weight. This was 43 years ago. I am still 115 lbs. My Doctor’s nurse thought I was 59 years old. I’ll be 75 this year.
It took me almost two years to get to 115 pounds. I had been cheating so much. This time, the doctor was thrilled. He said I wouldn’t get plastic veins after all. I even forgave his Renaissance painter comment.
It was time to shop for clothes that would fit me. (I looked like a poster for “Send this kid to camp”.) Starting off with size 14 (surely, I’d dropped two dress sizes,) and many trips back and forth to the dressing rooms, I worked my way down to a 7. I hadn’t worn size 7 since you bought clothes by how old you were!
This life-changing achievement was worthy of a reward that required two hands to carry. Instead of a 40-oz. Deep-dish cherry pie was not my preference. I opted to wear designer frames glasses to complement the new, better me.
The technician rolled narrow temples in warm sand and when they fit just right, sat back in his chair and said, “What a doll.” No one had ever called me that before.
I must add that this isn’t the first time I’d tried to diet. It was a way of life. However, I was partly motivated by a health scare. What’s YOUR incentive? Whatever it may be, it will keep you going, no matter how much time it takes.
About the author
This story was submitted By Shirley Hutton Positive Outlooks. She said this is not a diet recommendation or ‘what works better than what’, but just her own story of losing weight.
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