There is an art to eating well.

I know that I promised I wouldn't turn this blog into something that is all about my journey to eating well, and losing weight.  But I think this post needs to be done -- and simply because it flies in the face of everything the weight loss advertising executives want you to think.

You don't need a fancy program in order to control your eating habits and lost weight.

There. I said it. 

I have problems with eating.  It's a battle for me, my relationship with food.  I know that you have seen through pictures my large portion sizes (I promise, I didn't eat the whole half of the pizza that R. and I made, and I couldn't finish the salad since I had accidentally doused it with too much dressing.  My portion sizes haven't become that skewed), and I admit that I grew up eating way too much food.  If you didn't have a heaping plate at family functions, then there had to be something wrong with you. Was there something wrong with the food? Here, have something else to eat.  Catch my drift?

I was on Weight Watchers for the better part of two years, and I lost nearly 70 pounds on it.  One thing that I will say is that WW taught me how to take the food available to me and turn it into something I can lose weight with.  I was living in the dorms, in my first apartment, and my food availability was rather limited, especially with the dining hall situation.  I could eat what I wanted, learned to track what and how much I ate, and soon began making better choices food wise.  But it didn't stick.

My vow from now on is to make it stick.  But I'm not going to shell out money that could very well be spent elsewhere (as my grandma pointed out -- don't spend the money on a weight loss plan, because it takes away money you could be spending on healthy food options to replace the bad ones) on paying monthly fees to WW again.  Especially since in this day and age, there are hundreds of free tools that allow you to do the same thing, just without the handy (and pain in the ass) Points system.

I track what I eat these days through My Fitness Pal, which comes in both an App form and the website.  I use the App for tracking when I haven't planned ahead, following the calorie goal that's calculated for me healthily based on my weight, height and activity level, and the website when I have the ability to plan ahead.  I like planning.  I can set what I'm going to eat, so I'm not rushing around, or craving something and give in (I'm lookin' at you, bag of Toll House cookies...).  When I plan, I know I have something easy to pick and make, so I'm obviously not going to starve.  I usually give myself a couple hundred calories of leeway, in case I do feel the need to have something sweet.

There is no need for a miracle weight loss plan, or to pay all kinds of money for people to do the work for you, or for supplements that don't really do much of anything (or are horribly dangerous to your health!) in order to lose weight.

Burn more calories than you take in.  It's that freaking simple.  If it's not that simple for you, then consult your doctor. When I talked to mine, we ran a blood test and found out that I'm borderline hypothyroid, so yes, losing weight is a bit more difficult for me, but it's correctable.  If I had continued to have trouble after following a strict diet, my doctor said we would look at medications, but she didn't think it was necessary.  I started working out regularly (sometimes, I even made it to religiously!) and doing strength training - the extra lean muscle was just the boost my metabolism needed to balance out my thyroid.

Ask questions. People want to help you. Find a friend to keep you accountable, but don't find that friend who will nag you about every little thing you put in your mouth.  My best friend and I went through WW together, only in the sense that we had our individual Points, we didn't nag about what we ate on a daily basis - and we cheated like hell together.  We literally had a weekly trip to Marble Slab as our one indulgence.  It kept the guilt at bay, and we lost all the more weight because of it.

Losing weight is hard.  It's not SUPPOSED to be easy, because you're SUPPOSED to be changing your lifestyle FOREVER.  Not until you hit your weightloss goal, spend two weeks in your skinny jeans as you revert to your old habits, and find yourself with all the weight back six months later.  If you're going to lose it right, you're going to lose it forever.  End of store.

I love the honesty of Fabulous Lorraine in her weight loss journey.  She works her ass off, and she knows why she's stalled -- because she's not eating right.  It's a balance. A sucky terrible balance.  But one you have to fight your way through.

I fought my way through once, and I slipped. My lovable R. is supportive of my efforts to get myself back under control, but reminds me constantly that he loves me any way that I am, even if I stayed the same.  I need that support, because it means that I'm not changing for what I see as the most important opinion outside of my own: his.  He loves me.  I am not my weight. But I need to lose my weight, because otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to be around for him to love, or that I will be limited in such.

I'm doing this for me. I'm fighting my urges, drowning my cravings in water, and taking long walks around my bad days.

And finding fabulous ways to cook through it all.  Here we go, guys.  Here we go.
-A