Weight Loss/Maintenance

I'm 72 years old, and lots of things are different for me than in years past. I know what it's like to be hungry, and to feel crazed with hunger.

Growing up, I was a skinny kid famous for my appetite. I could easily eat seconds and thirds and fourths. I remained thin past high school, then put on a bit of weight. Remained thin into my twenties, although weighing more than I had in the past.

Fast forward to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. The weight went on and never came off.

I honestly think that the fact I have weighed myself every single day for decades now, has been a huge help. Even as my weight climbed, I still got on the scale, despite my sense of discouragement at the number I was seeing. In recent months it's been gratifying to see the numbers go down.

Here's the most encouraging thing I want to share. My BMI has gone from 32 to 24, meaning from obese to normal. It feels so very good. I was overweight/obese for far too long. What's actually somewhat disturbing, in my opinion, is that we have all gotten so used to almost everyone being overweight that we've forgotten what normal looks like.

It's not easy. We are surrounded by food. Restaurant portions are ridiculously large. We've been trained to be hungry and to eat much more than we realistically need.

My personal weight loss odyssey started back in March, 2020 when I went on a cruise to Hawaii. Wonderful cruise, but I set out determined not to gain weight, which is far too common when cruising. So I paid attention to what and when I ate, didn't just eat as much or as often as I could, and still had wonderful food. When I returned home I weighed exactly what I had at the beginning. Hooray! A few months later I decided it was time to take the excess off, and so I simply started restricting my eating. Fortunately, it wasn't that hard. I know that for many reading this, your appetite is simply greater than mine, and cutting back isn't very easy. I cannot offer any magic solutions, but I hope you can hang in there and make it happen.