Battle of the Bulge...

So, one thing I have been carrying around in my suitcase is the struggle of trying to lose weight, and what that means and doesn’t mean. For most of my younger life I was very active and never had to worry or even think of my weight, even in University.  I didn’t even regularly weigh myself as I had that balance of calories in/calories out. Then, as the “real” working world started, so did my battle of the bulge. I had less time and less energy to work out, and as I moved to different cities and introduced to different cultural foods, became a “foodie”. Shift work permitted for eating any type of food at any time of the day, and too often the choice was fast food because it was quick and warm and tasty.  Then, add an injury or two making exercise more challenging, combined with a decreasing metabolic rate with each decade, and presto, 60 lbs overweight.

If you actually sit down and do the math, let’s say that you gain .5 lbs in a week...(that’s not much right? could be water retention from the Chinese food last night)…that’s 2 lbs in a month…that’s 24 lbs in a year!!!

Embarrassed to admit, I have tried the cabbage soup diet- which did work, but gained it back as it was not a lifestyle change…the South Beach Diet- which worked as well, but I couldn’t stick to it and again wasn’t a life style change…Simply for Life Diet- which worked as well, but I became tired of only being able to eat certain foods and lost motivation, and found it was extremely expensive for the support and information I received. And last, but not least, weight watchers- which works, but I found it time consuming to have to look up everything I ate and then write it down. The new pocket calculator helped, but still it took time. At the end of this diet, I do plan to live a weight watchers style of eating as it is all real foods from all food groups and exercise with portion control.

Then a friend told me about the Dukan Diet…and a new journey began…