Must see - how an old bear can achieve weight loss - and keep it of

hmmmm - more on that later.

First of all lets look at how an old bear can lose weight.
My doc advised I had to lose some weight - no small feat for an old bear who's weight shifted only three times in the entire adult life time but in between has been rock solid.
- the first time straight after I got married - I put on 7 kilos (in less then 4 months)
- the second time when I stopped work and looked after my oldest (full time) just before he was born - again an other 5 kilos
- the third time - hmmmm well ok - it was another 6 or so kilos
So how to loose weight????

Diets I have tried:

- the lets eat from a smaller plate diet -the idea being it's a smaller plate and over the course of a year you eat less - ergo lose weight. - fat chance

So then the old bear tried the drink one of these pre-packaged high fiber drinks instead of a meal - which worked for as long as I keep on eating/drinking them - and as soon as I stopped - yep you guessed it, back to where we started. Besides it was getting expensive (and it never tastes like a "real roast chicken")

So then I decided that I used to be a very active person and burnt of the calories that way - so needed to get of my bum and (have since picked up a part time) - sedentary job and exercise more - wohooo - that just made me more hungry.

Then there was the acid diet / potato diet / the drink water diet / the try and stay away from chocolate diet / the eat fish only diet / urm was there a nut diet too??? Probably - you'd have to be nuts to keep on trying . . .

hmmm like so many of you out there some things kinda worked and some things did not - and the worst part was that after some small losses - - yep you guessed it --- I had the BUNGY diet!!!

After some depressing food binges and yes after our trip to Europe where we well enjoyed the sights A N D food (another 6 kilos added) - I decided to get really serious and look at it in rather cold logical passion.

Weight = food = weight.
You add fuel eg. - (food) and you burn it - if the food intake is greater then the burn part, well then one adds weight - and if you burn more calories off then you add fuel - ergo you lose weight.
Soooooooo simple really the answer is to - starve - wohoooo - thats not fun :'(

I was resigned to the theory that each person has a specific weight and I am stuck with it. Then I hit pay dirt.

Here is what worked for me:
I cut back on breakfast - (currently eat 2 slices of low GI bread with a decent dollop of Nuttella on it - another low GI food item)
I walk 3 km to work and I walk another 8 km back home - yep the long way - sigh that usually takes 1.5 hours!!
By the time I come home it's usually gone well past 2 pm - so for lunch I just have a SMALL helping of fresh fruit - whatever is in season but I enjoy some good plums!
If I am still hungry I sometimes snack on some nuts / sultanas or other dried fruit. Dinner is often a rushed affair due to the life style so - it's often quick and easy meals - but I try and eat more veggies.

I am proud to say that during the last 6 months I have shifted 8 kilos - or 16 pounds for you non-metrics!!
Wohooooo :) Lets just hope it stays off for good!!!
I am aiming for 65 - 69 kilos - after all I got that special suit I want to try and fit back in. Hmmm that would take another - wait - subtract 5 add 2 divvie by 3 add another 1 - urm - well me has run out of paws - but more then 15 months

I have since posting this post discovered that our old European Brethren (and Sisters - ok ok) may well have one over us - the Philosophy is that you eat Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Pheasant, and Dinner like a pauper! Kinda figures - when you consider that if you eat a big heavy meal later in the evening and then just go to bed - all that food being converted into fat because the body doesn't need it and stores it for future reference. Sigh - another lifestyle change - and yep - Fried Bacon and Egg for breakfast just doesn't turn me on, jeeech

Now, how to keep all those weight losses of - that's another post to be written later, meanwhile it's my birthday so I am allowed . . .. ..
shhhh

Where did mamabear hide that bar of chocolate? ? ? ?