“This New Year’s resolution makes me feel like we’re enlisting in WWII.” Ed remarked as we sat in the car waiting for our noontime meeting and our second tour of duty with a structured weight loss program.
“Honey, it’s not like we’re facing a firing squad.” I said, although I couldn’t help but be amused with his flair toward the dramatic.
“Maybe after a few meetings we’ll get back into the swing of dieting,” I said. He heaved a weary sigh and opened the car door. We walked into the building to embark on yet another weight loss battle. WWI had worked for us in Seattle, and it could work for us again if we focused on portion control and journaling.
The night we joined WWI, a tall slender blonde woman walked up to us and said, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, welcome to our program! I lead the Wednesday night meetings and I'm your biggest cheerleader in helping you get to your weight goal." She'd cast her net of confidence and we were hooked.
In private, Ed and I referred to the leader as our drill instructor, but she was actually a lovely woman who had an answer for every question and was an expert at ferreting out a flimsy excuse. She was kind and understanding in every way but she had her rules.
It's obvious we had to count our calories and eat from the basic food groups, but Ed and I were floored to learn we had to keep a food journal. The journal included writing down what time of day we ate, what we ate, if hunger, boredom, stress, or sadness triggered our desire to eat, and how we felt when we deviated from the program to eat something sinful. We also tracked our daily exercise; nothing was too sacred to write in our journals.
"It's going to take me all day to write this down; I won't have time to eat!" Ed lamented. Our instructor was not amused. She arched one eyebrow and said with a patient but toothy smile, "Journaling will help you know yourself, which is instrumental in losing weight. By the end of the first week you'll be tracking everything like a pro."
We were quick to see the importance of journaling. The journal prompted us to evaluate our mood every day, and we could track what did or did not work for us in past weeks. This helped hone better eating habits, putting us in a positive groove for eating the right foods and staying away from the "bad" foods. During the WWI months, Ed dropped 56 pounds and I lost 18 (that's not a typo). We’d mastered the Battle of the Bulge, and amazingly we’d done it by following a program that didn’t include jelly donuts as one of the major food groups.
What a rewarding feeling to know we'd faced the enemy and won! We earned our Good Conduct medals during our WWI tour of duty, but victory would not be ours for long.
Soon after losing the weight in Seattle, we relocated to New Mexico. With a new job and a new home in the Land of Enchantment, we felt success on all fronts, except for one very important one…the scales.
We rationalized the disruption of the move as the reason for our expanding girth. Truth be told, we'd grazed our way 1,900 miles south taking frequent rest stops at Baskin Robbins, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts.
Our waywardness has brought us to WWII, but we're armed and ready to face the enemy head-on. We have an equally wise and enthusiastic leader at our new location with comrades who are encouraging and supportive.
We’ve taken our WWI journals out of mothballs to reassess our previous eating habits and we're studying our updated WWII weight loss manuals. I’ve pulled out the low-everything recipes and removed foods from the refrigerator and cupboards that could sabotage the mission.
The pounds are slowly melting from our bodies and morale among the troops helps sustain us. I question if our spirits can remain high with the two of us celebrating our weight losses at the Mexican food restaurant after each meeting. That's a weekly splurge we might have to re-evaluate at some point in time.
Bio:
Cynthia Briggs celebrates her love of cooking and writing through her nostalgic cookbook, Pork Chops & Applesauce: A Collection of Recipes and Reflections and her apple dessert book titled Sweet Apple Temptations. She's also the author of two e-books, The Adventures of Lily and Leon: A Soppy Fish Tale, and Bumper Crop: Beginning with Apples. She's published in seven Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Woman's World Magazine and numerous other publications. Contact Cynthia through her blog: http://www.cynthiabriggsblog.com she'd love to hear from you.
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