Halfway there: "sustained weight loss requires skills I'm still trying to master on a daily basis."

Maybe I should have seen this coming, but I'm finding that overcoming decades of screwed-up eating habits is considerably harder than I thought it would be. Sustained weight loss requires skills I'm still trying to master on a daily basis. Even now, I sometimes fall off the proverbial healthful-food wagon and my two best friends are a giant bag of Doritos and a pint of Ben & Jerry's. That explains the extra 2 pounds that showed up on the bathroom scale this month.

It's a battle every day, but when I slip up, I make an effort to eat consciously at the very next meal instead of jumping into the deep end of the junk-food pool and bingeing.

You see, I'm just past the six-month mark in this yearlong journey, and the lessons I'm learning from nutritionist Suki Hertz, M.S., R.D., trainer Keith Veri and psychologist Jean Petrucelli, Ph.D., are, baby-step-by-baby-step, starting to sink in.

Here's the biggest change that's happened: I'm no longer dieting. Most of the time, I'm simply making sensible, conscious food choices--rather than searching frantically for the diet craze du jour, as I've done so many times in the past.

Like tonight, for example. At dinner I ate a roll dipped in olive oil. An innocuous act, right? No. For me, it was a monumental achievement, because I didn't let that one innocent slice of sourdough spiral me into a guilt-ridden frenzy about blowing my diet. Nor did I throw caution to the winds and order the most calorieladen item on the menu.

I'm learning that dipping one bread roll in a healthy fat (like olive oil) won't make me balloon into a beach ball. And that breakfast (a first ever in my adult life) kick-starts my metabolism in the morning and keeps me satiated longer.

My food diary, which I once regarded as a highly inconvenient chore, is now a novella. At the beginning, Dr. Petrucelli could hardly get me to write anything more than the word hungry to describe my feelings when I ate. Now I feel a little guilty as she plows through 10 pages of heartfelt musings about what compelled me to chow down on a fat chunk of brownie.

And while my body is gradually being resculpted thanks to Keith Veri's constantly challenging circuits two to three times a week, I've worked out (excuse the pun) that a heart-pounding jog at the end of a frenetic day is a surefire stress-buster, not an annoyance to be fit into an already demanding schedule.

Don't get out the polish for my halo just yet, though. When I embarked on this project, I thought that my weight would plummet and I'd be wearing a size 2 within a matter of weeks. Obviously, I was wrong.

I still have almost half my journey ahead of me. By the end of this year, I want to have made exercise a permanent part of my schedule and healthful eating automatic, rather than something I struggle with.

RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT I LEARNED

1. Losing weight is about a lot more than just dropping pounds; it's about uncovering the deep, dark areas of yourself--and dealing with them.

2. Exercise is a great stress reliever. Even if you're not in the mood, go for a walk or quick trip to the gym. It will make you feel better.

3. Figure out your danger zones--times of day, people, situations--and set yourself up to succeed by avoiding them or planning a strategy ahead of time.

NEXT MONTH

A healthy-cooking lesson helps Jacqui make peace with her fully stocked kitchen.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
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