Fiber Is Your Friend

My plan for the next 30 days is to keep following (with some tweaks) the Fiber Up, Slim Down plan from a cookbook of same name that I found at the library. Getting me and my husband sated at a meal seems to be key for us, and so adding more fiber helps that since the assumption is that we'll eat less of the good stuff (i.e., meat, sweets, etc.). I cannot do deprivation, so I'm hoping this will help me keep shedding weight.

I lost about 30 pounds pretty easily over the last year because I quit my desk job and started staying at home with our 4-year-old (switched places with husband, who had been doing it since her birth -- he finished school and got a job). The desk job is a killer -- why are there always donuts and tacos and celebration lunches ... not to mention I was the food editor, so we had monthly recipe testing. Ugh. Then I started actually exercising (sporadically), watching my portion sizes and what I was cooking, plus did a 10-week "biggest loser"-style competition with friends, and lost another 10 pounds. I know that's a big accomplishment, but I also have a looooong way to go. I could lose 60 more pounds before even showing up in the "healthy" weight category for my height, and more than that for "ideal," which we should all pause to scoff at now.

I mentioned that I don't do deprivation. I started dieting (with my mom) when I was about 10, and kept it up (gaining, losing, gaining. losing) until I was 27. I was just so sick of it, having done everything from Atkins (the first time around, in the '80s) to Optifast (yeah, thanks Oprah). I knew there had to be some other answer. I found a great book called Overcoming Overeating. It helped me put things in perspective, and I decided to just be me for awhile, and see where I ended up with my weight and with my life. I ended up getting a divorce, moving to Austin, getting a master's degree, and finding a therapist to work out body issues with. The result was that I was a much, much happier person, even though I was still overweight. I has stopped bingeing and dieting, stopped seeing myself as this flawed thing that needed fixing, and started to know myself better.

Fast forward to now (age 38). I feel like I can (finally) lose weight without freaking out about it. I can step on the scale and not let a "bad" number bring me down for the day, or a "good" number make me elated. Don't get me wrong, I feel good when it's going in the healthier direction, but I'm no longer tying that to my worth as a person. ... Alright, this is getting really long. Anyway, I'm here. Let's do this thing. I'll post some good recipes from the fiber book next time.