I Promised a Friend I'd Write This

The photo was taken after my daughter and I had been to the beach. We were on a hilltop overlooking the bay where the cruise ships come into St. Thomas. After a good look at some of the photos she took of me and the death of a friend the next month I decided I needed to rethink weight loss.

Danielle Bernock , this is what I did using "Little by little." The first thing I did was make a fist. Okay, let's be honest my hand isn't very big. However, your fist is the size your stomach is supposed to be. Good thing it stretches, right?

Seriously, for the next year I used a smaller plate, moved all the food to the center and took my table knife and went around my fist making a line in the food. Anything outside of my fist went into a container and could be eaten at my next meal. All I ate was the portion that was the size of my fist. I did this at every meal, every day for 365 days. The result was, I lost 25 pounds. Doesn't seem like much but it was a start.

Year two I continued the portion control and cut out junk food. I no longer bought chips, crackers, anything you would consider junk food. I didn't eat at fast food restaurants. If I couldn't go sit and enjoy a meal, I didn't go out. Again, I did this for a year. At the end of the year, I had lost another 25 pounds. People were beginning to notice.

A colleague who was trying to work off a few extra pounds would come down and join me at lunch. We walked several blocks around the school buildings. I was teaching middle school by this time. She taught in the elementary it was up the hill from the middle school. Sometimes we even walked in the city park after school and on the weekends. But we walked every day it didn't rain for the next year. At the end of year three with portion control, no junk food, and walking, I had lost another 25 pounds. Now it was not just some people noticing, it was everyone noticing. I retired at the end of that school year.

I hadn't reached the goal I'd set for myself, but I planned to be more active since I was no longer going to be working. I was. I had started the first book in my Macy McVannel series that year. I had been lucky enough to find a small press to publish my book. My publisher ordered me 200 paperbacks and 100 hard cover books. Although they didn't arrive for my book launch, I did garner some sales. I was able to set up a book signing near my parents home and we had a huge turnout. It was amazing! I wrote and walked and spent my winter in south Texas. I was a on a bay. I walked the beach at Padre Island. I went to a nature sanctuary. I swam in the bitter cold pool in the area where I was staying. When I came home in late March, I was down 110 pounds.

Give or take 5 pounds, I kept the weight off for 10 years. Then Covid hit. Going anywhere that wasn't essential was pretty much forbidden. I kept most of the weight off until 2021. It has become an issue for me again. One of the motivations I had was that if I lost weight, I could come off some of the medications I was on. Well, that didn't happen. Somewhere in there I had a heart attack. I saw 14 doctors between the time I had this heart attack and the time it was diagnosed in May, 2019 not one told me I'd had a heart attack. I didn't know I'd had one. This was not what I was hoping for.

This photo of me was taken just before I gave away this pair of slacks. I wore these while I was teaching. They were the last of my "fat" clothes. I was able to stand in one pant leg with both legs. I still had weight to lose then. But I felt 110 pounds gone needed to be marked in some way.

I have found a dietician to work with. I was truly looking for a functional doctor. They are almost impossible to find as are functional nutritionists. Insurance doesn't cover either one. For my health and well-being. I needed to do something. I am not at all comfortable with where I am today. No, I would not fit both legs in those pants today, however the pants would still be too big. I am 50 pounds from my goal weight. I can do this "little by little." Thanks for the reminder, Danielle Bernock . Sometimes a little reminder that we can do something removes some of the mental blocks to doing it.