Taking it All Off: Reflections of A Loser

I follow a 1200 - 1500 calorie diet. It is recommended for a woman my age to eat between 1200 & 1500 but I usually have trouble hitting the 1200. It would come down to forcing myself to eat more just to get my calories in. I spent 30 years in bondage to food, I will not purposely try to eat more to meet those calories. That's just another form of bondage. I eat a nutritionally balanced diet and do what I can to get 1200 - 1500 calories in.

I view my calories like a budget. When it comes down to something I want, I check my budget. Suddenly spending 900 of my 1200 calories on a piece of cake doesn't sound like something I want to do. In that case a bite may suffice or just skipping it all together. There are many healthy calorie lean goodies out there, you've just got to find them. Skinny Cow fudgesicles are fantastic and only 100 calories. I've had no problem fitting them into my calorie budget a few times. They aren't all natural, which is a bummer and actually probably a good thing because I don't indulge in them very often just for that fact. If you don't care much about natural and organic foods, I dare you to read "What You Don't Know May Be Killing You" by Dr. Don Colbert. It just may make you rethink some of your food choices.

On the subject of calorie counting, I want to say this: I know some of you are turned off by even the thought of "having" to count calories. I understand this. All my life I fought it. "Why do I have to count calories? Naturally skinny people don't", "There's got to be some way to lose weight with out having to count calories" and on and on. Whatever the argument, the plain truth is this: if you aren't automatically maintaining a healthy weight (like some people do), it just means that you have to pay some kind of attention to what is going in and what is burning off. The sooner we let this settle into our spirit, the better. For some of us, it has taken 30 years. It doesn't have to take that long.