As a 169-pound woman it’s not easy being the sibling of a 109-pounder who also happens to be my twin! She is my fraternal sibling, like it or not. Oh, I LOVE HER…. it’s that 4-letter word I didn’t much care for. Pick a DIET, ANY diet and I can tell you if it worked or not for me. That’s where things got complicated. “Will-power” is, after all, just a figure of speech and can’t be relied on!
Most diet gurus and websites will have disclaimers that tell you “check with your Doctor before beginning.” That’s it! The doctor can tell me why everything I ate felt so at home in my fat cells and choose to stay there!The prognosis was grim. The doctor warned me of getting plastic veins (whatever THEY are) by the time I was 50 if I didn’t get down to 115-pounds and stay there. Worse yet, I didn’t appreciate being compared to a perfect model for a Renaissance painter.
Have you seen the images gracing the Sistine Chapel? I’d never get out of the diet section at Boarders hanging’ with those broads! I DID, however, add the latest calorie and carbohydrate counter to my cookbook collection. Even at 165 lbs., I have a 28″ waist. (An hourglass figure, but the numbers were off the chart.) Co-workers rolled their eyes in a “She’ll never do it” way. Eight months later, I reached 135lbs.
I was happy and thought the doctor would be too. He wasn’t.It was going to take a new incentive to get the ball rolling again. Was just one “wolf-whistle” too much to ask? I thought about finding a crowded construction site and slipping a hard-hatted hunk a 10-spot to ‘make my day.’ The diet that worked for me was the LOW CARB regimen. I read labels religiously and if the carb number was high, I looked for a substitute, so as not to feel deprived.
I discovered that I enjoyed cottage cheese. A Carbohydrate Counter is essential. In fact, mine was a “name brand” carbohydrate counter. I didn’t eat it if it wasn’t on my counter. No matter how easy some make it sound, dieting is never easy. It took me two years because I cheated so much. That was 43 years ago, and I’m still 115 pounds. My doctor’s nurse mistook my age for 59. This year marks my 75th birthday.
I cheated so much that it took nearly two years to reach 115 pounds. The doctor was overjoyed this time. He assured me that I would not develop plastic veins after all. I even forgot about the Renaissance painter remark. This meant that it was time to go shopping for clothes that fit my body. (I looked like a “Send this kid to camp” poster.)
Starting with a size 14 (surely, I’d dropped two dress sizes), I worked my way down to a 7 after many trips back and forth to the dressing rooms. I hadn’t worn a size 7 since you used to buy clothes based on your age! This life-altering accomplishment deserved a reward that required two hands to carry. Instead of a 40-ounce deep-dish cherry pie, I chose designer frame glasses to go with the new, improved me.
The technician rolled narrow temples in warm sand until they fit perfectly, then sat back in his chair and exclaimed, “What a doll!” Nobody had ever addressed me as such before. I should mention that this was not my first attempt at dieting. It was a way of life. But, this time, I was motivated in part by a health scare. What is YOUR motivation? Whatever it is, it will see you through, regardless of how long it takes.