You know those ten pounds I’ve had to lose all my life? I lost them…and yes, it took a village. The villagers include Phylicia Rashad, Queen Latifah, my daughter, Valerie Bertinelli and Jenny Craig, in no particular order.
Phylicia, Valerie and the Queen because they are all attractive women approaching midlife and beyond who put their money where their mouth is and lost their pounds on the Jenny Craig program. If they could do it, so could I…or at least that’s what I hoped.
Frankly, I got off to a slow start. I am not what you’d call a novice dieter. I began my first diet at age 6 when my mom replaced the Oreo cookies with celery sticks in my lunch box. I quickly learned to trade the celery for peanut butter cups with the skinny kids, willing to deal with my mother’s confusion and angst when I put on rather than lost the pounds.
Over the years, I’ve earned several lifetime memberships in Weight Watchers (a long story) and eagerly waited at my front door for the next shipment from Nutrisystem to arrive. In fact, I lost weight on all these programs. At various times, one has worked better for me than another. Even as I provide this disclaimer, I know that each program has its camp followers.
Advocates of Weight Watchers love the freedom of choice and the fact that they get to eat “real” food, not relying on the pre-packaged and proportioned foods that form the basis of the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem approaches. On the other hand, some veteran dieters have learned the hard way that they can’t be trusted with telling the whole truth about the size of the slice of triple chocolate cheesecake on their dish, and need—for at least awhile—somebody to do the pre-measuring for them. At this point of my life, I generally fall into the latter camp.
But before you all launch the blog assault applauding or critiquing my choice of a program, let me quickly clear something up. I didn’t choose any diet program, let alone Jenny Craig. I chose my daughter, who had decided on Jenny Craig for herself and invited me to join her.
Truthfully, I wouldn’t have done any diet program at this point, but for the anticipation of seeing my adult daughter once a week, just the two of us…meeting at Jenny’s then going out for a Skinny Cappuccino at Starbucks after.
And here’s the other thing. I had gotten pretty comfortable with those last ten pounds, but somehow, found myself making the decision to go along “for her.”
As I said earlier, I got off to a slow start. My daughter watched her numbers slip and slide down the weigh-in scale, while I regularly lost and then regained the same ounce several times over. In fact, devolving back to my mother’s critical response at weigh-in time, I would have quit the first time I saw a plus sign screaming at me from the electronic read-out if it wasn’t for my daughter.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” my daughter said to me the first time this happened. “You’ll catch on when you’re ready.”
Trapped by my love for my daughter, her empathy and compassion, inspired by her success and embracing Jenny Craig’s amazing triple chocolate cheese cake, I began to realize that as long as I was going to be in this for the long haul, I might as well do this “for me.”
To make a long story short, I surrendered to Jenny and discovered that some things – including discipline around food — actually can improve with age.
I’m ounces away from my goal now and in addition to the compliments I’ve been getting about how I look, I’ve been able to toss my cholesterol medicine into the trash. But the greatest gift has been forging a mature relationship with my daughter, whoever’s ounces are up or down, knowing that both discipline around food — and my love for my daughter — are for life.
Agreed. I never thought I was vain until I had a mastectomy at age 39. I was devastated and told the doc I wanted to wake up with implants. Now at age 60, I am lopsided and wondering if I was just avoiding the inevitable. You get what you get and you
Sounds very interesting.
Spike, you are awesome! Love your perspective, thanks for sharing.
Dieting – ugh! What a nasty word! I have been on every diet known to man! I have lots, and lots of medical problems with medication to go with them. Most of my medications warn me that they may cause me to gain weight. What a laugh! I always gain weight!
I am currently beginning a program at a gym with a personal trainer. I just finished attending physical therapy for $35 twice a week ($70/week). My trainer costs $40 a week and I can attend the gym 6 days a week – they are open 24 hours a day.
The trainer is starting me off really slow (as per doctor’s orders) and is making sure I do the exercises CORRECTLY. You see, I have always hurt myself when beginning an exercise program. (I don’t know if I do it subconciously so I don’t have to exercise, or if I am really that “clutzy!” This time, I am visualizing that I will be successful and get really strong.
In the past 8 years, I have been on crutches 7 times and in a wheel chair for a year. I won’t go into details as to why. Just realize that I really, really need to go to the gym.
I wanted to apply for “Biggest Loser,” but my husband said that they wouldn’t take me, due to all my medical conditions. I turned to the gym and personal trainer for these reasons.
I am really amazed at all the people that keep telling me to “hang in there, it gets better!” Since my trainer is another “Jillan” I think I will have to stick to this. Also, my money is on the line!
I want to tell Carol that I am proud of her for sticking to the program. As soon as I figure out how to eat more than 1100 calories a day and more than two meals a day, my program will work as well.
Ladies, quit doing yourself a disservice by eating too little (my problem – as well as a lack of exercise). All you do is put your body into “starvation mode.” Get professional advise as to how to start and keep trying. Eventually, you WILL find a program that works for you!
Great advice…and thanks for the atta girl. Sounds like you’re going to make it through this time. Believe me, I was NOT a candidate but something finally switched on!