Whatever Works!

I have been inspired to start this blog because so many friends are curious just what exactly my hubby and I have done to accomplish a pretty dramatic weight loss in a relatively short time.  I am not endorsing any certain diet or program.  I’ve tried many of those, and have never had much success, at least not for long. Each of us has our individual strengths and weaknesses, and one must take those into consideration when planning a weight loss.  You are doomed to failure before you begin if you attempt a regimen which is not a good fit for you personally.

I’ve been married to my husband, Earl since 1967, and we do most everything together.  We are so much alike that I truly believe God meant for us to be together.  One of our common bonds is the love for food.  We like just about everything, but I guess we have always had the tendency to over indulge, because we both have always battled weight issues.   We both recently retired, and found ourselves to be the heaviest we have ever been.  I had accepted that was just the way it was, and feared that we would both face health issues because of it as we aged.

I distinctly remember the day that we began this weight loss journey.  It was on our 47^th anniversary!  We had already had our anniversary dinner the weekend before, because I was working part-time and didn’t want to go out after work.  When I came home, I was surprised that Earl had not eaten anything at all during the day!  He had a bag of chips by his chair, and there were sandwich fixings in the fridge.  We even had 2 flavors of ice cream in the fridge!  But a call from his doctor’s office about his lab work   seemed to kill his appetite.  His sugar was elevated, his bad cholesterol was high, and his good was low.  He was so distraught about the possibility of adding more medication if he could not get it under control.

Now I don’t claim to be a nutritionist, but I do feel relatively knowledgeable from my years of working in management and admin in school food service.  So I assured Earl that we could tackle this together and figure out a way to eat healthier and lose weight.  It really was not difficult.  We like almost everything, so it is easy to keep coming up with new ideas without going back to our old way of eating.

I was raised in rural east Texas, and it was engrained in me to “add a stick of butter and a cup of sugar” to everything.  So I did.  It tasted good, but not so good for me.  I’ve just had to change my way of thinking.

So, in the past 5 months, I have lost 43 pounds, and Earl has dropped an amazing 75 pounds!  We are feeling great, and are very positive about continuing this journey.  We are sharing our story in hopes that we may help someone else who is struggling to  find ”whatever works”!