Weight Loss | BulgingButtons

November 25, 2014
by BulgingButtons 7 Comments

A Fat Person’s Guide to Thanksgiving

It’s coming up soon, the ultimate nod to American gluttony, Thanksgiving.

This is the day that we fat people look forward to all year. This is our big moment. This is our time to shine. And shine, we do.

While the skinny people are feeling miserable and bloated, we’re cruising past the buffet for another spoonful of stuffing, and while we’re there we might get some more mashed potatoes and gravy too. When they suggest a walk around the block after dinner we smile and say, “no thanks,” then send them on their way. We don’t need to make room for pie, we’ve been in training for this event all year.

In fact, Thanksgiving is the official kick-off to the feasting season. Halloween was the unofficial kick-off, with just candy on the menu. Thanksgiving, however, is the real deal, from cheese balls to three kinds of pie. You think I’m kidding? We’re having apple, pumpkin, and pecan this year at our house, and there are just three of us.

This is the season for cookie walks and pot-lucks and cocktail parties and gifts of food. Work parties and neighborhood parties and family parties and friend parties pop up nearly every weekend, each of them with their own carefully selected menu designed to tempt your taste buds.

This is not the season to decide to lose weight. It is not the season to dust off your old Weight Watchers materials and go back to meetings. This is not the season to decide that all of a sudden resisting all your favorite foods will magically happen. But that’s what I did.

Ok, I admit it, maybe it wasn’t the smartest move. Here’s the thing, though, if I hold myself accountable maybe I’ll gain less weight than I would have otherwise. And if I get struck by lightning or amazingly inspired, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that I could actually lose a pound or two. How cool would that be?

So here’s my fat person’s guide to Thanksgiving:

1. Enjoy your family and friends

2. Eat what you like

3. Talk and laugh more than you eat

4. Take a break from the food to move (go on the walk with the skinny relatives!)

5. Enjoy it for what it is, possibly the best food day of the year

6. Move on when it’s over

This is my advice to myself, and to anyone else who cares to join me. Whatever approach you take, I hope you enjoy it and don’t beat yourself up. After all, Thanksgiving is about gratitude, not guilt.

November 23, 2014
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Damn You, Holiday Oreo Cookies

Last week I went back to Weight Watchers, for the who-knows-how-many-ith time. All week I’ve done fairly well with my food choices, with just a bit of slipping up here and there. The truth is, old habits are very hard to break. Still, I was feeling pretty good about my choices until just a few minutes ago.

That’s when they got me. Those damn, damn Oreos.

I should have thrown them out when I went back to Weight Watchers, but I figured someone else would eat them. Nobody did. They sat untouched for nearly a week, until tonight.

Tonight’s dinner was uninspired. I stir-fried a bag of vegetables and added in some white meat chicken. It was fabulously simple, and it took almost no time to do (the chicken was already cooked). The sauce that came with the vegetables was good, and the meal looked and smelled delicious. The flavor, however, just wasn’t quite there. Maybe it was the chicken, I don’t know. It just didn’t quite taste as good as it seemed like it should have. Still, I ate my veggies and felt pretty good about my meal. For about five minutes.

Then I went looking for something else, something to finish off the meal. I opened the pantry, and there they were. I reasoned that my dinner was ultra-healthful so why not have some? Well, because I’m no good at “some.” Several cookies later, they were gone. So is any progress toward weight loss that I may have made this week. That’s not good, since Thanksgiving is coming up quickly. Oh well, Oreos happen. I have to just move on, and keep those damn, damn Oreos out of my house.

November 18, 2014
by BulgingButtons 2 Comments

Is It Really Only Tuesday?

I’m ready for the weekend. I feel like I’ve put in a full week already, but a glance at the calendar (as if I really have a calendar) confirms that today is actually only Tuesday. Dammit.

Like most people I have certain little routines and rituals that take me through the week. Yesterday I decided to revisit an old one, the Monday night Weight Watchers meeting. Oh yes I did.

I’ve been watching myself balloon up to a scary size with a correspondingly scary weight, and I’m tired of it. My giant sweatshirt doesn’t look giant on me, but it does make me resemble a giant. My airline seatbelt days were looking like they were on the path to extender city, a destination I would rather avoid.

There is no shame in going back, at least that’s what they say, because face it, most people who lose weight don’t keep it off. They count on people going back. They make good money on us.

The way I see it is this: I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again, and one of these times it will stick. Maybe it’ll be this time. I would like that a lot. So here I go again. Wish me luck.

Another Monday night tradition has become tv watching. I know I said I was going to reclaim my time, but I’m hooked on both Dancing With the Stars and Sleepy Hollow.

Good thing we have a DVR, because by the time the meeting was over and we had cooked dinner DWTS was almost over. We got comfy and started watching the recorded show from the beginning. By the time it was over, I was ready for bed. Sleepy Hollow would have to wait until some other time.

And writing? What about writing? Um, well, uh… there hasn’t been too much of that lately. Aside from blog posts, that is. I’m terribly behind on my word count for NaNoWriMo. I’m starting to feel like it’s NaNo-NoGo or NaNo-TooSlow. I’m not giving up, though.

Then there’s all the usual stuff that happens in a week. Mine all sort of seemed to happen yesterday and today. I’m beat, I truly am. I did have some great conferences with my son’s teachers this afternoon. They told me things that I already knew, but it felt good to hear it from someone else.

There’s more, too, but I can’t keep my eyes open. Maybe tomorrow I’ll edit this post and maybe tomorrow I’ll decide that it’s garbage, but for tonight it’s my daily offering.