Stopping and Reversing the Rebound Weight Gain

Well, it is April and I am farther from my goal weight.  When I began my journey back in 2009 and lost 40 pounds I always said losing it was the easy part.  Keeping it off will be the hard part.  Well that is what happened.

What has happened?  Going to work outside of the house has brought a change from my daily routine for one thing.  It changed my normal daily rhythm and has been a disruption in my life that I have not dealt with it in a positive way so I resorted back to old eating habits.  The old "fat" me emerged and I have engaged in totally mindless eating and have been satisfying the need for immediate gratification with carbs thus gaining back 1/2 the weight I lost.  But the good news is, I'm going to stop that and reverse the process.  So now it is time to go back to the drawing board.  Reading my old blog posts will help remind me of my weight loss journey 2 years ago.  But I am went  back to the 1st day of my journey and met with my Medi Weightloss Clinic counselor today.

Here's my plan:
1.  Eat 3-5 small meals a day.
2.  Keep a journal of  what I eat.
3.  Weigh my protein.
4.  Increase fluids.
Strategies to help:
1.  Prepare meals.
2.  Get organized.

What this means:
Sometimes I have to go 4-5 hours without eating (depending on what time I ate my last meal) so I have to make sure I can take something to work that I can eat for a snack during a 15 minute rest break and go another couple of hours before my hour meal break.  So maybe I can take a hard boiled egg, a container of chicken salad, a protein shake.  Planning and preparing my meals for the day will be helpful.   Instead of reaching for the wrong foods when I come home from work, I can have prepared food so I can have a low cal, low carb snack when I put my feet up at night.  Drinking plenty of water during the day and getting proper amount rest at night is also key.

Lastly:
Yes, I am going back on the medication, phentermine as an aide to help me.  Everyone who knows me knows I do this with a large amount of trepidation because I very much dislike the Big Pharma and the fact that they have created drug addicts out of normal healthy people.  I will be happy to have that discussion with anyone about if you want to call or email me.  So I am a hypocrite in taking medication.  While I do not feel that people should take medication chronically to fix one problem causing a multitude of other serious and just as chronic health problems, I am acting against my own wisdom for the sake of losing weight.  Here's why:  Phentermine is not to be taken chronically so I will be on it a short time.  I will be monitored weekly for any signs of an adverse reaction.  In my own research, I feel it is proven and safe.  That's all anybody can do when it comes to taking medication.  In essence, do the research yourself on any medication and drill down in the results when you "google" any medication to find out the truth.   Don't just take your doctor's word for it.  He or she has been trained and maybe paid to dispense the drugs.  So am I a hypocrite? Yes but at least I will be a hypocrite that weighs 20 pounds less.   My weight is definitely a result of my emotions and being overweight has an effect on my emotions.  It is a vicious cycle that I believe the medication even if it is used as a crutch, will get me to where I need to be weight wise and in the process deal with the psychological aspects of my eating behavior as I'm losing so when I get to my goal weight I do not rebound again.

So for the next month or so, you can expect at least weekly postings on this blog as it was tremendously helpful to chronicle in my journey to lose weight before, I plan on doing it again.  Thanks for following my journey again and I appreciate your support and encouragement.