Turtling along

I weighed in this morning and the number is slowly slipping down. I'm now at 261.8, down from my highest of 278. I would so dearly love to get out of these wretched 260's. I know I felt the same way about the 270's, so maybe I'll be looking back at the 260's in the same way soon. It's hard to do comparisons with other bloggers, because my weight loss has been painfully slow. I have been at this since August 2009. I'm trying not to do the math to figure out how much weight I've lost per week or month--it's definitely not an impressive rate of loss. I lost 60 pounds before on WW, after the birth of my first child (I was about 10 years younger then.) At that point, the loss took less than one year. I'm thinking about the differences between then and now.

Of course, there's the age difference, but the main difference, in my view, is the incidence of thyroid cancer and subsequent loss of my thyroid. I have read a couple of books on this, and all indications are that weight loss is more difficult with thyroid disease. The calorie count needs to be very consistent, and exercise is not an option. When I last lost a lot of weight, I did so largely without formal exercise. This time, I normally need to be exercising 4-5 times a week to even see a one pound loss for the week.

So I'm trying to see the silver lining here. I am definitely learning how to maintain the loss as I proceed along in this journey. I am learning how to eat for nourishment and health, not for entertainment value. I am learning how to incorporate fitness into my life, which has benefits way beyond weight loss. I really do not usually feel like I'm being deprived. What I am doing is not terribly drastic, and I feel like I can continue eating like this for life. So there is an up side to the turtle program, even if it can be frustrating at times. I guess it develops patience, right?

I also need to think about how I'm going to approach our time in the U.S. for home leave this summer. Living in hotels and eating out for a month could really undo my good work if I'm not careful. My amazing ability to re-gain weight on vacation is what prompted my Doctor to suggest the lap band to begin with. Here are some ideas so far: I am choosing hotel rooms with kitchens. I think if I can cook a few meals, this would help with controlling eating. Also, I am going to think about some rules for approaching eating out. As I recall last year, there was a creep that happened after a few days on the road--french fries, why not? Everyone else is ordering milkshakes, seems reasonable. I need to think through this before I'm in the middle of it.