Fooling Oneself over Weight Creep

It’s so easy to fool oneself as excess pounds pile on gradually. “It’s just water weight gain. It’ll be gone tomorrow” or “I definitely overdid it this weekend; but I’ll get back on track tomorrow … or the next day” or “I can’t help it if my job includes so many social functions and business lunches.”



One or two pounds a year take several years to force you to go up a size. I speak from experience. I remember as if it were yesterday the wake-up call my doctor gave me after watching me waddle down his office corridor looking like a stuffed sausage. I refused to admit I needed to move up to a size 14 (which is probably today’s 16).



He sat me down in his office and said, “I notice from your records that you’ve been gaining a couple of pounds a year. It’s really time to do something abut it.” I was so mortified that I started a sensible diet that very day. Within a year, I had lost 38 pounds and was back to my wedding weight. That was such a powerful lesson to me that I’ve maintained my ideal weight (plus or minus five pounds) for 25 years.



Now my diet mantra is “Everything in moderation.” I don’t deprive myself of my favorite foods. I weigh myself daily and if that needle shows two extra pounds, I monitor my food intake more carefully for a few days.



I know that if I don’t keep an eye on the scale, the pounds could easily pile back on and I wouldn’t be fooling anybody but myself! Find some of my favorite diet tips here.



Tags: weight creep, weight watching, moderation