Face it…

This weekend was a laid back one. I went into it - for once - having no real plans and it ended up being pretty productive.

Saturday I got a run in with Archer in the morning and then - due to unusually warm October temps, Marc and I and Archer went for a long relaxed hike. The sun was bright and we spent a lot of time wandering trails and admiring the magnificent changing of the leaves. I had thought that because of the extremely dry summer that the leaves would be uninspired, but happily, I have been wrong.  The array of colors is simply gorgeous.

As I have talked about in the past, I start getting super depressed this time of year and some warmer than normal temps and a lot of fresh air and sunlight definitely has helped stave that off some – so far anyway.

Sunday morning we went again for a short hike at the local park before the rain moved in. By afternoon it was windy and raining so I rode the bike trainer while watching football. The good news? The Dolphins WON!! The bad news? Because they have been playing like CRAP this year but they kicked ass and took names yesterday, the superstitious side of me now believes that I will have to ride the trainer while they play EVERY WEEK so that they will continue to win!!!

My brain still says “It’s the WEEKEND! You can eat all you want, it’s ok!!” So I can’t say that this weekend was much different, but I did try a new recipe. It was kale combined with apples, cranberries and walnuts. It was absolutely delicious and almost guilt free. And in a small miracle, Marc actually liked it. I’ll post the recipe in the future if anyone is interested!

I even got some mundane chores done, and finally got to something that I have been TOTALLY putting off. Guess what that was?

Well, about 2 weeks before we left for vacation, it came in my e-mail. It was a happily worded invitation to take the annual survey for the National Weight Control Registry. I felt a pit in my stomach when I saw it and put it out of my mind.

Then came the follow up invitation telling me that they were sorry they hadn’t heard from me and no matter what my status was, it would be valuable to have my input. I again put it off. A couple of days after we returned from vacation came another plea for me to take the survey.

Yesterday I reluctantly clicked the link. It immediately starts with a question of what your weight is. Then it asked what my weight was last year at this time. I remember last year entering the information with guilt and shame and being absolutely SURE that this year I would be able to enter a lower number. To have to admit that I had not only NOT LOST any weight, but had actually GAINED a sizable chunk - well it sucked ass.

The survey then took me through a slew of practical food questions, like how often do you eat chicken, and of those times, how many times do you eat the skin? Or how many times do you use low fat options in your cooking? Or how many times do you eat rolls without butter or salads without dressing? Then there was the exercise questions about what types of exercise you do and how often.

Then there was a whole page of questions about emotions and how you feel about your life and things like “Do you often eat when you are sad?” For the most part, the survey is the same as it has been every year since I joined. And I remembered that they asked those questions about your emotions, I had answered them before. But this year I really paid attention to them. For some reason it really hit me that these questions are not designed with ME in mind. They are designed with everyone that is in this group of losers - weight losers that is. So guess what - apparently it’s not just me whose emotions effect my weight!!

NO. SHIT. SHERLOCK.

I often tell my clients that if it was as simple as quitting drugs and alcohol, then I would be out of a job. Because if that’s all there was to it, everyone would be able to get clean and sober. But it is much more complex. As is the weight loss game.

For most of the questions asked about food and exercise - in black and white it looks like I do most everything right. I exercise a lot. A variety of exercises. I don’t keep high fat foods in the house. I don’t eat wasteful fat calories like mayonnaise, I eat tons of fruits and veggies, I almost never eat out at restaurants. And yet - here I am - having gained weight and not being able to take it off again.

So I hope that all of my answers help these experts crunch the numbers and be able to offer answers not just to me, but to the hundreds of men and women out there desperate to take off some poundage....

Hey – where is that miracle pill anyway?