For most of June, J.D. and I had been talking around what we should try to do to get control of our weight. We had been successful, in a time before Bean, on Weight Watchers. And we considered going back to that. OKOK, J.D. considered going back to that. I really didn’t want to.
For the record, the WW program works. But I have done it, repeatedly. Obviously it isn’t going to work for me long-term. The first time I did WW, I was eleven. (Yes, eleven, so the Ginnifer Goodwin story wasn’t all that shocking to me.) I tried it again in graduate school and again in my late twenties. And despite following the program (the last time I was on for almost 2 years) and being every active, I have never gotten closer than 20lbs to my goal weight. The open boundaries of the program is a problem for a girl who can put down a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in a sitting. (What?!) Also, there isn’t anything new to help things along after you have been on program (in WW speak) for a long time, no Advanced WW if you will.
Regardless of my reasons, it all came down to the fact that I didn’t want to do that again. I needed something to force a change. I wanted to be excited about my prospects. And, let’s not beat around the bush here, I want to lose the weight.
In the midst of this, a newsletter from the Birmingham Blogging Academy showed up in my inbox. The funny thing is that I opened it because I thought it was about Kathryn Tucker Windham, and I was looking for inspiration for my work blog. (In my defense, the title of the newsletter was “The Greatest Story Teller in Alabama” and she had died a little over a week before.) But the newsletter turned out to be about The Jen West Quest.
I’m not going to say that I was immediately sold, but it is hard to argue with Jen’s success on the Carb Lover’s Diet. As I read though the posts, the actual CLD website FAQ and looked more closely at the plan itself, it seemed like a really good fit. It many ways, the plan is close to how we were eating anyway. The tweaks were familiar and (mostly) welcome. Many of the reasons behind the plan were sound and the wiggle room was straight forward, leaving room for a glass of wine, beer, and ice cream. The website filled in the gaps of information, like questions I had about my husband trying a 1200 calorie diet for a week. (The answer: most men should consume 300-400 more/day.) The diet also received a balanced review from WebMD. And best of all? It was planned out for me.
Again, I realize that some folks don’t want a plan, but I wanted the responsibility of meal planning off of my shoulders. First of all, I have a hard time finding time to do it. Second, I find the whole process so cumbersome that I have learned to loathe doing it. So here it was! This plan could be as tailored and fussy as I wanted it to be. AND if I didn’t want that, here was a weekly meal plan. Some where in the back of my mind a woman yelled, “HAVE AT IT ALREADY!”
I was sold.
thedelaneyproject 