Fail to Plan

My granddaughter and I made these bunnies for Easter last year. The plan was casual because that is how I plan and the results were not a Martha Stewart moment – the ears fell down and the mouth was too low – but since we did not invite Martha Stewart and the kids liked them, success!

Since I wanted this new eating plan to be more Martha and less hot mess, I did spend some time thinking about “The Plan.” Since Kelly, my co-worker and accountability partner in this endeavor, was going on vacation, we decided to start after her vacation and so I was forced to spend some time thinking about the plan – approximately 30 seconds. Only one diet I was ever on worked, so it was not too hard to decide what plan to pursue. Trouble was, my diet went defunct in the 90’s – there is even an FTC.gov post from 1996, “The Diet Workshop, Inc., a franchisor of weight loss plans and products, and the owner of its company-operated territories “Diet Workshop” have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they engaged in deceptive advertising by making unsubstantiated weight loss and weight-loss maintenance claims and by implying without substantiation that the consumer testimonials they used represented the typical experience of dieters…”

Luckily with plenty of time left before “start day” (Weds. 8/8/18), I was able to spend some time online searching for my defunct diet plan. I found some people recounting what they remembered of the basic idea (turned out to be mostly wrong) and people asking for recipes and the book. A book? I never had a book – I went to a meeting. Turns out this book is out of print, but Amazon had it for $43.47. Pretty sure it did not sell for that brand new, but this defunct diet book is my plan, so forty-three dollars and forty-seven cents later, here it comes! (I do not make any claims, suggestions, or advice about what you should do – this is my diary – you should consult your own healthcare professional if you want advice on what you should do.)

It did arrive a few days before start day, so I thought I would ease into it and get good at it before we officially start. Anyone who knows me can vouch that I am a bit competitive when it comes to games, races, challenges, so not a surprise I wanted a head start. I was doing so well at first too! I told Kelly, “I can not possibly eat all this food.” Turns out I actually can’t, I was using the food list for MEN. My list is much smaller. Glad we got that ironed out before official weigh in day and at least I did not lose any weight when it would not have counted!

Now you might think that knowing the “Success Diet” failed as a business and the company is long gone and hard to find would be distressing, but it’s not. Weight Watchers® is alive and well and many people have used it to lose weight, but when I tried it in my twenties I GAINED weight. That would be distressing – trying something that has failed in the past. My experience with Diet Workshop® might not have been typical, but it was a success. As for the maintenance claims they made – that did not really apply to me. I got pregnant. When I was pregnant, I ate anything I wanted. At one point, my Doctor sent me to diet jail (okay a dietitian) when I gained 20 lbs in one month. I don’t hold that against a diet plan I wasn’t following at that point.

And after almost 30 years out of the diet market, I need motivation!  So this is the plan and here goes!

 

#Plan #Diet #DietWorkshop®

You can’t escape from food. – Lois L. Lindauer – Author of the Diet Workshop® Success Diet (Company now defunct and Book out of Print)

Another Fine Mess

As a Diet Hater who swore off dieting for almost 30 years, thanks for joining me as I start a new adventure – Eating – it’s not just for fun anymore!

I recently switched blood pressure medications due to side effects, mostly fatigue. I decided that since many of these medications slow you down, make you less happy, less interested, and therefore less interesting, it might be best to avoid all the medications in the first place. To do that, I had two choices, maybe three… 1) Exercise program, 2) Divorce (salt, not my husband), and 3) Diet.

Salt and I have a bond that cannot be broken – sort of like my bond with diet Pepsi®. I look out for salt [I buy fancy salt shakers and pink salt, garlic salt and coarse salt. I recently rescued some salt cellars (little teeny bowls for the table that you take a pinch out of) from my mother-in-laws estate that were destined for a thrift store] and salt makes everything taste better. It’s a win-win, well, except for the whole blood pressure thing.

Exercise, well, we have never bonded. I failed the President’s Test for Physical Fitness back in Junior High. I did not make the Girl’s Softball Team in High School – they said I threw like a girl. I thought that was the point, but apparently I was wrong. I was, once, briefly, excited about jogging. I read this amazing, motivational book back in the 80’s and I could not wait to start running! I bought cute little Nike® running shoes, pink running shorts, a really cute pink sweatshirt, and I took off down the block. It felt amazing for a few steps, and then it was hot and sweaty and torturous. I had to get up early to squeeze in time to run and no one was around at that hour – so totally wasted outfit. I think I lasted a week before I started hitting the snooze button.

The only choice left – diet. I have avoided that word for 30 years, but unlike exercise, we did actually succeed one time – 50 lbs after the birth of my first child with The Diet Workshop® Success Diet. Kept it off until the birth of child #2. After that, I was too busy to diet – raising kids, working, carpooling…but now my children are all grown and the ugly truth is that all those problems that used to belong to my parents – high blood pressure, achy knees, loss of energy – are now mine. So, diet.

After nearly 30 years away, thinking about dieting was kind of like jogging – very seductive and exciting. I can do that. I did it before, once, so I can do it again. How hard can it be? Obviously, I am very good at lying to myself so an accountability mechanism is necessary. I started this diet with my co-worker, Kelly. We would each pursue our own methods – but weigh in – secretly – separately – not sharing any confidential information – once a week and let the other know if it is a plus or a minus. After a couple days of practice, getting primed, getting set, last Wednesday was our day!  On Thursday, she was so impressed by my enthusiasm, she suggested I write a blog. I thought that was silly, it was only one day. What would I say? Hey, I’m on this awesome diet! Wow, how much have you lost? Oh, nothing yet, just getting started….seems kind of lame. But, after I thought about it for a few days, I thought why not? It’s not a success, it’s a beginning. I will write about beginning. Kelly is so smart!

So, this blog will be a journey journal of my food travels in the diet world of 2018. It is not a plan for anyone else to follow, or suggestions on what YOU should eat, it is just a daily record of MY diet and MY thoughts on how to eat better and tomorrow I will fill you in on how I got started.  For the record, today is day four of “the diet” which we will, from now on, refer to as “eating” and day one of the Eatdietblog. The eating is going pretty well and you can decide for yourself about the blog!

#Eat #Diet #Living

There are ways to speed your weight loss. You can increase your physical activity or you can eat less…. – Lois L. Lindauer – Author of the Diet Workshop® Success Diet (Company now defunct and Book out of Print)