The Whys and Wherefores

Tomorrow, September 1st, is the first day of Spring in my native New Zealand.  Even though I'm writing this from a third floor Victorian in San Francisco, I'm never far from home in my thoughts.

It seems like a good day to begin a good-old spring clean.

So I've struggled with my weight for about 6/8ths of my life.  If I wasn't actually overweight, I was certainly thinking about my weight, or what I would eat next, or berating myself for what I ate an hour ago.

At five feet and half an inch, I can't afford to carry too much, and I topped out around three years ago, at 79kg.  That's 174lb, for those who think in pounds.

At that point I joined Jenny Craig.  And it was amazing, I have to say.  I have nothing but praise for their system and their support network.  Yes, the food is a bit plasticky, but when you are at desperation point, and hating yourself for the state you've gotten into, to have a piece of paper which simply tells you what to eat and at what time, and to open your fridge and magically find it sitting there, is a lifesaver.  There's no decision-making involved, and when you don't trust your own decisions, that's a big deal.  And not only that, to find the weight coming off, around a kilo per week, is just great.

I was very dilligent, and when it was time to say goodbye to the packaged goodies, I followed the programme to the letter.  (As I've learned more recently, it's virtually exactly the same programme as the USDA's Food Guide and recommended serving amounts.  But more about what I'm learning later).
The weight kept on coming off, down to my goal weight of 53 kilos (116lb).  And it stayed off, for  about 18 months.

The drawback was that even though in comparison to the doughgirl I was before, I looked great, and everyone was stunned and amazed (insert cliche here), I was starting to not FEEL all that great.  Time for an investigation.