Day of Reckoning, Final Edition

"Final Edition", 'cuz I'm never doing that again. Epic fail on the weight loss plan. Clearly, declaring my intentions in public didn't make me any more likely to be successful. All in all, app. 10 lbs. down total since September. I never made it to more than 14 lbs. down during the past several months. At least I didn't gain weight. ;-)

I have learned some things about what works for me (other than not going public). I am prone to making grand plans and then dropping them if I don't follow them to a "T". I need to just settle down and focus on the basics: get healthy and fit. How I get there doesn't matter as much as if I get there.

Dairy is not my friend. I've mostly removed it from my diet and I feel better. Cheese and butter taste so good but make me feel so bad. Chocolate is also a frenemy. Despite what I keep reading, chocolate does cause acne. Within a day or so of eating it, I break out in evil cysts. So not fair.

The South Beach Diet plan is also a mixed blessing. If I follow it to the letter, I lose weight like crazy. I also feel awful and fairly deprived. I need to figure out how to customize the basic concept so it works for me. I avoid dairy, artificial flavors and colors, and artificial sweeteners. That eliminates all of the dessert options. Boo hiss.

Exercise is a good option to lose weight, but only if I do it consistently. I think what I need to do is try to become strong and healthy, instead of focusing on burning the calories. Get healthy and the weight loss will follow. Even if it doesn't, I'll still be in better shape than I am now.

The most dramatic lesson I learned recently is that, why, yes - kidney stones are more painful than labor. I've been through natural childbirth and I drove myself to the hospital when I had appendicitis. The pain I had two days ago was so bad that I was crying and unable to move until it subsided. A visit to the ER soon after brought news that I have multiple stones in both kidneys, including a 6mm one in my right kidney (where the pain was). They gave me nice drugs and a referral to the urologist. I'll see him next week. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of reading about kidney stones. It's clear that I still have some dietary changes to make. I owe it to myself and my family to try to be healthy. Will this involve further weight loss? Probably - but you can bet I won't be talking about it until after the fact.