My Quest - Part 2

My previous post detailed some of the frustration I've been experiencing lately (all right, for most of my life) relating to my weight. 

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Yesterday, my hubby told me that on The Today Show, they talked about the issue of hormones on weight loss, that hormones are keeping people from maintaining their weight loss. There's also an article here from msnbc.com that addresses it.

His comment reminded me of a book my daughter told me about when I visited her on Kaua'i nearly 18 months ago. She had a book by Jillian Michaels of The Biggest Loser fame about hormones in weight loss. The book is called Master Your Metabolism.

This all got me thinking. Once again--scary, I know. It's all well and good for me to try and lose weight and (harder still) keep it off, but it's very hard to do when the people around you keep the stuff that will sabotage your efforts.

Hubby.

He's got some major health issues, and he's been complaining about the weight he's picked up. Now that he's really (please, God) retired, it might be a good time to enlist his aid not only in my own efforts but his as well. He eats horribly. Our sons when they've worked with him have commented on how badly he eats.



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See, it's so not fair. I try and eat right and exercise. Result? I'm fat. Hubby? He eats crap and only exercises as he must to accomplish his handyman jobs, and he's thin. It's only the last couple of years that he's started getting a little tummy. Ugh

He told me once that he understood what it was like to have a weight problem because a bazillion years ago when he quit smoking (quite a big deal since he was sucking in 3 packs a day then) he gained 30 pounds. Um, just for clarification, he's 5'11" and weighted 125 lbs at the time. Rather snarkily I informed him that going from emaciated to normal is not a weight problem.

Anyway, I've been thinking now might be the perfect time for us to do this together--in what would be our quest. I checked to see if I had Jillian's book, found out I only had the recipe book, and downloaded the ebook to my Nook. I've been reading it to hubby.

He's very proactive about his heath, especially for a man. One of his brothers once accused him of being a hypochondriac, and I imagine there's an element of that here since hubby is easily cured with sugar pills, but his health issues are real:

Fibromyalgia

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis

So anything that can improve his quality of life has to be good.

At work, they're doing a Biggest Loser contest to help people get through the holidays without gaining weight. I'm going to sign up. I figure between hubby's need for a partner in this (he'd never do it if left to his own devices), my own desire to do something, and holding myself accountable on two levels (work and here), maybe I'll make this one stick.

Really? After years and years of what has essentially been nothing but failure? Why do I even want to do this? AGAIN?

See, I've always loved a thought attributed to Thomas Edison:

You only fail when you quit trying.

Of course, I'm also a realist.

This



is never going to look like this



Why?

1. I'm not built like that. We are anatomically what our genes say we are, first and foremost.
2. I've carried and given birth to five large babies. There may be a few women out there who can get away with pregnancy with few impacts on their bodies but for me (and I imagine most women) it changes your body. Forever.
3. I'm old. My skin's like that pair of old underpants you had as a kid. You pulled them out of your drawer one day and the elastic stretched and never went back. Like Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years; it's the mileage." In my case, I believe it's both.

So, with that little reality check fresh in my mind and some reasonable expectations, I think I may be feeling ... a little more positive than my last post.

To be continued ...