To diet or not to diet??
**Warning… very long and no pictures!** 
A little back story first, after Charlotte was born and after I stopped nursing Jeff and I decided to start a diet! We were both unhappy with where we were personally, but more than that we felt that Charlotte deserved parents that would be able to run and tumble and play with her. We got our butts in gear in March and did a low carb/high protein diet. It was amazing how semi-easy it was. I say semi because it really did take some devotion and sacrifice – and resisting the chocolate! But after a few days, then a few weeks, then a few months, it wasn’t so hard to go out to eat or go to a party with friends and decline the ‘no’ foods. All the hard work paid off – by August I had lost 70 pounds and Jeff had lost a whopping 90! It was crazy to look back at photos from when Charlotte was born and see how we looked so different in just 6 months.
My family had planned a vacation at a condo in Gulf Shores for the middle of August, so we decided that this vacation would be our reward for our hard work. The diet went out the window for that week and it was soooo wonderful! I got the best of both worlds – I felt much better walking along the beach and in a bathing suit and got to enjoy my food! We said that when we returned home we would hit the ground running and diet again. Well, the good life was tempting and we would be on the diet for a few days, then off, then on, off, on, off. This yo-yoing was not good for either one of us. We would essentially binge because we thought that ‘tomorrow’ was the day that we would go back on the diet, and then we wouldn’t start and then have that ‘last treat’ again and again and again. We finally decided that with the holidays starting to ramp up, we weren’t in the mindset to keep up with the diet and we would relax – not go crazy- but enjoy family and friends.
So here we are in January – back to the diet. We are doing things a little differently this time around – still low carb and high protein, but adding in protein shakes. We have been replacing 1-2 meals with shakes and it has worked pretty well. It fills you up and helps keep your carb count down too. We both did great the first week – it felt good being back on a diet and even lost 9 pounds each! That weekend we came off the diet for a date night and small group, then back on the diet through the week and back off the diet for Charlotte’s birthday weekend. We are back on the diet now, but I am struggling with motivation to keep going.
Right now, I am at the size that I was when we got married. I am comfortable here, I can shop in stores I want, heck, I lost 70 pounds! I keep telling myself that yes, I would be MORE comfortable, shop in MORE stores, lose MORE weight if I would keep on the diet, but it is hard for me to visualize that. I can’t see myself as a skinny-minnie and can’t imagine being on a diet for another 6+ months so I have no motivation. Should I force myself to keep with the diet, don’t cheat, support my husband in his efforts? Or, step back and wait until I feel a desire to achieve this goal that I have yet to set for myself? My biggest fear is that I will say yes to the diet, but I will not be strong and I will want to cheat and I will talk my husband into cheating with me. Then, not only have I ruined any momentum I have gained, I have made my husband falter in his goals. Jeff is dedicated to this, he can see himself getting more fit and healthy, losing more weight – he wants all these things for himself and he can see the path to get there - more so, he is willing to make the temporary sacrifices to do it. I guess the biggest question – is it ok that I am comfortbale with where I am? Or because I am really still overweight and need to eat healthier and be healthier should I buckle down no matter what and keeping dieting?? I ‘know’ the answer is yes, I can’t talk myself into using this to be motivation to keep going. Help!
We are Jeff, Jordan and Charlotte Lyons!
Jeff and Jordan have been married since August of 2005 and live in Spring Hill, TN. Jeff works at home as a producer and video editor for his company Light and Story. Jordan stays at home with Charlotte and babysits some of Charlotte's friends! Charlotte was born January 23, 2009. She is the light of our lives, as you can probably tell since most of the posts are about her! Keep coming back to visit us here at House of Lyons!
i don’t know what to say! sometimes our “happy” weight is over what the BMI stuff says we should officially be. It seems to me that if you are so ambivalent about how much you even want to lose, it will be a lot harder to make that commitment. I have a tough time even though I desperately am not happy where I am! Is there any way that you could just focus on maintenance and still having healthy habits–not “indulging” but not depriving either?
(I tried to post this before, so sorry if it’s kinda a duplicate)
Sometimes our bodies find their “happy” weight–what is healthy for us though not necessarily what the BMI guides say is “right” and it will be hard to find the motivation or even for your body to move past that point. I think that if you are happy where you are you shouldn’t try to kill yourself to be somewhere that isn’t even what you really want–I have a hard enough time sticking to my goals even though I desperately want to be at a different size! Is there any way that you could focus on “maintenance” and building healthy habits instead of focusing on the “diet”? I know it’s harder when one spouse is gung-ho about a a certain way to do it, but if you just focused on eating healthy most of the time (not necessarily low-carb, just healthy choices) and then practicing enjoying “treats” in moderation, it might help find a better balance between the all or nothing attitude you seem to have fallen into. Just a thought…I know how hard this is!
I think Sarah has something there. If you are not sure you want to go total low carb right now at least make healthy choices and stay away from binges. Keep the junk out of the house cause it would temp both of you. And work on goal for weight loss that would help you get back on the losing track. And I am so sorry that your Dad and I taught you these bad habits…we always used food to celebrate and reward and they were not the good foods either!
Yea, it sounds good to me. Smart + no binges.
And I remember a house where we rarely had dessert and it was a very special occasion when we got dessert. It wasn’t til maybe the last years of high school or even into college when there was more and more sweet/special stuff in the house.
Of course, this does tie into the next post about the hair cuts… I liked the short (as does jeff) and would be willing to do again, but don’t feel like I am skinny enough to pull it off yet. So I guess that means that I do need to lose more weight…. sigh.