Weight Management is a Lifelong Task

Kristyne McDaniel

I haven't been any great example for weight management. I started my life as a thin child, and moved into being a thin young adult. As I approached my middle thirties, I "blossomed" into a higher weight class. Then I moved into the weight class where I needed a special scale to be able to weigh myself. Finally, even my doctor's scale couldn't measure my weight. I've become more familiar than I ever wanted to with the places that sell large women clothing. There's a lot of shopping involved these days just to find me a pair of pants, and I hate to shop.

This was a crisis by any standard.

Still, I had no interest in bariatric surgery to correct the problem. Doctor's like to get the weight off quickly, but in my case, I'm not really looking in to a simple "how to lose weight quickly" plan. I really need something more long term than surgery. Surgery seems like a permanent solution to a temporary problem because, frankly, I have only been classified as "morbidly obese" for a decade. If it were a lifelong problem I might look at it differently, but in my case I can still remember being a thin and attractive woman. Yes, a decade is a long time. But I have elected to fight my weight through diet and exercise, knowing that it will require a long fight. I've had it pounded into my head just like everyone else that aerobic exercise is key to long term weight loss and maintenance. I've found many diets to be unacceptable for my use because my weight is too high for me to go on the typical 1200 calorie "women's" diet. So what I really should do is write my own calorie chart and customized meal plans. That's on the to-do list, and is a part of the software under development.

Steve has been a very understanding and kind husband through a long and arduous path up the weight scale. He's now accompanying me on the downward slope. My doctor has been helping with a pair of prescriptions to help fight mild depression and food cravings, but nothing major. I didn't want to be on some amphetamine type of drug any more than I wanted to have a thumb-sized pouch for a stomach the rest of my life. Extremes did not seem to be the right answer for my extreme weight problem.

There are always magic weight loss supplements being marketed, and one of the most recent is Hoodia. I do not have an opinion about that yet, but I'm tempted to try it. Other weight loss products abound. I try some of them. Others I let go past me. One product I use quite a bit is a meal replacement drink called Glucerna. That's a drink that is balanced for diabetics in a way that products like Slim Fast are not.

For me, the best solution is the life-changing solution. I want a permanent change that will affect and improve the balance of my life for the remainder of my life. What better goal is there?

This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 29, 2006