By Case of Base
The High Energy Plan that I created in February, 2006, is the result of 15 years of studying and applying good nutritional habits. I have eaten basically the healthiest foods since I moved to Florida in 1983. But I ate too much of the right foods.
Having quit drinking in 1976 and smoking in 1989, I have been thinking about losing weight for 10 years. Obviously, I haven’t been working at it too hard. The hardest part of giving up an addiction is making the decision to give it up. Years ago, I learned that you leave an addiction when the pain outweighs the pleasure. I don’t know what made me decide in February to lose weight.
I started working around the foods that I don’t want to live without. These include any kind of pasta, any kind of hard bread, and any Italian dish. My husband and I almost always eat at home. He hasn’t weighted more that 157 pounds in the thirteen years we’ve been together. At 6’2”, he has the exact frame that I would like. I, on the other hand, was 40 pounds overweight.
Many of the books that helped me to formulate my weight loss plan are in the Changemaker Library. One of the first to help me to get my thinking about food off quantity and on to portions was The 7 Secrets of Slim People. The main idea I kept from that book was to not eat unless I was physically hungry. I couldn’t remember the last time my body and not my mind told me I “wanted something”. My mind is so devious that I told myself I would faint if I went without food for any period of time. I decided to change what and when I ate so I started a food journal. Armed with Barbara Kraus’s Carbohydrates and Calories, I wrote down everything I ate for five days.
