Diets have been a major part of my adult life. I am guilty of being somewhat of a yo-yo dieter. I obsess about not eating when I am in the throes of a new lose-weight-quick scheme. I am an intelligent woman and I know that I am doing myself no favours by denying my body the nutrients it needs. The seductive sight of the numbers falling on my digital scales becomes almost addictive. I crave that validation of my denial. However, the early fall off of weight is mostly water from the fat cells and is unsustainable. The results diminish and lead to disillusionment. The starvation becomes pointless...I hit the cake with a vengeance!!
I find dieting difficult because I have a husband who absolutely adores me! He says he loves me and is equally attracted to me whether I'm carrying the extra poundage or not! There seems no incentive to not eat whatever I want whenever I want it. It's only when I catch an unflattering glimpse of myself in the relection from a shop window, or if I go to put on something in my wardrobe that just will not do up, do I feel enough self-revulsion to diet again. But coming to that decision with such negativity is what starts the destructive yo-yo-ing. It just never works.
After years of explaining this to my husband he has finally understood that i need to approach my weightloss in a different, more positive way. I'd never be the sort of person to enjoy diet groups, so my help needed to come from him. He cogitated and deliberated about how best to help me. He came up with a scheme...the Save to Lose scheme. It's brilliant and I love it!!
He made me a small, cardboard money box based on the bank at the beginning of Toy Story when Andy is playing with his toys! As I lose weight I get a token to deposit in the bank. Psychologically this is marvellous...instead of battling to lose weight, I'm earning tokens. I save as I lose. It's positive! I'm rewarded for a slow steady weight loss, getting tokens at increments for the total poundage lost! I also get weight related facts which are great...for example how much the equivalent of my shed weight in 18ct gold would be worth!! It's well thought out and keeps me motivated. His thoughtfulness and effort makes me feel like I'm doing it for him as well as for myself. I need that to keep me on the straight and narrow! When I have shed 28lbs I will have banked 152 tokens which my husband will convert to its cold, hard equivalent in cash....perfect for buying new clothes for my new slimmer figure!!
I'm 7lbs down already...looking forwards to my next deposit!!
