Alan pledges to march this number right back down in the New Year!

By LMQC Battle of the Bulge blogger, Alan Sivell, St. Ambrose communications professor, RAGBRAI-er, pizza lover, and longtime weight watcher.

It’s time I took my own advice.

I was reminded of this recently when I stepped on the scale and saw a number I hadn’t seen in 5 years.

I’ve been crowing about The New Me for almost as long as I’ve been writing this blog.

Not anymore.

The weight I saw shocked me. I realized I hadn’t been doing what I preach.

Here’s the background:

Five years ago, I finally assessed my physical/health/eating goals. I was tired of stepping out of the shower and every day thinking that I needed a change in my lifestyle. And every day I did nothing. Every year, in fact, since the kids were born (and that was 25+ years ago).

I got tired of worrying about my weight. I wanted that head space for creative thoughts!

I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I’ve tried that. Many times.

So I signed up for my former student Josh Paul’s Biggest Loser challenge and wound up losing almost 30 pounds over 3 months. It helped me change my eating habits, along with my grocery store shopping purchases.

For almost 5 years I kept 25 of those pounds off. I didn’t need to get on the scale. The clothes I bought for the The New Me fit. And kept fitting.

Until recently. The shirts and pants were just a bit snugger. I noticed it around Halloween. Luckily, it was cold. I wore sweaters. Around Thanksgiving, I looked at the scale, but didn’t get on. My rationale was that I had just had a cup of coffee. Water weight.

A month later, I got on the scale.

Yikes.

That’s when I decided I needed to do a bit of reflection. And during that reflection, I admitted to myself I had eased up ever so slightly on the habits that brought me to the first sustained weight loss success of my life.

I wasn’t buying ice cream. I wasn’t eating dessert. I was still working out 5 or 6 days a week.

But …

I haven’t been as strict on my portions as I had been. My afternoon snacks sometimes slipped from a few almonds to a few handfuls of Chex Mix. Rather than chewing mint gum while I cook, or rinsing with mouthwash just before I cleaned up after dinner, I was tasting the food.

Nothing egregious, but apparently it mounted up.

So I’m assessing where I’ve been this past year, as far as my diet is concerned. And I’m making a plan – not in my head where it can float away at the sight of cookie – but on paper.

It’s time to take my own advice. Stay tuned for how!

Meet Battle of the Bulge blogger, Alan Sivell. Alan is a communications professor at St. Ambrose University and a former reporter for WQAD-TV who has exercised – and dieted – his entire life. Read Alan’s other blog posts.