Has anybody ever said that to you?  Or statement something similar, starting with:

• if you only lost weight...
• if you changed your diet...
• if you exercised more...

I haven’t had friends or family say these things to me, but I have had doctors say something similar.  My gynecologist once said that I was killing myself by being so much overweight.  But it was my rheumatologist who specifically suggested that I eat more fruits and vegetables, more fish and less red meat.

Somehow hearing these words from a doctor is different than from your friends or family.  Unless the person making the suggestion has actually lived with obesity and successfully made these changes, the words will likely fall on deaf ears.

I don’t claim to be any expert at all when it comes to weight loss, exercise, or motivation.  But I am proud to say that I have successfully lost more than 50 pounds from my highest weight of 283 pounds.  I have kept those 50 pounds off for six months (since September 2010).

50 pounds lost!!  That is amazing to me.  However, I have to admit that the past six months have not been smooth-going.  During that time period, I was receiving monthly steroids infusions which certainly made losing weight very difficult.  My weight has fluctuated within a 7 pound range with the highest peaks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

But I have no excuse for why the weight is not continuing to drop now.  I haven’t been keeping a food journal like I was last year at this time.  I am still weighing myself weekly (which is very important to me) and keeping a chart of the results (see below).  What I haven’t done (until today) is recheck my caloric needs.

Do you remember our discussion of Resting Metabolic Rate and Basal Metabolic Rate?  The Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is a measure of the number of calories your body needs just to stay alive.  If you were to curl up on the couch all day with a good book, essentially “at rest”, your organs and other body cells would be burning calories.

The last time I calculated my RMR, it was 1868 calories.  That’s what my body burned while I do nothing but rest all day.  Today I calculated my RMR using my current weight with a result of 1704 calories.  My body doesn’t NEED as much to keep going.

What does this mean?  I need to start tracking my caloric intake and energy expenditure again.  I need to get my LoseIt! application back to work on my iPhone.  (I’m really saying this out loud for myself.  I need a nudge in the right direction.)  I need to recommit myself to this journey.  (I also need new pajamas which actually fit and don’t fall around my hips, LOL.)

I need to tell myself:

• if you only lost weight, Lisa, ...
• if you changed your diet, Lisa, ...
• if you only exercised, Lisa, ...