Old friends, new challenges

Funny how those pictures in your scrapbooks can bring back memories of times gone by. You stick photos in the pages and close the book and time just goes by so quickly. Debbie and I were friends in college and then we were room mates when we moved to Washington D.C. after graduation.

We have many things in common like our midwest roots but it is our ability to make each other laugh that has kept us friends for nearly 30 years. We both have struggled with our weight for years. My problem was far greater than hers but a struggle is a struggle no matter how large the problem is.

Debbie has had health issues that has made her weight go up over the last few years and I am lending a friendly hand to teach her what I have learned as I overcame my own weight problem.

Every journey begins with a single step so I asked Debbie to start holding herself accountable for her actions. I want my friend to be happy with herself and to be around for years to come so that I can torture with my antics forever.

Debbie’s first assignment was to write down her goals for herself for 2009. I also asked her to start holding herself accountable for her actions. She is wife and working mother of two. She is taking care of her job, her family and her freelance business on the side. The last one on her priority list is herself. I told her that the first thing that has to change is that she needed to start making time for herself. She has to be healthy for herself and her family and that will take her making time for it to happen. Not a great deal of time but yet a commitment none the less.

Over the next year we will be working together to teach her new habits that will allow her to feel better about her health and ulitimately about herself.

Her first assignment was to write down her goals for 2009. Then I asked her to look at several of the diet plan books that worked for me. So off to the library she went and she liked the Suzanne Somers — “Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away”.

In order to help her time manage her day I asked her to write down her daily routine so that I could get a picture of what her busy day is like.

Here is her first homework assignment.

6:15 arise and make sure kids are up and getting ready for school.

6:30 pack kid’s lunches

6:45 walk the dog (usually 15-20 minute walk). Then shower, pack my own lunch and do small housework.

8:15 leave for work

8:30 - 5:00 work

5:15 home to feed the dog and start dinner.

6:30 dinner, dishes and clean up

7:30-9:30 freelance work (if any), banking, housework, laundry, ironing. There’s always something that needs done!

9:30-11:00 read, watch TV. I am a night owl. I often stay up too late (midnight and beyond). Trying to stop that habit!!

An email from her:

Hey Lisa,

I’ve been trying Suzanne Somers’ combo eating for the last two days. I have cheated twice, but with small things and have dropped three pounds. I realize those pounds might not be “real”…. sometimes over the holidays I “blimp” up, then when go back to regular eating I drop it. Who knows?

I’ve been thinking about the goals and think I was trying to formulate a much larger list. You are right, take it in small steps. One month at a time.

So here are my goals for January:

Begin a food and exercise journal.

Learn and follow the combination eating method from Suzanne Somers’ book.

Add 5 extra minutes of exercise 6 days per week. (so an extra 30 minutes per week).

Weekly check in: Debbie lost another pound and was holding herself more accountable for her actions. She walked the dog for 10 more minutes a day and realized that cookie dough is her enemy in the kitchen. Great start pal! By the way that is why I don’t bake cookies.