2012 TIme to Put Down the Excess Baggage Bag

     This is the year to finally shed the remainder of the excess weight I have accumulated over the past thirty years.  I have been shedding it, little by (precious) little, but now it is time to make dropping those pounds a top priority. Of course, I know that losing weight must be the most trite New Year's resolution ever resolved, but that's how it has worked out. I actually began this quest a little before New Year's Day, so technically, it's not a New Year's resolution; rather it's a carry-over from 2011. Somehow that makes it less trite. With the help of my health care provider and some potential new friends in a support group of like-minded individuals, I am trusting that this year I will finally put down these excess bags for good.
     I have been struggling with food issues ever since I was a child.  I have probably gained and lost the same ten pounds thirty times in the past thirty years.  Obviously I have carried the bags of weight around due to some psychological bags.  I am sure that once I have disrobed my armor of avoirdupois, I will have to confront the bags in my mind that have led to this. I was once almost svelte, but that didn't last long.  What I found was that it brought its own set of problems in terms of unwanted sexual attention.  That sounds very smug, since those who know me now can't possibly conceive of a time when men did desire me.  I can scarcely remember that time, myself.
     So far, I have lost about ten pounds. (Yes, probably those very same ten pounds) and I have quite a bit to go.  I am now officially no longer obese; my body mass index is now under 30. What I am most concerned with is getting my blood chemistry numbers under control.   The cravings have pretty much passed, and at the support group meeting last night, I was given plenty to think about in terms of regularity of feeding and the desirability of feeling hunger.  What I am coming to realize is that I have lost touch with what real hunger feels like--the kind that emanates from my stomach rather than from my brain.  I am sort of looking forward to feeling what those authentic pangs are like. And it's really not necessary to eat what we have been told are "balanced" meals.  I need to cleanse my body and then listen to it when it tries to tell me what it needs.