Comment ca va?

Note: I started writing this post earlier, but I was interrupted by more pressing matters (no, I didn’t have to do ironing, but I did need to deliver my car to the garage and run the three miles back home). When I got home, I wrote the previous post on a different computer. It was something I was thinking about while I was running. The “how” that segues into this post refers to that word translated into French.

I studied French in school. When I started classes, my grandfather used to say, “Comment ca va?” to me, but it wasn’t a phrase that we had learned. I heard it as “comments ah va.” I eventually learned that he was asking how’s it going? But I’m thinking “comments” this morning!

When I started blogging on the Weight Watchers site, I liked to read other posts and comment on them. Some of those bloggers started reading my posts and commenting on them, too. I liked the sense of community that developed.

Part of what I was doing to manage my sugar addiction was only eating at mealtimes. When I thought I was hungry, I’d have a glass of water, seltzer, or herbal tea and read and comment on blogs or write and read comments on my own blog. It’s was kind of a comment ca va thing. How’s it going? How are you doing it? And it worked for me. It was going well. It is going well. Ca va bien!

The book I’m publishing includes a selection of the blog posts I wrote as I learned to live with my addiction. I wrote to encourage myself and also explore what was going on in my head as I tried to shift my paradigm. I’ve wished many times in my journey that I could easily look back to how I was feeling or how it was going at certain points.  I thought it would be a helpful tool for me. I’ve proven the book’s value to me through the editing and revising process. Re-reading my story reinforced my memory of the power sugar had over my impulse controls and more. It helps me think twice before eating something that could jeopardize my control over sugar.

My writing style is what you see. I like to play with words and look at them from many angles. Sometimes I’m funny and sometimes I just try. As long as there’s an umph after the try, it feels like a win.

So, back to comments. They’re welcome. Thank you for reading this!

 

 

Pointing the way.

The image above is one taken in 2009. I was wearing a men’s XL ski jacket and it was a bit tight.  It would be another two years before I read the book that helped me accept my sugar addiction as my reality. (Potatoes Not Prozac, K. DesMaisons, PhD.)

When I started blogging on the Weight Watchers site as part of my toolkit to manage sugar addiction, I chose this picture as my profile. I chose the ski picture because it represented something I enjoyed doing other than eating.  I think the choice was telling me that I really didn’t want to be recognized. I was hiding inside of my excess weight.

When I look at the picture now, I see me heading into the woods, going the wrong way on a slope. An impossible journey. It seems significant that the ski resort was Sugarbush! It doesn’t take too much of an imagination to see the snow as powdered sugar.

I used the Weight Watchers site because I thought it would help me eat enough to lose weight, even though I was starting to think a thin me was impossible. My purpose was to track my food and keep a record of my thoughts along the way–two suggestions from the book Potatoes Not Prozac.

In the process of logging my food, and blogging my moods, I learned to live in a healthy manner. The side effect of managing my sugar addiction was a significant weight loss. (Right now, I’m 80 pounds lighter than my highest recorded weight.) I found it was possible to live healthy in spite of being a sugar addict. And in finding out that,  I found out that I’m possible.

I’ve selected blog posts from 2012 to October 2015 added some insider information and history (really mystory) and written a book about it. The I’M POSSIBLE JOURNEY: Learning to Live with Sugar Addiction. It will be available for purchase in early 2016.

 

 

Impossible to I’m Possible

I used to think it was impossible for me to live at a healthy weight. I didn’t seem capable of eating well enough for long enough to lose weight and keep it lost. I could ruin a diet in less time than it takes for people to change car insurance companies. And the cycle would begin again.

But in 2011, I happened on a book that changed everything. Potatoes Not Prozac is the main title and Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD is the author. Her back cover description caught my eye and I realized she was talking about me.

The gist of Dr. DesMaisons’ book is how to recognize and deal with sugar addiction. And the idea I took away from it was to eat three meals a day and track what I was eating as well as how I was feeling.  I chose the Weight Watchers online program as a way to track my foods and blog my moods. And in the process of doing that, I learned how to live with my sugar addiction.

I’ve been blogging on that site since January 2012. I’ve written thousands of words and burned thousands of calories. Well, I haven’t kept track of the calories, but my body has responded favorably to some changes in my thinking and eating and moving.

I was encouraged by a number of people to publish my writing. And finally, in the spring of 2014, I signed up with a publishing package.  I’ve just submitted my final revisions. Production is happening. I spoke with a marketing person today and he said to start a blog for my book. The I’M Possible Journey: Learning to Live with Sugar Addiction.

So here goes. I will continue to develop this site as I figure out what I’m doing. Watch for a place to sign up for an e-mail for exclusive insider information about when you can purchase my book!

Thanks for your interest!