Shake it, baby!

So, I mentioned in a previous post that I'm pretty hefty, right? I'm not going to go into specifics here (mostly because I think I might possibly die of embarrassment if I were to do so), but suffice it to say I would not look out of place on the first episode of a season of The Biggest Loser. I have been ignoring my weight for a long time, mostly because I have an amazing hubby who actually means it when he says he love me just the way I am, and my kids are used to having "the fat mom" in the class. So I'm not overly concerned with appearance. But within the last few months, as my weight has broken through to new heights, I have become quite uncomfortable. I've had hip problems since my second pregnancy, but they have recently become intolerable; my knees hurt on the stairs almost all the time, not just occasionally; I get short of breath really easily; my back starts to hurt after less than ten minutes of walking, and so on. Clearly this cannot continue. I thought about gastric bypass surgery, but the expense is huge, and it is irreversible. I considered a doctor-supervised Optifast program, but that is also not covered by insurance, and before I shelled out several thousand bucks, I figured I would try an old stand-by.

Slim-fast.

Now, I've lost weight on Slim-fast before, so I know it can work if I give it a real shot, but I've never tried to lose this much. (Of course, I've never been this fat before, either; there's a first time for everything!) My goal for now is to lose 100 pounds this year using the shakes as part of a 1500–1800 calorie diet and exercise plan. The exercise is going to be very light at first, and will increase as I lose more and my knees start to feel better. But my big revelation is this: I am going to treat myself nicely! If a day comes when I just can't make this plan work, I'll do the best I can and pick it up again the next day. Smart, huh? If that ultimately slows my weight loss, well . . . at least I won't have fallen into a negative self-talk depression-binge cycle!