Time for some honesty

This week I weighed in at the Y for month 2 results. I hit my mark and have lost 32 pounds total.

Needless to say, I’m excited about this. I’m meeting my goals, and every day I notice changes in the way things fit and the way I feel.

However, I feel like I’ve been dishonest this month, and I owe it to many of you to come clean. But first I’ll explain why.

In recent weeks, as more and more people have stumbled upon this column or my blog, I’ve received the most inspiring e-mails and letters. People are writing to me about their own weight-loss journeys. They’re telling me stories about starting in the 300-pound range and losing an enormous amount of weight.

Some of them are even telling me that, after they read my blog, they decided to start their own “fight to be fit.” I treasure these messages the most, and when I read them, I feel even more responsibility to set a good example in the way I’m losing weight.

Which brings me to my confession. I mentioned, in my first blog entry, that my MO has always been to simply stop eating when I need to lose weight. I cut calories to an unhealthy level, and I sustain that until the weight drops off. I also mentioned that the weight loss never lasts because the pounds comes right back on when more calories are consumed. You simply can’t sustain a starvation diet.

In a recent column I mentioned how hard February has been. Workouts got canceled with Jackie for various reasons, the scale wasn’t being kind, I’ve been battling a heal injury, and I had difficulty finding motivation to workout.

So mid-month, when the numbers weren’t what I wanted them to be, I resorted back to my old behavior.

Maybe it was out of frustration, or maybe I feel pressured, being in the public eye, to perform to a certain standard. Regardless, I found myself cutting calories many days this month to about 600-800 per day. Sometimes less.

I’m not proud of this, and, I owe much better to the people who are following this journey and finding inspiration through my example. One woman in particular writes to me about trying to lose weight while going through menopause and having a thyroid disorder. For her, a pound a week is quite a feat. And for me to tout a number as large as 32 and not come clean about how I arrived there, that’s just unfair to her.

I am back on the regular program of 1,100-1,200 calories per day, with no more than 20 percent of the calories coming from fat. And I have no plans to resort to such a low caloric intake ever again, regardless of what the scale says.

I promise, whatever happens and whatever difficulties I face as I continue on, I’ll be honest about them to my readers.

Thanks a ton for all of your e-mails, comments and letters. Please keep them coming.