Welcome to "Here's Looking at . . . Me!"

The May Day Weight Loss Challenge began this past Tuesday, May 8, 2007.

I decided to participate in the challenge and begin this new blog for a number of reasons which I will be sharing with you.

I did not know at first if I wanted to participate. I really had to give it serious consideration, for many reasons whilch I will also discuss.

I have lost 50 pounds since last autumn when I started back to water aerobics in earnest. I'm not done losing weight yet, but 50 pounds is a nice round number and I am happy with what I have accomplished thus far.

Obviously, I look better, but I also feel better and have gone from taking four different medications daily to just two (Singulair and Zyrtec). I have also gone from three different inhalers down to just one, and I use it rarely.

I am not on a diet. I am not dieting. I have made specific lifestyle changes. So while the May Day challenge/program will come to an end, my commitment to those lifestyle changes cannot terminate.

Any weight loss program is an intensely personal and individualized thing. Having been engaged in the battle to control my weight since I was a child, I have learned a few things over the years. Specifically, I have learned what works for me. I am not a medical professional, I have no formal nutritional training or education, and this blog is not intended to serve as a vehicle for advising others. It is merely a place to share my experiences and engage in conversation with other folks about theirs.

Perhaps most importantly, I know what doesn't work for me.

Bluntly, some of what is being advocated at Tales from the Scales simply will not work for me. In fact, some of the advice being offered there is antithetical to weight loss success.

So there are going to be aspects of the challenge that I am simply not going to embrace, endorse or take part in. I e-mailed the organizers a few days ago to ask about alternatives for those who do not embrace every aspect of their program. They have never responded to me, so I decided to start this blog so that I could devote it to writing separately and apart from my other blog, Colloquium, and devote the discussions here to issues of health and wellness.

Leave a comment! Tell me about your own journey, post a link to your blog. I'm anxious to read your thoughts and learn more about what works for you.




may day weight loss challenge