Nothing like an upcoming event to put things into perspective! It has been too easy to let those pounds that I’m always fighting slip up on me. I recently got word that my grandson’s wedding is set for October, and that doesn’t leave me much time to get in shape for looking my best as I’m escorted down the aisle.

When I was younger I had no idea that grandmothers were really into that sort of thing, but somewhere inside every grandmother is the teenager with that lithe body and firm taut skin wondering what happened! Things change as we age, but with a little effort we can still look our best, so that’s the plan.

I’m not thinking of doing any sot of crash diet or going to the extreme on exercise. My idea is to move more, eat less, and cut out sweets except for the occasional treat. This seemed like a totally sensible and relatively easy approach until I began to put it into action, or shall I say attempted to put it into action.

The first day I was ready to begin whittling down the extra pounds by following this plan. I joined TOPS, which stands for take off pounds sensibly with the assurance that the other members could relate and encourage me to take my weight loss journey seriously.

After the first meeting I was pumped and ready to take on my goal with gusto! I stopped by my doctor’s office to get a goal weight slip, which is encouraged by the group, and began keeping a food and exercise journal. Everything was going great until I sat down to watch a Hallmark movie that I had recorded earlier.

Somehow the knowledge that my favorite Bluebell ice cream was just feet away caused my mouth to water and my already full stomach to rumble as if I hadn’t eaten in days. All my good intentions took flight and soon I was enjoying that delicious Bluebell as if I had years to lose those pounds instead of a measly 5 months.

Soon the reality hit me that I was going to seriously need to get some willpower going if I was to be successful at slimming down for Aidan’s wedding, and I began to think of ways to get back into a more healthy eating pattern. One decision I made was to get rid of the high calorie snacks in the house. I started to throw that ice cream in the garbage, but with the high price of everything I decided to pass it on to someone else.

With that temptation out of the way it will be much easier to stick with my plan. It’s funny that I could ride right past Dairy Queen even though I love those Blizzards, but that Bluebell nagged and nagged at me until I gave in. Now if I can only keep those fattening goodies from jumping into my grocery cart!

   

Jan Penton Miller writes a weekly column for The Oxford Eagle.