We just completed our third fitness evaluation, and the results are simply amazing. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that for so many years, we’ve been consistently healthy eaters, and have had trouble maintaining a lean physique. While Maggie has always been much more successful than me at remaining trim, it was usually the result of her willpower and general ability to cut out or reduce consumption of carbs or sweets periodically. Being a natural bread lover, I could never keep to those constraints, nor did I ever try. So for the last 6 years, I slowly gained weight.
We’ve been eating locally for 10 weeks now, and in that time I have already lost 29 pounds. On May 11, I started at 212 pounds, a weight that seemed locked in and immovable for the last 6 months, even with semi-regular visits to gym. On July 31, at our third fitness evaluation, I weighed in at 183 pounds.
These changes have all taken place during a period in which I have eaten the most delicious home-cooked meals in memory (no doubt a result of the freshness of the season and even a dash of culinary experimentation). And we’ve placed no limits on our consumption of food – no calorie counting here. We eat to our hearts’ content at each meal, and enjoy fruit snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon (and usually at other times of the day and night).
So, in many ways, these benefits are manifesting as side effects of our decision to live sustainably. What I tried to accomplish all these years in terms of weight management eluded me until we made the simple decision to eat only a local, seasonal diet. I don’t doubt that I owe much of this progress to having eliminated packaged and processed foods. Or, that by taking meal preparation into my own hands, I’ve created healthier meals and eating behaviors.
And that is it – the “secret” to my transformation.
