Dieting Dozen in a Writing to Lose Challenge is a group of ladies who have banded together for mutual support in our efforts to better ourselves by way of bettering our health.  MY goal is to learn to stick rigidly to my diet and in the process improve my health and hopefully shrink my waistline.  With my fellow travelers in this journey toward virtue, I promise to post on my progress every week.

March 1 is the target date for this challenge. Who will lose the most weight or inches? Who will be successful in eating on their plan and taking whatever other actions they were committing to do? Only time will show us the answer to these questions.

I commit to my diet plan, and the health it carries in its grip.  I know there will be feelings of deprivation which will lead to cravings for foods not on my plan.  I will counter these feelings of deprivation by pampering myself thoroughly!  I will indulge in my favorite foods that fit the diet, cook my favorite dishes, that fit the diet, and do non-food pampering so that I do not feel deprived at all.

I begin this challenge with my last weight measurement being 240 pounds.  Shocking to me, but not as shocking as the scans they did at the hospital when I had my car wreck on Dec. 7.  They were looking for broken bones and internal bleeding.  What I saw was a cute skeleton with a horrible, shocking, grotesque lot of padding all around the outside of it, hiding that darling little skeleton in what might be described as a fat suit.

I like that little skeleton.  I may have written this before, but I realize that is MY skeleton and I could have the figure that goes with it, AND feel good, by the simple task of staying on my proper eating plan. You might say I got a vision of me, dancing around with ONLY the body that belongs on that cute little skeleton of mine.  It was really awesome and I really really really really really want it to be manifested in the world and not just in my imagination.

So I commit also to that cute little skeleton and the body that goes with it, I commit to indulging and pampering myself, I commit to eating on my diet plan, and I commit to cheering on my fellows in the Dieting Dozen for the duration of this challenge.  I don’t have a specific number in mind because those things fail to motivate me.  I did make a note card with NINE body measurements and my weight, a date for when I started on the diet, and I posted it where I can see it every day. Once a month I am going to make a new card.

Oh, and meanwhile, I am going to daydream and plan a new wardrobe. Have any of you read, THE SCIENCE OF SEXY, or IT’S SO YOU?   Those are my go-to books for planning my clothing. If you who have met me think I look frumpy, just think, this is WITH help!  I hope to get some energy for sewing new skirts and start learning to do tops so I can have what is comfortable and ME, but not so shabby frumpy comfortable. It is a work in progress and those two books are my aid.

LASTLY and MOST IMPORTANT: I commit to working on my spiritual health as well.  My first goal is to find someone who uses the Breviary, who is local and can meet with me over coffee weekly until I really grasp how these books work.  I want to be praying this, so much so that I purchased this gorgeous leather-bound set from Baronius. It has the prettiest English right along side the Latin and illustrated. It is currently out of stock but there are several other gorgeous versions, including in app form.  I particularly like the work of St. Clement ePress.

Dear Lord, please help each of us to grow in virtue and both spiritual and physical health as we challenge and encourage one another. Thank You for such wonderful people and this opportunity. Thank You for blessing me far more than I can ever deserve. The Holy Trinity be glorified and praised forever. + Amen.