My Plan For Health

On the Saturday after Christmas, I leaned on my cart in the Kroger checkout line in a post-holiday stupor. Then the January issue of O, the Oprah Magazine caught my eye.

There on the cover was Oprah, weighing 200 pounds. She stood next to an image of herself from four years ago, when she weighed 160. The pain shone in her eyes. “How did I let this happen again?” she asked.

I bought that issue — my first ever — because I have been asking myself the same question.

Only I didn’t lose 40 pounds and then gain it back, like Oprah. I lost 100, and gained back 60.

Don’t feel sorry for me. I’m not sad. I’m angry.

Back in 2004, when I weighed 280 pounds (yep, do the math: I’m currently at 240), I decided to try to lose weight in a new way. I’d played around with diets before, but this time I took advantage of university resources and utilized my science writing skills. I approached weight loss the same way I approach writing a story: I read the scientific literature (journal articles on weight loss, nutrition and motivation), I consulted experts (my doctor and a personal trainer, both here at Ohio State) and I formulated a plan.

Two years later and 100 pounds lost, I thought I’d won.

Now, as I face the task of doing it all again, I’m feeling a lot of things — anger, guilt, determination … and just a tiny bit of relief. Because this time I have a tool that I didn’t have before: Your Plan for Health (YP4H).

For me, YP4H couldn’t have come at a better time. Now I will have a host of professionals to help me develop a comprehensive healthy life plan that will stick.

I’m going to follow YP4H. And as I learn new things and make healthy changes, I’ll report them in a personal journal, which I’ll open for the world to see.

So why am I doing this? Oprah is publicly chronicling her own efforts to lose weight, but I’m no Oprah. The idea of trying to lose weight in such a public way scares the bejeezus out of me.

Then again, I’m counting on it to scare the bejeezus out of me. Because I can’t let myself fail if it means failing in front of all of you.

My promise to you:

• I will follow YP4H to the best of my ability for the next year, with the understanding that I am only human, and there will be setbacks. I will report the good times and bad.
• will get out there and try as many of the fitness facilities, wellness programs and classes as I can, and review them honestly. If I see something I like, you’ll know it. If I see something I don’t like, you’ll know that, too.
• I will apply the same standards to this journal as I do to my research stories. I will talk to Ohio State researchers about their latest findings, and I will discuss how those findings apply to real life.
• I will eat real food. No fad diets! I will not eat a bowl of twigs for dinner with dressing on the side. There will be pizza. Oh, yes, there will be pizza.

Wish me luck.