How Do You Climb Your Mountain?

As I started my latest attempt to lose weight, I found myself overwhelmed by how much weight I felt I needed to lose. I found myself thinking, if I lose 20% of my body weight, I will be where I was when I was 41 years old. Losing 20% of ones body weight is a significant amount of weight. But, my goal weight is not just 20% of my weight. Rather, I want to lost 86 pounds. To get to a weight at which I don't even remember being. A weight I flew by to reach my present weight. That is an overwhelming task. So, how do I get to that weight?

I am often reminded of a time when I was in second grade. For some reason, we were brought into a third grade room. On top of the chalk board was cursive letters. I wondered how I was ever going to be able to learn to write in cursive. Of course I wasn't going to learn cursive writing by the time I reached third grade. But, somewhere along the line I learned. It was part of the learning process. Likewise, when we begin to lose weight, we have to not look at the mountain but rather, we must focus on the process.

For the weight loss process to be successful, you have to have perseverance. I was reading on the Weight Watcher message boards about a man who lost 70 pounds in 9 months. What an awesome achievement!! But, think about it, break it down. That's less than 2 pounds per week. I'm sure along the way he had some weeks where he didn't lose any weight. He probably even gained weight a couple weeks. But, he stuck with the program and lost 70 pounds.

Think about it. If you lost 40 pounds in one year, you would be very happy with the results. But, if you lost only 1 pound a week you might be frustrated. Most people that are successful with weight loss lose the weight at 1 - 2 pounds per week. That is incremental progress. In fact, each weigh in could be affected by water retention. Thus, potentially leading to frustration with the process. It's possible that you might have bad weeks along the way. But, the key is to stick with the process, persevere, accept the let downs, rejoice in the victories.

Stick with it, the results are worth it, you are worth it.

WARNING: ALL SCALES NOT CREATED EQUAL

Many months ago, the battery in the scale in our bathroom died. Since it was a 9 volt, which we never on hand, and because I hated the scale, I refused to replace the battery. Just the other day, I threw the scale out. Not because it was broken, but because I hate the scale. I do not find the scale to be a tool to motivate me in my weight loss. Rather, I find it to be a villain that sits quietly, waiting for me to come up with enough nerve to step on it. Once I step on, it goes into action and destroys all my confidence and crushes any resolve to continue to attempt to lose weight. In fact, it ruins my day and spurs me towards the nearest McDonald's. Thus, I quit getting on the scale.

Since I last wrote, I've been doing really well with the WW program. I have lost some weight and started to feel good about myself. I decided that the only time I will weigh myself is when I go to the weekly meetings. I have been on this program for 3 weeks. My confidence is high.

My confidence was so high that when I went to the gym, I decided to step on the scale. I knew I had to have had lost another pound or two since Saturday. I was so confident, I didn't even kick off my shoes. I disregarded that it was at the end of the day, when my stomach was full and I was fully hydrated. But, alas, despite throwing out the evil scale in the bathroom, its brother in the gym was just as cruel. I never did see the final weight, rather, when it went over a certain point I jumped off and went to do my exercise.

The lesson was learned. Be a one scale man. I will not again stray from my WW scale.

It's a New Year

When I started this blog, I had hoped to write a humorous blog about my struggles with weight loss. I looked back at my previous posts, and they lacked humor. After some thought, I realized that unlike other parts of my life where I can laugh at my self, my weight is not one of them. In fact, I would get offended if any one mentioned anything about my weight. I knew I had gained weight, I didn't need anyone else to point it out. I became a bit hyper-sensitive to the issue.

After many years of fighting the weight loss fight by myself, I decided to make a change. This year, I realized that I couldn't lose the weigh by myself. I needed help. My wife and I joined Weight Watchers. The key to Weight Watchers is keeping an accurate food log. I never liked keeping a food log. To me, it was like keeping a budget by writing down every penny you spent. It wasn't something I liked to do. So far, so good, I've been doing well for 2 weeks, but there's a long way to go.

To add a little humor to the blog...at the first meeting someone said something about exercise. I heard a little old woman say, "I'm allergic to exercise, everytime I do it, I start sweating and I get shortness of breath."