ARE WE THERE YET??

I’ve been “hanging around” the weight loss center for several months now, and I’ve noticed a “serious disease” raise its ugly head there from time to time there. Well ok, this “sickness” is actually around every scale I’ve ever had the “pleasure” to weigh on.



What is this malady, this taint, this canker, this…this galloping consumption you ask??


Well let me quote what I’ve heard some of those suffering under its influence say:


“I’ve worked my buns off this week, I followed all the rules and I only lost “X” pounds!”


“I don’t know why I can gain 10 pounds seemingly overnight, but I just can’t get this weight off very quickly at all!”


If you’ve been watching your weight for any length of time, I guarantee you that this “sickness” will attack you!


So let’s visit “Dr. Think This Through” for a moment shall we?


Once we’ve come to the decision to really “do something” about our weight, we want our diet plan to be flawless and produce maximum results with minimum effort. Hey, we’re Americans it’s how we’ve been taught to think by the “evil” advertising agencies!


Reality? - - - Reality??? That’s for television shows we watch while we munch on Cheetos!


I know all about wanting results. It took me twenty years to decide to really, really be serious about losing weight and getting healthy again, and in that time I more than doubled my weight…DOUBLED! When you finally find “the switch” and flip it on and get in “weight loss mode” you want to make it happen…..NOW!!


I really didn’t overeat that much either!

I only averaged a weight GAIN of .82 pounds per month.


9.8 pounds a year.


If I'm not careful I can succumb to this disease and end up saying something like this: "

It took me twelve whole months to gain just under 10 pounds, but by golly I better be losing 10 pounds a week every week now that I’ve decided I’m going to go to all the trouble of losing weight again!"


After all, who does that scale think she is anyway? (All scales are female.)


Dr. Think This Through says there is no “getting there.”


We are never going to “arrive”.

Reach goals? Absolutely!

Get in shape? You bet!


Looking fit and trim? No doubt!


Get to the point where we don’t have to ever keep guard on what we put into our mouths? In the immortal words of James Bond - “Not bloody likely!”


If we want to lose weight and keep it off...and who doesn’t?...it will be a lifelong pursuit.


I say I believe that, and intellectually I think I understand it, but in my heart of hearts I want to be able to do what my mentor Megan assures me DOESN’T WORK:


“I want to eat what I want to eat and weigh what I want to weigh.”


And Dorothy and Toto really did visit the Land of Oz too!


So, as much as I don’t care for the option to always be on guard for what I am eating, apparently there are no loopholes for any of us to get out of this arrangement.


The sooner I own this idea, the healthier I’ll become.
Repeat after me one more time: The sooner I own this idea, the healthier I’ll become.


Don’t expect miraculous weight loss overnight.

Do expect weight loss though! 

The "impossible" we can do immediatly, the "miraculous" takes a little longer!


Let’s turn this around and look at it” SDRAWKCAB”…


Say you’ve been watching your weight for 30 days, and the first week you lost 3.8 pounds, the second week you lost 2.2 pounds, the third week, 1.4 pounds and the fourth week 0.6 pounds.


“All that work and I’ve been diligent and never cheated and the dang diet is killing me and I only lost 0.6 pounds??? Phooey!”


Well ok, I’ll admit that it is a lot of hard work to lose weight! But this represents a total of 8.0 pounds lost in one month…not enough??


Try looking at it backwards, how would you feel if you had GAINED 8 pounds in the last month?????


Exactly!


As HORRIBLE as an 8 pound gain would be…that is how HAPPY we should be with an 8 pound weight loss and more so!  Even if it comes .6 pounds at a time!!


Here’s the deal, if you really mean business and stick with the plan AND get right back on the plan if you fall off the wagon…you will reach your weight loss goals. You will!


It’s basically very simple to lose weight…consume fewer calories each day than you burn up and you’ll get to your desired weight. (If you need my address to mail me a check for this valuable information…just let me know!)


Seriously, losing weight is a hard thing, keeping it off for life is even harder. So let’s develop the weight loss life skills necessary so that we never have to gain any of the weight back that we’ve fought so hard to lose in the first place!


Anyway, these are the heavy thoughts I contend with each day and I try to remember to use them to motivate me to light living.