OK, so it is my responsibility ….

Those that know me may have heard the story about my work with a trainer years ago. When questioned about my food intake I started making excuses for my poor food choices and trying to place blame on another family member. I quickly got smacked down with the words “you are responsible for what you put in your mouth”.  I still can’t think of a good response to the statement.

I was reminded of that little exchange recently while reading Suicide by Sugar: A startling look at our #1 National Addiction by Nancy Appleton, PhD. Dr. Appleton takes the smack down one step farther and says that I have to be responsible for what goes into and what comes out of my mouth. Great advice. I hope I live long enough to master both.

I’ve had a hard time getting motivated enough to write in the evenings or on the weekends of late but since I have recently given this blog address to a couple friends I thought I should try to get back at it. I’ve actually wanted to write a post for some time about all the things I do that seem to work for me regarding my efforts to maintain a healthy weight.  Sometime last year I realized that this might actually work better as a series of posts so I am going to give it a go.

The first thing is very simple and that is to have a goal so I know what I want to accomplish or where I am going. I have always believed in setting goals and do so for all kinds of things. For me a goal can be as simple as getting through a staff meeting without opening my mouth or making it until the clock ticks to 4:30 to something with multiple significant steps covering a period of several years such as the work that I put in to achieve the professional designation I earned in 1989.

Weight loss goals for me date back over 30 years when at a popular weight loss program a goal weight was assigned to me, I guess for my own good. At the time it looked like an incredibly small number, unbelievably small, such as, how could I ever weigh just that much. In time, as the weeks passed by and the pounds dropped off, that little number started to look possible until one day when the number on the scale matched the little number on the card I took to the meeting every week. I think it was that day when I really learned the power of setting a goal.

Now if you have been reading this blog for a few years you might point out that for at least the past 2 years I have been saying that my goal weight is 160 to 165 pounds and the weight recorded in the right side bar has been consistently 10 to 15 pounds higher. What gives?

This has caused me to think about pain and willingness. By examination of the times in my life when significant change has happened I realize that pain has often been the catalyst that has created the willingness to take the action necessary to create the change. What I mean is that at 10 to 15 pounds above the weight that I really feel comfortable at I am not really miserable, just a little uncomfortable. It’s easy to say I’d like to get that last 14 pounds off but …… that sure looks like a good cookie. The result being not much happens.

Now, on the other hand, at 240 or 250 pounds, I’m really miserable. I feel like crap, I look like crap, I huff and puff and some doctor wants me to take some kind of medication for a symptom, high cholesterol, of a completely preventable problem, I’m obese. Before long, one morning I stand on the scale and say THAT’S IT.  I can’t live like this and all of a sudden I am willing to do what is necessary to feel better, look better and be able to tell the doctor where to put his prescription.

That is how it has been for me but I realize it does not have to be that way. I have no intention of letting it happen that way again. Currently I am wearing the 35 and 36 inch waist pants from my closet but I do have several pairs in size 34 that I plan to wear again. The things I have been doing to maintain my weight the past several years I call my program. Some are things I do some of the time; hence the 35 and 36 inch waist pants are getting plenty of use, and some are things that I always do.

I plan to start writing about the things I do that seem to work for me and hopefully post to this blog more frequently that I have during the past 6 months or so. Next I plan to write about the thing that I have always believed to be the single most important tool in my weight management toolbox.  I will try to put that tool back into consistent use and weigh in again at Fear No Scale in 30 days or so.