It's here! It's here! Not Christmas, unfortunately. I won't be running down to the living room at 5:00 a.m. to be greeted by Nat King Cole and Santa in my fleece onezie with feet. No...it's Hair Appointment #1. And the first weigh-in. I got on the scale this morning and what did it say? Drum roll, please. Seven pounds. (Isn't that a Will Smith movie?)
So, I've lost seven pounds...in six weeks. That's a little over a pound a week. For someone who watches the Biggest Loser and feels dissapointed when the contestant who worked out five hours everyday while consuming around 500 calories, only to lose 11 pounds that week...it was a mixed reaction. I was hoping for 15. But I'm so happy to be going back down the weight loss mountain...carrying a slightly lighter boulder. AND...AND...I'm under 200 for the first time in a year. I was stuck at 200.8...ugh!!!...for two whole weeks. Not 200.7, or 201. But 200.8 precisely. For two weeks. Then, it finally went to 200.2, after I stopped eating after 7:00 pm. And today...198.0. Hooray! Getting into the 100's was a HUGE mental accomplishment. And I managed to do it during the busiest, most stressful three weeks of my year. Take that, fat! It may have been a tough round, but I showed you! And I'm coming back...be afraid. Be very afraid.
I was walking with a co-worker the other day. Through the parking lot. In heels (I was in heels, she in flats). After a minute, she looked down and said "You know, you take the tiniest steps. You look like you're doing all this work but we're not going anywhere." And it was true. She was almost meandering and I was doing the Cotton-Eyed Joe in fast forward. What can I say? I have a small stride. I look a little like a Chihauhau trying to keep up with a Great Dane.
Here's my point. There is a person within arm's length of all of us who feels like they are perpetually on a diet but going absolutely nowhere. They are stuck in the lap pool of life, kicking frantically with their kick boards in front of them, while the rest of the swimmers pass them by like they are swimming in place. If you read that I lost 7 pounds in 6 weeks and wanted to pick up your laptop and throw it out the window, ruing the day you ever found me and my 60x6 ridiculousness...DON'T. Because here's the deal. A) I am completely free of Diet Cokes and sugar, a feat parallel to scaling El Capitan for me. B) I am not...NOT...going to settle into complacency or deal with the emotional and physical burden of weight one minute longer than I need to. I am not going to take you along for the ride, only to drop you off at a shady bus stop 12 blocks away from your destination. And C) In case you are shaking your head and saying "See! I knew eating clean and exercising doesn't work! Losing weight is impossible!"...stop. Because the truth is, unless the Cotton Eyed Joe counts, I didn't officially work out for two of the last six weeks. And what's in my freezer right now? 10 Lean Cuisines I got on special. Far from cuisine...and not really that lean.
You can't go into a bookstore these days that doesn't have an enormous section devoted entirely to weight loss and body image. Or sit in the teacher's lounge or employee lunchroom without sharing a table with someone who is on a diet and frustrated because they're eating carrots all day and still have junk in the trunk. But the truth is...you don't know what the other person is and isn't doing the 23 hours a day you're not with them. So please dear readers, don't get discouraged by anything that's happening around you. Your wrestling match with fat is yours alone. And you'll be the one to get the title and gold-plated trophy at the end.
As for my own wrestling match...stay tuned! There are lots of great moves coming up in the next five rounds. Watch this, Mickey Rourke!