drop the fork

Take The Train

I was listening to a webcast of Healthy Living Radio the other day -- that's Dr. Kenneth Cooper's show. He's the guy who's the Father of Aerobics, and one of my heroes.

This particular show was discussing the benefits of exercise (as many of the HLR shows do). I was listening with one ear, as I was doing deskwork at the time. But one comment jumped out at me . . . and I just had to write it down.

"Fitness is a journey, not a destination."

This is so true. Once you get up off the couch and start exercising, if you keep at it, you get back into shape. You get fit. But if you stop exercising, you lose fitness.

To stay fit, you have to keep exercising.

What struck me about this statement -- why I wrote it down -- was how well it applies to weight loss.

So many people think that weight loss is a destination -- that once they get to goal, they're going to magically stay there, as if they were cured of their weight-gaining propensities. They are so surprised when the weight comes right back on. They did the diet, they got to goal, the weight is supposed to stay off!

The real deal is this: "goal" is not a destination -- a place to kick back, cut loose, and stop depriving yourself.*

"Goal" is nothing more than the first overnight stop on a very long train ride called "weight maintenance." That's a ride that lasts the rest of your life. The day that you are finally allowed to stop maintaining your weight is the day you take your dirt nap.

Folks, there's no destination on the Maintenance Train. Like Old Man River, it just keeps rollin' along. Sure, there are overnight stops, some side excursions, a party stop here and there (as well as the occasional, hopefully minor derailment) -- but no destination. It's a journey without end.

The only way to keep the weight off is to keep doing the same things you did to lose the weight. Only with more food, so's you won't keep losing. Everything else stays the same. In one form or another, you have to manage food portions, monitor your weight, and somehow account for, or keep track (loosely or in infinite detail) of how much you are eating every day.

That's maintenance, in a nutshell. It's not glamorous, but it sure works, and works well, as long as you keep working it. Every single day, the rest of your life.

So far, I'm doing pretty well on my train ride. I've enjoyed some scenic tours, stopped for repairs a time or two, but otherwise have been chugging right along. This is my life now. I don't expect it to change, though it may evolve. I'll reupholster the seats, maybe update the dining car. I can't do the same thing all the time -- I do it until I get tired of it, then I find a new way to do it.

But I'm on this train for life.

* * * * *

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*You should never deprive yourself to lose weight . . . but that's another essay, another time.

Kick Them Out the Door

I'm cutting back for a few days. My weight is up. I've been watching the swing* for a few days, and something's definitely not right. I'm up one pound.

My weight usually swings between 132 and 136. Right now, it's swinging between 133 and 137. 136 is my upper weight limit; 137 is too much. So . . . I'm gonna to kick that extra pound to the curb.

Yep, I can hear you right now: "One pound!? Big deal! Why are you being obsessive, Deb?

Actually, I don't think of it as obsessive . . . I think of it as smart weight management. I made a promise to myself that I would get to goal and STAY THERE. I drew a line in the sand. I said to myself, "136 is my ceiling, and if I go above it, I will take action." What I'm doing right now is making good on that promise. And not for the first time, either . . . this past Christmas put a couple of extra pounds on me, let me tell ya. But they're gone now. Poof.

That one little pound may seem innocuous, but it's not. It's sneaky. It's lonely. It doesn't like sitting out there all by itself, so it whips out its cell phone and calls a bunch of its buddies. It yells, "Hey, guys, Deb's got room! Come on over! We can par-tay!"

Sorry, fellas. Bar's closed. Go somewhere else.

Look at it this way: removing one excess pound is sure a lot easier than removing it and 4 of its rowdy comrades. I have to cut back for just a few days -- and not by very much -- and I'm back in my swing zone.

As I see it, the key to successful maintenance is managing those puny little gains, before they go on steroids and bulk up. Muscling those guys out the door takes more effort, and I'd rather save my exertions for my next bike ride. A small mess is easier to clean than a large one (please remind me of that, next time I'm tempted to skip cleaning the kitchen).

So, are you with me? I can do this, and you can, too. Go ahead, kick those little pounds out now, before they grow up and get nasty. Make 'em homeless.

Just don't give 'em my address, OK?

*When you're maintaining, you don't stay the same weight every day. You can't; your weight changes from day to day, and from hour to hour, in fact. But what you can do is get familiar with your own personal weight fluctuations. I did, and figured out that my personal weight swing is about 4 pounds.