drop the fork

The Five P's

Those of you who read my blog and messages regularly know that I consider weight loss and maintenance to be a lifelong project. In my mind, there actually is no practical difference between losing and maintaining, other than the amount of food required. It's all one continuous process. If you do the right thing, you won't get to goal overnight, but when you do get there, you have a much better chance at keeping it off. Speed is not important. The formation of new food and exercise habits is the real key to the whole process. And how do we form new habits? That's easy -- practice!

Now, what happens when you begin to practice something? Well, for one thing, you sure don't get it right, first thing out of the box. But over time, if you focus and learn from your mistakes, you will get better. You can't sit down at a piano for the first time and play "Moonlight Sonata," but if you take piano lessons and practice diligently, in time you will be able to. That's the power of learning and repetition.

Some of you may know that I lost my weight on Weight Watchers. I consider it to be the best program going -- because it's not a diet, but a SET OF TOOLS that, if you learn and apply them, will help you not only get to goal, but stay there. At its very best, WW is a program that you learn and practice, over time. By the time you get to goal, if you've been paying attention and practicing your new behaviors, you'll be well-equipped to maintain your new weight. Why? Because you've already learned the tools you'll need. The program is the same, ideally, both before and after goal.

Newbies tend to approach WW with a sort of "diet mentality." You know - the one that promises, "if you do this plan perfectly, without the slightest deviation, you will get to goal . . . and the heavens will open up, angels will sing, life will become perfect, and you will be happy foreverafter."

Aside from the heavens 'n angels part (hint: don't expect it to happen), the biggest thing wrong with this approach is the perfection part. There's a type of magical, black 'n white thinking to the perfectionist approach -- it's the idea that you can't lose weight unless you can follow a weight loss program to the letter. I guess it's comforting, in a black 'n white sort of way, to think that "all I have to do is x and y, and I'll get to z!" But in truth, that kind of thinking is a deadly trap.

Y'see, none of us are perfect. Sooner or later, we are going to deviate from the plan -- whether it be in a couple of weeks, or a few months. And when that happens -- if we are locked into that perfectionistic, black 'n white thinking trap, we'll figure we've blown it, and we may as well plough our way through the bag of chips, the cookie box, the chocolate chips in the back of the pantry. What's the use, after all, if we can't follow a diet perfectly?

Now, here's the good news: you do not have to be perfect to lose weight. As I like to say, "good enough" is good enough. Perfection not required (or achieveable). Shoot, I still mess up. I'm in my 7th year of this life change, and I grab some extra chocolate from time to time, or mis-order in a restaurant. Life happens. I'm human. So are you. So, kick that perfectionistic thinking to the curb.

Here's a shorthand way of thinking about weight loss and maintenance . . . I call it the 5 P's. As you begin your journey, and as you continue it, focus on the first four, and lose the last one --

1. Practice - remember the "Moonlight Sonata" example. We get better at the things we work on. I consider this to be the most important "P."
2. Persistence - just keep going. We lose weight when we just keep keepin' on, no matter what, no matter how badly our day, or week, or month has gone.
3. Progress - expect to make progress over time, as you practice and persist. Not necessarily immediately . . . remember that our bodies have their own wisdom. Don't rush the process. After all, you're going to be on this program (or something much like it) the rest of your life, if you want to keep the weight off.
4. Patience - what I said about progress over time, double. Don't be in a hurry. You'll get there. I took 2.5 years to finally get to goal. But I'm there now, so the time it took me is totally unimportant. And I got plenty of practice along the way.
5. Perfection - like I said, fuggedaboudit. Ain't a-gonna happen.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and practice!

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Tools

I am now closing in on 4 years at goal. Think about that: 4 years at a normal weight. I've never done this before, in my entire life. I've kept about 80 lbs off for nearly four years. And I've kept more than 50 lbs off for more than five years.

Sometimes I remember my fat days, and think they must have been a bad dream. But they were real, all too real. And because they were so real, I'm determined that I ain't a-goin' back. The old lady's dead.

So . . . what keeps me here, at this weight? Why haven't I gained it all back?

Well, that's an interesting question. I can think of several <ahem> large reasons why I want to stay where I am now:

• I don't want to do this again.
• I feel awesome at this weight: strong, energetic, alive.
• I look great. Or, as I like to say, "not bad for an old chick."
• I don't want to die early. (I was probably headed for that.)
• I also don't want to be a cardiac cripple. (Maybe I was headed for that, too.)
• I want to keep my closet full of great clothes, and ditch them when they wear out, not when they become too small.
• I really, really enjoy being an RNT - a "Results Not Typical." (That's my inner brat talking; she relishes chanting "nanny, nanny, boo-boo" from time to time.)

But, these are just concepts. They represent what I want, but they don't represent what I do, day in and day out. And oh yeah, plenty of other folks have had the same wants, but have regained. Heck, for that matter, so have I. I'll write about that sometime.

So, what do I do to stay here? It's actually pretty simple, in retrospect. I . . .

• Journal my food. Every day.
• Weigh myself. Every day.
• Weigh/measure my food, when I'm at home. Eyeball it for portion size, when eating out.
• Exercise. This is easy for me: I'm a bicycling fanatic enthusiast, and I love to sling the iron around.
• Remove small gains while they're still little enough to strangle easily.

I also . . .

• Don’t view any food as forbidden, unless it's truly lousy for my health. (One word: trans fats. Well, OK, two words.)
• Sometimes eat more than I planned.
• Never, ever, feel guilty about eating more than I planned. Life happens; I'm human. I still love food, and that will never change.
• Enjoy several treats, every week. Usually, it's a scone, muffin, or some other pastry. Or, it might be something like the fried onion straws that Jeff and I split at Black's Bar and Kitchen last Friday night. Or two glasses of wine and a huge piece of chocolate cake, along with an appetizer-size dinner.

The things that I do are my tools. One thing I've learned is that most naturally-thin folks really aren't all that "natural." That is, they do work at staying thin. Maybe not as explicitly as I do, but they are, for the most part, mindful of what they are eating, have eaten, will be eating . . . and they work to balance that out, even if only in their heads. My insurance agent, for example, is a woman in her 60s. Thin as a rail. Never been fat, ever. But she works at staying tiny. She knows, as she told me once, that she can't have the large entrée and the big dessert, if she wants to stay where she is, weight-wise.

I use my tools every day, and they keep me accountable. They help me stay mindful. Could I drop the journaling bit, and the food weighing? Yeah, probably, at least for a while. I've been doing this long enough that I know what my portion sizes should be . . . at least right now I do. A year from now, without journaling or measuring? Who can say? Portion creep is very real. I still struggle with the size of a muffin or bagel, and I still eat the large ones, in full knowledge that they are several portions each.

Re journaling: I'm probably just enough of an obsessive personality that I actually don't mind doing it. A PDA and a database make it super-easy. And recording my food gives me a daily boost. It says, "Hey, Deb, pay attention! This is important! Focus!" I make time for it every day . . . and it really doesn't even take that much time. It's a habit. It's just what I do now.

Tools are useful, and there is no shame in using them. We all use tools in various aspects of our lives. For example: I'm a CPA, but I can't add two numbers together in my head. Shove a calculator in my hand, though, and I'm anyone's equal.

Archimedes said, "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." Such is the power of the right tool.

So, I view journaling, and all of my other tools, this way: they are my "equalizers." Using them, I'm the equal of any naturally-thin person. Does it matter to me that I don't eat "normally?" Heh, heh. Well, just what is "normal" these days, anyway? I think it's probably "mindlessly eat anything and everything that's put in front of you, and gain pound after pound after pound." Do I want that kind of "normal?" Uh, no, thanks. I'll stick with my tools, and use them to eat healthfully. That's my "new normal," and it works for me.

It might just work for you, too.

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Padded Corners

It’s just not fair, is it? Here you are, trying to lose weight, and your boss had the nerve to bring Krispy Kreme donuts to this morning’s meeting. Not only that, but there’s going to be another office potluck this Friday -- and Marian will probably bring those decadent brownies -- again!

And -- the final straw -- your husband wants to go to Outback on Saturday night. Yiiii!!! You can’t handle that . . . how dare he even suggest it?

Everybody knows you’re on a diet, so why are they doing this?? Don’t they have any consideration for you at all? Are they doing it deliberately? Just to sabotage you?

Nope. They‘re just living their own lives. Welcome to the real world.

Truth is, your boss has bigger things to think about than your diet. Your husband (hopefully) cares, but he’s not the one trying to cut back. And really, why should everyone be expected to change their behavior for you? Think about it . . . it’s more than a little presumptuous to expect folks around you to adapt to a change in your circumstances. Changing your circumstances is your job. Not theirs.

You cannot control the people around you; you can’t dictate what they can or cannot do. All you can do is control your own behavior.

I remember one time, early on in my weight loss efforts, when I was still trying to figure out the Weight Watchers program. My husband and I had just finished dinner. I was done eating for the day - I was out of points. But Jeff walked over to the freezer and hauled out a carton of Ben & Jerry’s “Everything But The . . .” He sat down opposite me, removed the lid, and dug in.

Ouch, that hurt. I wanted some so badly.

But I didn’t rail at him; I didn’t tell him how unfair it was that he was eating ice cream in front of me. I simply said, “I really can’t watch you eat that right now, so I’m going upstairs. Please let me know when you’re done.” And so I did, and so did he.

You can only control your own behavior. It’s up to you to figure out how to do resist eating foods you don’t need to eat. But here are some approaches that have helped me:

• Remember that whatever it is, it’s not going anywhere; they’re not going to stop making it anyway soon. If you really want some, work it into your food plan during the next week or so. On your time, on your terms.
• If you really, really, really want something - can‘t stop thinking about it - and you have room for it in your food day - then have some. Have it in place of the afternoon snack you were going to have. It’s good to have a little spontaneity in your life, as long as you manage it properly.
• If it’s mediocre, turn it down. No way I’m going to have a slice of two-day-old Safeway cherry pie that was left lying in the office kitchen. I’m too much of a food snob for that. If I really want a slice of cherry pie, I’ll go to Dangerously Delicious and have the very best. Life’s too short to eat bad food, and I‘m not going to waste calories on an indifferent pastry.
• Resist food pushers with a simple refusal. “I’m not hungry; I had a big lunch.” “I’m feeling a little off.” Or, the simplest of all: “No, thanks.” Say that as many times as necessary. Don’t elaborate. DO NOT tell the pusher you’re on a diet. That’s like waving a red blanket in front of a bull. The truly professional food pusher will rise to the challenge, and you’ll go down in defeat . . . or at least get roughed up pretty good.

No matter how much we wish it would . . . the world just isn’t going to pad its corners for us. Food is everywhere, and if we want to be slender, we have move deftly to avoid being bruised. The good news: it gets a lot easier, the more practice you get.

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Flux, or Life's (Mostly Little) Ups and Downs

Tired to of trying to stay exactly at goal? Going nuts because your weight is up one day, down the next?

Well, if that's the case, relax! Weight fluctuations are utterly, completely, entirely normal. No matter whether we are trying to lose weight or stay the same, we are highly unlikely to wake up day after day, weighing exactly the same. Even if we are trying to lose, our daily weight is busy doing the two-step. It's true . . . and completely unavoidable.

Frankly, it is impossible for us to stay at a single weight, each and every day. Our weight varies from hour to hour, even minute to minute! We eat, we drink, we, er, "eliminate." We burn fat (the effects of which dissipate as heat and moisture, through our lungs and skin), we put on clothing, we take off clothing. We eat more sodium and carbs (which promote fluid retention), we eat less. We have hormonal fluctuations (also known as That Time Of The Month) if we are female. It's not at all unusual to gain 2 - 5 lbs through the course of a day. Me, I'm typically 2 - 3 lbs heavier in the evening, than I am in the morning. Normal, normal, normal.

Know what else is normal for me? My daily weight fluctuates constantly. It goes up and down some 3 to 4 lbs over the course of a month (and sometimes more, when I go on vacation or celebrate various holidays). But don't just take my word for it; see for yourself:

This handy-dandy chart, taken from my CalorieKing record of daily weigh-ins, shows the way my weight has fluctuated over the course of the last year or so.* (I didn't start using CK until May 2006, which is why I look so flatline for April.) Those high peaks? They roughly correspond to vacations, holidays, and really long bike rides that involved a lot of heavy fueling.

I hope this is reassuring to those of you who think you must adhere to a single weight day after day after day. You're gonna swing high, you're gonna swing low . . . but if you pay attention and adjust your intake when you swing too high or low, you can keep those weight fluctuations reasonable.

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*Don't be thrown by the chart's wild, jagged swings: while it looks like a lot of gaining and losing is going on, the actual range is less than 8 pounds.

It Pays to Be Skeptical

I'm slightly peeved at Corner Bakery, but I'm getting over it. Here's what happened:

I decided I wanted something a bit different for lunch yesterday . . . a different sandwich, anyway (I can be so unimaginative when it comes to my weekday lunches). There's a Corner Bakery 2 blocks from my office, so I hopped over to their website to see what looked good . . . and what was relatively low in calories.

The web site listed a "tuna salad on olive bread," for 450 calories. Hmm. Sounds great! I love olives, and also love olive bread. And tuna salad can be good, too, at least for a change of pace. So, off I went to CB. I ordered the sandwich, took my bag (unopened), then scurried the two blocks back to my desk.

First thing I found, upon opening the bag, was potato chips. I expected that: it's a one-serving portion, a real rarity these days. AND it's kettle chips. No trans fat. YUM!

Then, I lifted out the sandwich, conveniently tucked in its own oversize plastic carton. Uhhh . . . it's kinda big. The olive bread is really more of a ciabatta, about 4" x 8". And I've bought ciabattas from Panera about that size, that were at least 450 calories all by themselves.

So, I got back on the computer, rechecked CB's web site. Yep, 450 calories, no mention of "this is for a half sandwich." So I Googled the sandwich, and came upon a listing in the Diet Facts database.

Nope, not 450 calories . . . 810. That makes more sense, but $#*&! Guess I'll only eat half and put the rest away for later.

Paging Corner Bakery . . . you REALLY need to update your nutritional info!

Moral of the story: always put on your "skeptical cap" before you head out to a restaurant. If it looks to be too much for the calories advertised, chances are it is. Sure am glad I slapped my cap on yesterday.

By the way, the sandwich tastes just as good the second day as the first, as long as it's well-wrapped. I just polished off the other half. It was reaaaally good.

I think I'm going to have to go buy some of that olive bread. I'll bet it's good for pressed panini sandwiches. CB, you're forgiven . . . but I'll be watching.

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Just Do It

You know, sometimes motivation is overrated.

If you've lost weight, everyone wants to know what your "motivation" was. If your weight loss is stalling out, you cast about (or ask others for) something to motivate you.

I began my journey several years ago, with health as my motivator. In 1999, I got out of breath just sweeping off my front porch. That's right . . . just wielding a broom. Furthermore, my ankles were starting to swell up, and my blood sugar was heading toward the danger zone. The broom incident propelled me to get off the couch and move my butt. I slowly got back into shape (first getting into bicycling, then weightlifting).

Then, in 2001, I met someone who had lost 50 pounds on Weight Watchers. This was a program I had never before considered . . . and as I was doing a terrible job of trying to lose weight on my own, I vowed to try it.

I joined Weight Watchers on January 7, 2002. And the rest, as they say, is history. WW provided me with the perfect framework for changing my approach to food and eating, and it helped me lose more than 80 pounds.

These, then, were my motivators: the incidents that got me started. But what kept me going was a "just do it" attitude.

I don't wait for "motivation" to pay my bills, do the laundry, clean the cat box. (Well, OK, my husband cleans the cat box, but you know what I mean.) I do them because they need doing; it's part of daily maintenance -- body and otherwise. Likewise, I show up at my job every day, whether I feel like it or not.

Weight control -- including weight loss -- is the same way. It starts out wonderfully, but after the "honeymoon" phase, it can be a chore. Now, whether it's an onerous chore or one that's relatively easy, lies in how you regard it. Some days you'll be totally gung ho! Other days you'll be ho-hum. But it's on those "ho-hum" days that you just have to DO it.

You could wait all your life for just the right motivation to strike, for the perfect moment to begin. But if you just "do it," this time next year you'll be at goal, or a heckuva lot closer.

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As I'm known to belabor a point, I've actually talked about this before:

So, Like, What's My Motivation?

And, if "just do it" just won't do it for you right now, bolster your flagging momentum with these tips for mustering more motivation:

What's My Motivation? Identifying Why Weight Loss Matters

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Cheating

OK, quick - raise your hand if you’ve ever “cheated” while on a diet.

Oh, wow, that’s a lot of hands. Especially since there actually is no such thing as "cheating.”

"Cheating" is a "diet mentality" concept. Genuine, lasting weight loss is not the result of a “diet” . . . it accrues from a series of life changes, using a simple set of tools that can help you lose weight and keep it off. A true change in life habits does not dictate perfection every single day. Those of us who are successful "losers" and have maintained for some time know that we can eat more some days, less others. This is not cheating. It's called flexible restraint, and it's a critical tool for long-term weight loss success.

There were many times, when I was losing my weight, that I would eat something extra during the day - a treat, an extra serving, a favorite food. But I did it in full knowledge of what I was doing, and I tracked every bit of it. As a result, my calories for the week would, perhaps, total a bit more than what I "should" have eaten. But because I still had a caloric deficit going for the week, overall, I lost weight. And that's what is important. That, and the fact that I didn’t feel deprived.

The notion that you should never “cheat” implies that to lose weight, you must eat rigidly: never eating certain foods, for example, or never eating more than one portion of something. Never eating even a single calorie more than what you “should,” according to somebody's plan (which may or may not be healthy and balanced). But, y'know? That's unrealistic. Real life is a balancing act . . . it's doing things right most of the time, carefully and healthfully compensating for times of eating more, with times of eating a bit leaner. It's not necessary to eat exactly 20 points every day, if you are a Weight Watcher, or exactly 1200 calories a day if you are following a written calorie plan. All you really need to do is average a caloric deficit over time, so that you lose weight. Shoot, you can even do it by eating a mere 100 calories fewer per day. It’s a slow way of doing it, but I can pretty much guarantee you won’t feel deprived.

So, where did this concept of “cheating” come from, anyway? Well, my money’s on this: way too many of us are perfectionists, either current or “reformed” (waving hand wildly here), and we also are wont to engage in magical thinking from time to time. We seem to believe that if we can just follow a plan perfectly, the weight will fall off and we will live happily ever after. This is not true, of course, but we believe it anyway; it’s as American a concept as Mom and apple pie. Unfortunately, though, we also believe the converse: that if we make a mistake, we have “blown it” and will never lose weight. So, we give up in disgust.

Now, I ask you: what good is that?

So: do yourself a favor and kick your “diet mentality” to the curb. It's OK if you give in to a couple of cookies one afternoon . . . that's not going to torpedo your weight loss efforts, unless you let it. Instead, think in terms of averages -- aim for an average caloric deficit for the week. If you do eat those cookies, either eat a slightly smaller serving of pasta for your evening dinner, for example . . . or just let it go, and eat as planned the rest of the day. If you’ve been fairly on point all week, it’s not going to make much difference at all. And even if it does, so what? In the context of the rest of your life, what's a couple hundred extra calories one day in July, if overall you are doing a good job of changing your eating habits?

Here’s a final thought: maybe, just maybe, there is such a thing as “cheating.” But if so, here’s what it is: it’s when you lie to yourself. About how much you’ve eaten, how much you’ve exercised, how well you are following your weight loss plan.

As long as you are honest with yourself about what you are doing, and are actively using your weight loss tools to track your food intake, your weight, and your exercise, you are not cheating. You’re doing it right.

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The REAL Secret of Successful Weight Loss

Oho, I’ll bet that title got your attention! The “REAL Secret” of Weight Loss. Yes -- I have the secret (right here in my back pocket, in fact), and I am going to impart it to you!

Are you ready?

Here it is: Don’t do anything to lose weight that you are not absolutely willing to do -- and more important, able to do -- the rest of your life.

That’s it.

Yeah, I know . . . It’s not really sexy, is it? And truthfully, it’s not the only “real secret” to successful weight loss. There are many such “secrets,” big and small. But I’ve come to think of this one as being particularly important, especially where long-term weight loss is concerned.

You’ve read it elsewhere, and you've read it here, and it is true: “diets” do not work. A “diet” is a transitory, (sometimes) grossly unbalanced, (usually) punitive, (oftentimes) unpalatable food plan designed to help you drop pounds in near-record time (or so the diet’s promoter would have you think). It’s hard to stay on, and it’s usually abandoned with great relief, once goal is reached -- if not well before.

Furthermore, a “diet” does little or nothing in the way of teaching you how to keep the weight off. Unfortunately, weight loss is not successful unless the weight stays off. A temporary, unnatural food plan is not going to teach you how to eat the right way -- it’s not designed to. And unless you have a workable plan for staying at goal, once you get there, sooner or later (usually sooner) your weight will start taking off toward the stratosphere again.

It’s my observation that those folks who enjoy the most success with weight loss are the ones who do not go to extremes. They don’t cut out specific foods, nor entire classes of foods. They don’t exercise 3 hours a day. They don’t try to exist only on “rabbit food,” gazing with anguished longing at anyone enjoying a bagel, a donut, a dish of ice cream, a “normal” lunch.

Instead, they make small changes that they feel they can live with forever. They may hate low-fat cheese, so they don’t eat it. They eat regular cheese, just not as much. They enjoy real pizza on a regular basis, if that’s something they feel they can’t live without. They have a drink or two when they go out with the crowd, if that’s important to them. They set up an exercise plan that is reasonable, one that provides enjoyment and variety, and can be kept up without incurring overuse injuries.

They may not lose weight as quickly as someone following a more extreme approach, but y’know what? They eventually get to where they want to be, and they tend to stay there.

In the end, it comes down to this: any food approach that is not liveable will be abandoned, sooner or later. If you want to lose weight for good, set up a plan that is tailored to you like the finest suit: one that you feel you actually can keep up forever. Do not deprive yourself of the things you really love: that is not possible to do for an entire lifetime. Aim, instead, to enjoy those things in moderation.

Hey, it worked for me. It might work for you, too. Give it a try.

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Boredom

Are you bored with the whole routine? You know -- watching what you eat, journaling your meals (if you're of that programmatic persuasion), seeing what the scale says every week? Especially now, when Starbucks once again has its wonderful gingerbread loaf cake? When Christmas cookies and assorted treats are popping up everywhere? Gosh, wouldn't it be nice to just not bother for a few days, or weeks? (Ummmm . . . or months???)

Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you this . . . but you're normal. None of us can whip up extreme enthusiasm for being on a reducing plan 100% of the time.* Thinking about food, measuring portions, the whole bit. Being motivated to lose weight makes staying the course much easier -- and most of us start out really gung ho, determined to whip our fat cells into shape in short order. But sooner or later, at best we generally sink into a routine (a peck on the cheek, rather than a sensuous hug) . . . and at worst we figure, "what's the use?" and give up.

Here's a little secret: you don't have to be in love with your food plan day and night. You just have to follow it. Same as you show up for work every day, balance your checkbook (you DO track your $$$, right? At least after a fashion?), clean the catbox or walk the dog. If you simply keep going, come hell, high water, or pumpkin pie, you will eventually make it to your goal. The only difference between those who succeed, and those who fail, is -- OK, all together now -- "the ones who succeed don't give up."

When you follow a plan, any plan, day after day, you are forming new habits -- new circuits in your brain that grow stronger with each repetition. Those new habits will carry you through those days when you have the "I don' wanna's." Following the plan may be a chore on those days, but at least it'll be a familiar one, and not really any different from any of your other chores.

Now, you know me: I do not advocate deprivation. It's the holiday season! Have some treats! Work them into your food plan. Don't go overboard, though. Remember, while there are no truly bad foods (except for saturated and trans fats), there are bad portion sizes and badly balanced diets. Have your treats, but eat healthy, otherwise. This will help combat boredom and "diet fatigue."

What? After this great pep talk, you still don't feel like doing it today?

Do it anyway. Tomorrow, you'll be really glad you did.

*I will allow as how I might be a little bit strange in this department, as after nearly 5 years, I've not really been bored -- yet. Distracted, yes. But not enough to forego journaling my food. (Don't tell anyone that I sometimes don't get it written down until the next day, OK?)

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Going the Distance

Weight loss takes time. We all know this, at least in our heads. Emotionally, though, we sometimes a struggle with this fact. We live in a "want it now!" era, in which hucksters promise quick (though not particularly lasting) weight loss, sometimes with little or no effort. (Yeah, right.)

What does it take to go the distance? To do what needs to be done, and to wait, sometimes years, for results?

Let me toot my own horn a little bit . . . this past weekend, I biked 110 miles. It was the first time I'd ever done that many miles in 2 days, and the first time I'd ever biked more miles the second day, than the first. The day after, I felt perfectly fine (though my butt would have been happier if I'd used a little Chamois Butt'r). Both the Civil War Century and the Indian Head Hundred were rolling to downright hilly, with several rather nasty hills.

So what, you say? Well, almost exactly seven years ago, I climbed on a brand-new Raleigh C30 "comfort" bicycle, attempted to bike 4 miles, and had to quit. I nearly puked, and was convinced that my stomach distress meant I was having a heart attack. I was nearly 220 pounds, and grossly out of shape.

So, what got me from "then" to "now?" Well, I didn't give up, obviously. Even though my first ride was inauspicious, to say the least, I kept at it. At first, even 6 miles would take a toll on me. I remember biking down the sidewalk, thinking "I'm not scared; I won't have a heart attack," and mostly believing it. At the time, I was still at my top weight: you might say I was a 215-pound Fat Bottomed Girl. I would not join Weight Watchers for about two more years. So, yeah, I was hauling around a load. My bike was a heavy clunker, and so was I. I was able to lengthen my mileage only very gradually during those early biking days, but I eventually worked up to being able to do 30 miles or more.

Somehow, by the time I joined Weight Watchers (January 2002), I had come to the realization that I would need to change my eating habits permanently. Maybe it was the gradual progress I'd made with my bicycling, or maybe it was just awareness that my health was hanging in the balance. How I finally arrived at that place I actually can't really remember, but I do know that the "life change" idea sustained me through many days.

I had a pretty positive experience with WW, though my initial idea was that I would lose ALL my weight in 9 months! I was able to eat what I wanted (not as much as I wanted, of course) and the pounds came off fairly quickly, at first. Making it to goal, though, took me about two-and-a-half years. Long story short, I eventually reached a point where I was (mostly) content to just do my thing, and let my body do its thing. I did have my off days, and my frustrating days, of course . . . but on balance, I just stuck to the program, day after day after day.

So, here I am, 7 years (bike) and 4.5 years (WW) at a place I probably never thought I would be, if you'd asked me, oh, 8 years ago: fit, strong, slim. To me, this speaks to the enormous power of just doing things one day at a time, and being patient -- a trait that I'm otherwise not always known for!

So, some parting thoughts for you: what does it mean to YOU to "go the distance?" How has the journey been for you, so far? Did you have to clear away a lot of (mental) obstacles? What does the road ahead look like to you?

Remember, you just have to do this one day at a time. Tomorrow will take care of itself, once you get there. And, once a hundred, five hundred, a thousand "tomorrows" have passed, you may find yourself in a (good) place you never thought you'd be!

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If you enjoyed this essay, please send it on!

Want to subscribe? Check the top of the page . . . on the right. And if you'd like me to link to your (noncommercial) weight loss blog, just drop me a comment; it goes right to my e-mail. All I ask is a link in return.