Lean and Hard

Not discussing unpleasant people here, although they should be given a wide berth. We're talking about creeping weight gain.

Things have a way of catching up to us when we stop paying attention. The cute little wildebeest foal kneels daintily to sip cool water from the Nile river. It's not focusing on its surroundings for the moment, the water is just too delicious not to enjoy the pleasure of slaking its thirst. Sadly, you know what happens. The ravenous, 20-foot crocodile has been creeping up, closer and closer until...the little foal is now afternoon tea.

If you stop paying attention to your fitness, guess what? The fat will get laid down, cell by cell, not calling attention to itself, as stealthily as a Predator drone seeking targets of opportunity
over Afghanistan. You don't really notice anything wrong for awhile. But eventually, when your clothes start feeling a bit tighter than usual, what happens? You blame the dry-cleaner.

Some of us don't start to really show weight gain until it gets to 30 or 40 pounds. When it gets to the point that we can't deny the truth any longer, we  feel discouraged and defeated. How am I going to lose this 40 pounds? Dieting is a waste of time! I'm OK the way I am! Etc.

The only way to avoid this unhappy outcome that I have found is to beware the creep. I have to stay on top of it or it will get so out of hand that the difficulty of fixing it seems overwhelming. It's so much easier to trim off 5 extra pounds than it is to confront and defeat 50 or more.

So take my advice and beware the creep!

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