Lean and Hard

If you've followed my weight loss, my efforts to get and stay lean and hard (I won't call it a "journey;" nothing should be called a "journey" that isn't a literal "journey," OK?) and haven't just arrived at today's entry, you'll know that I started out at 303 and am trying to maintain 173, for a loss of 130 pounds. It took about a year, and now I'm learning how to keep my weight where I've decided it should be. So, what have I learned so far about maintaining?

First, I've learned that I am in control of my weight. I can weigh whatever I decide is right for me. Ever since I found out about switching to complex carbs, I've been able to control my eating and find the energy to exercise. I've been able to be in the driver's seat again. This is important for me to keep as a first principle in life. I've proven to myself that I'm not at the mercy of circumstances or other people. My weight is up to me.

Second, I've learned that I can't stay at an exact weight on a daily basis. It would be virtually impossible to wake up each morning and weigh exactly 173 pounds. Instead of attempting the impossible, I have to allow myself to fluctuate above and below that weight by a margin of a few pounds. It's sort of like the vibrato a vocalist uses to maintain pitch, or a violinist uses to convey emotion from his instrument. There are times when I'll eat a bit more than I need to maintain my weight, and times when, in order to get back where I need to be, eat a bit less. The key is that I'll average the right number of calories over time, keeping an eye on my weight regularly in order to stay on top of it.

Third, I've learned that food and exercise aren't my life's ultimate focus in and of themselves. They are only the means to a much more important and fulfilling end, that being to be my best in order to love and serve others in caring relationships and productive work.

Do these lessons resonate? If so feel free to add your thoughts by commenting!

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If you know your Greek mythology, you're familiar with the story of Sisyphus, who was a king consigned as punishment to the futile business of pushing a boulder to the top of a hill, only to watch it roll back down to the bottom again, over and over again forever. This was his fate. He could do nothing to change it. Or could he?

Many of us see it as our immutable fate to be overweight, unhealthy, uncomfortable in our own skin, tired and unattractive, huffing and puffing our way through life. Like Sisyphus, we've tried rolling the boulder up the hill many times, only to watch dejectedly as it always rolled back down again. We've dieted, lost a few pounds, and gained it all back and more. So we've given up.

That was exactly my situation. As it turns out, it wasn't my fate to be fat and unhealthy. There's no question there's some comfort in giving up. It's easier to accept the way things are than it is to fight against our circumstances. But if you don't like the way things are, you can do something about it. I'm a bit rebellious by nature, don't like feeling hemmed in by circumstances. I can be realistic about things I can't change, but there's a lot we can change if we're prepared to defy what seems to be our fate.



Another story that relates to this point is the description I once heard about how animal trainers control elephants. They use a strong chain that's firmly anchored at one end into the ground and attached to a manacle on the animal's leg at the other. The elephant learns that he can only go so far before the chain pulls him up short. After this lesson sinks in, the trainer can use a much weaker chain that's only barely stuck into the ground, a constraint that the powerful animal could easily break free of. But the elephant has learned that he cannot break free and has long since given up trying.

So instead of giving up, or trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, perhaps it's time to find a better way. A way that works, that breaks us free from our addiction to simple carbs and the hunger they cause. A way that understands that fad diets are a waste of time and money, that gets back to sound fitness principles. A way that lets us transform our bodies and defy fate. It's time to set the boulder aside and make a change!

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