Stand Up To Success

Rain, it rained while we were attending our son's soccer game yesterday. It happens. When it does, you can break out an umbrella, hang in there & tough out that which would deter you, or, you can flee from that which is unpleasant. What would you be more apt to do?

Keep in mind I am talking about a rain shower, not a hurricane. Sometimes, you gotta flee! But do those of us who struggle to get fit, stay fit; do we tend to flee too easily in the face of difficulty?

A whole post could be dedicated to what "difficulty" means to us, and I may do just that near term. But let me stay focused on my point; why we choose to stand down in the face of difficulty.

This analysis could go in so many directions. There is the science of the flight-or-fight response, but I'm not talking about facing a momma-grizzly bear protecting her cubs. There is the quest for convenience and ease in life; but I'm not talking about using the remote control to change the channel versus getting up and using the buttons on the television console - want to have some fun hide the remote at a time when you know your kids will watch television; odds are they will flee for something else to do before they push buttons on the television.

Instead, I believe why we most often choose to stand down the difficulties of weight loss is really quite simple; we don't step up and make decisions before we act.

Over the past month or two I've had so many opportunities to exercise, but quickly if not almost instantaneously decided not to. No, that is wrong, it wasn't a decision, it was a reflex reaction made nearly unconsciously. Why do I unconsciously not do what I know I ought to do?

Where does that come from? I'm honestly not certain. But what I am certain of is that when I am on my game, I am consciously determining the pro/con of options and making reasoned decisions. When I am off my game, I've checked out in the decision making department. That inner-demon has checked in and unconsiously decides that I will watch tevelvision versus go for a walk.

To be successful I need to stand up to the challenge of making difficult decisions. For some of us, choosing 30 minutes of exercise over 3 hours of television is a difficult decision. Choosing 30 minutes to prepare a healthy meal over a 3 minute drive-thru meal is a difficult decision.

Success is recognizing when a decision is before you that will impact your weight.
Success is standing up, spending 3 seconds reasoning the options and before we act.
Success is making a conscious decision in the best interest of you, not your inner-demon!


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

In Short, In truth, Here I am

I've received a bunch, I mean a BUNCH,of inquiries as to ny whereabouts. I chose to reply to one of them, using that reply to organize my thoughts, and then after sending that email share them with all here via this post....

Hi Jody, thanks for checking up on me; I hope all has been well with you!

In short, everything is Ok here. Family is happy, healthy, everything is well with our home, work and school lives.

In truth, after we returned from vacation in early July I struggled to get my mojo back for forgoing ahead with my mission to slim down to 199. For a couple of weeks I kept doing the things I had been, but oddly the exercise was harder to get through, the meal discipline was harder to manage, the balancing of me-first in with my non-me priorities was harder to execute.

Even as I sit here and type now, I do not know why what was so easy, so enjoyable a year ago; I do not know why it suddenly got so hard. The best I can rationalize is that I was beginning to mentally burn out to some degree. Seeing that I knowingly decided to step back and take a break from what was proving difficult, I have no doubt that was it.

So here I am today, the weekend drawing to a close, August days away from closing as well. I've stayed away from the scale as its been a source of difficulty; difficulty in not seeing number continue downward. Today, I would guess it is 10 pounds greater than where is was a couple of months ago. Exercise has been very sporadic, my eating has been inconsistent from day to day.

Over the past couple days I've caught myself thinking more as I did a year ago. We (my wife & I) have put conscious effort into reversing the difficulty and regaining momentum. Over the next week we look to work on our consistency a day at a time. This morning we got off our butts and got them moving again in a big way with a 6.9 mile walk along a nearby forest preserve trail.

What is most frustrating is even through this difficult period, we have not forgotten how important it is to get healthy, to stay healthy. The reasons I started this mission some sixteen months ago have not changed. While the challenges and results of what we do vary from day to day, month to month; the reasons for living healthy lives are constant.

Understanding this, we must now harness the importance of these reasons in order to reclaim commitment and resume consistency.

I'll check in on your blog and those of others who I've missed this week!

p.s.. the picture at the top there is of my wife & daughter exchanging a tearful goodbye as we dropped her off at college nearly three weeks ago.


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!