Get Ready For Disappointment; Your Weight Will Go Up And Down

Hello weight losing fans...

Today I stepped up onto the Magical-Digital-Scale weighing in at 187-pounds.

Oh come on David, what's with you? Why aren't you shattering those weight records everyday? Why aren't you losing weight everyday? Hey, and aren't you going into reverse here? Aren't you up three pounds from your record? Umm, golly boys, and girls, I don't know what happened.
Golly, I am so sorry. NOT!

If I Lived For Others Opinions I'd Be Frustrated
I have a family member who belongs to a weight losing club. (It's not Weight Watchers. So calm down.) She has belonged to this group for years, years, and years. She actually pays dues to this group and every week she dutifully drives to attend a weekly weigh in.

Many years ago she actually became the queen of the group. She attended a convention; they put a crown on her and one of those queen like looking robe things. She was photographed and published nation wide in their news letter.

She was so happy that she received the recognition and announced it to everyone who called that she achieved the most weight loss and that she was crowned the queen.
For her it was a great accomplishment and she was so proud. Then something happened.

As life wore on, and the memory of her glory started to fade, she slowly returned to where she was. She regained all of the weight that she lost, and today is even heavier than she ever was in her entire life. She is almost as heavy as I am now. Even though she remained a part of this group, she eventually kept gaining weight.
That's not good.

She Depended On The Wrong Motivation
The reason she lost weight was two fold: One, she really wanted to lose weight; Two, she was using the opinions and encouragement of the crowd to urge her on. There may have been other factors that helped motivate her as well, perhaps the encouragement of a now gone family member.

The motivation that comes from other people can be both uplifting, and crippling. My family member wanted the attention that came from being held up as someone who accomplished something. She wanted the accolades of the crowd and this pushed her on to shed a tremendous amount of weight. In the end it was her ultimate undoing.

It's like the football athlete who plays football to go to the Superbowl, or the track star who tries to get into the Olympics just so they hear the cheer of the crowds, and get famous. In the end when the crowds go home and the stadium is empty they are left standing looking at the empty chairs, and there is no one left to cheer them on anymore.

It's a hollow empty feeling for the person who is motivated by what others think or want; or the cheer of the crowd. When they go home, who's left to cheer?

I Don't Live For The Crowd
I was one of those people who was easily persuaded by people's opinions. I was especially vulnerable to my girlfriends. Once they hooked me, I became putty in their hands. Well, up to a point. Then they would find out I wasn't going to bend so easily anymore. That's when I would usually lose them.

Now that I am older I don't listen so easily to people's opinions. If I do, I try to verify if they are true before I am persuaded by them. I especially don't listen to them when it comes down to my losing weight. I darn sure don't listen to the preponderant one's.

I don't want the approval of the crowds when it comes to losing weight. Oh, I tell people about it. I really don't care what they have to say about it. They can scorn me and say I am a fool.
I don't care.

I saw what the crowd can do to damage a person's will to do something for himself, or herself. I hate the crowd mentality. We'll do it as a team. We'll lose weight together. Follow us.

Then when the crowd turns and leaves what's left? Nothing is left.

If you are losing weight for anyone else but for you and God then you are eventually going to fail. (In this case I mean God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I don't mean Alla. Alla's a rock in a brick building that idiots worship.)

Losing weight is a life long process. It's going to be an every hour, every minute, every second kind of thing. As long as I have breath, my sanity, and memory, I will fight the "Battle Of The Bulge."

No one can fight this fight for me. It's impossible to surround myself with the kind of people that I would need to motivate me to lose weight. I don't have the money, and I don't have enough people who care.

No One Can Do It For You
Face the truth. No one can lose the weight for you. No one. You have to find the motivation that will last a life time to lose weight. No organization, no people, no group, no doctor, no TV show is going to stop you from stuffing your face with the wrong stuff.

You are nuts if you think that people really care what you are going through. Listen, most people are too preoccupied living to worry about you. You have to worry about you when it comes to getting off the weight.

Unfortunately I am the only one who is going to hit you in the face with the truth.

Someone Was Brutally Honest With Me
Last year someone who has known me for a little over three years remembered what I looked like three years ago. I was around 205-pounds. I gained weight and was up at 240-pounds.

This man asked me what happened and told me that I look like a big fat pig. That hurt my feelings and left me frustrated. He was only telling me the truth. It was his opinion. However it was actually what I was already thinking.

I knew that I was rapidly gaining weight. I just kept slapping on the pounds with more and more food. That scalding he gave me vibrated inside my being.

I wanted to lose weight. But, I couldn't do it because I was called a fat pig. I had to find better reasons to lose weight than some name someone tagged me with.

The same will be true for you. You have to find a better reason to lose weight than the opinion's of other people. You have to get motivated for you.

Learn To Face The Discouragement
Something I have learned along the weight losing trail is that my weight is going to vary wildly.
My weight goes up, and it goes down. I have seen it jump as much as five pounds per day.
It may because I have drunk a lot of water and haven't eliminated yet. It may be because I ate a lot of food the day before and haven't eliminated.
It may also be caused by actual weight gain from fat.

It doesn't matter why I have jumped up in weight. I still have to take in stride as a part of the process. I am not losing weight for some club or weigh in.

I don't pay some fine because I didn't hit the goal. I am losing weight for a totally different set of reasons than some external motivation that will not last.

I don't get frustrated when I see my weight jump up. And I won't have to pay some fine for it.

I usually know what causes the jump in weight. Here is why; I keep a written record of everything that I have eaten. I can just about predict when I am going to have a problem. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised when I actually lose weight when I know I probably shouldn't have.

I am following a long term trend. I am careful on most days with my food consumption. I can't help but lose weight with this kind of a lifestyle. I may not see the pounds peel off every single day, but they will eventually disappear. Eventually...

So, if you think that I am wrong. So be it. It's just my opinion. However, I am someone who lost 55-pounds by his own initiative. Well, and with the Holy Spirit's power. Let's not forget that.

But, let me tell you something. Cut your food intake for the day in half. Ride out those hunger pains. They do hurt. Find out that you will lose weight.

Bye for now...