By
Laura Dion-Jones
Laura Dion-Jones
"That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you.
But other people who do will come along."
Lisa Alther
American novelist, (1944 - )
I ran into a lovely woman at the health club the other day that lives in my building. She has watched me shed 130 pounds and now maintain that weight loss for about seven years, including squeezing off another 20 pounds over the past year - and has voiced her admiration of my accomplishment on several occasions.
She's pretty shapely and spry, a tad older than I, and has admirably shaved off some pudge of her own recently. She doesn't seem to have that much more to lose, but it's those frustrating, final few pounds that cling to your butt like white on rice that are making her crazy.
This morning she stopped me for a little chat saying that she reads my article, "Acquire the Desire," over and over again for inspiration and motivation. However, she has been stalled at a weight plateau for months and can't seem to get off it. "What do you do when this happens to you?" she inquired.
I told her I just happened to be in the exact same shoes as her at the moment and that she and I need to jolt our systems in order to blast some of our stubborn weight off and get the numbers on our scales moving in a downward direction once again.
She said she's a Weight Watchers Gal and that it has always worked the best for her - up till now, that is. She is accustomed to dropping two pounds a week on a consistent basis, but lately she just can't seem to shed any more weight. Every week when she gets on her scale it says the same old thing. This plateau stuff is very discouraging and it's getting her down.
I can relate. But instead of getting down about it, like I would've in the past, I use it to motivate myself. The longer the plateau lasts for me, the stronger my resolve grows. Once I finally make up my mind, I grit my teeth, dig in, and begin at the beginning of my diet plan, once again.
I told my friend that I firmly believe one of her first mistakes is not weighing herself each and every day. This habit keeps me on track like nothing else. Once a week is not enough. Well, for weighing in, that is. Use that morning number as motivation, not as a defeat.
Next, she needs to do what I do regardless of what diet she's on - immediately cut the starchy, sugary, white carbs from her eating plan. Banish them totally for at least two weeks - yeah, even on Weight Watchers. And before I could get another word in, she protested, "I can't give up my little, tiny piece of crusty Italian bread! I have to eat it every day!"
"Oy. There's one of your answers," I said.
"Have to eat it?" I questioned. "Have to, as in, I have to have this one measly piece of primo, fresh, crusty, scrumptiously mouth-watering Italian bread every day or else I'm gonna drop dead right here on this very spot? That kind of have to?"
"Well, yeah," she sheepishly muttered, looking down and toeing the weight room floor with her tennis shoe as she spoke.
"That's one of your biggest problems," I countered. "It's one of the reasons you're weight's stuck. Give up the bread and everything else that's sugary, starchy and white from your diet for at least two weeks. It isn't going to kill you. Evidently if your WW eating routine isn't cutting it right now, your diet plan needs a punch.
If you can't do that, then the least you can do is give up those nasty white carbs during the week and have a nice, big piece of your favorite bread with dinner on Saturday nights. But during the week - nada. You can at least make it to Saturday evenings without bread, can't you?"
She smiled and knew what I told her was the truth. It's obviously bite the bullet time for her.
"What are you doing for daily cardio?" was my next question.
"Oh, I play tennis three times a week and walk some," she answered.
"'Walking some' isn't going to blast the weight off anyone," I told her. "Your body's used to your diet and exercise routine and needs a bigger challenge. You should be walking at least one continuous hour every single day, and then some. You know how I feel about that. You've watched me transform myself in this very way.
"There isn't any time off for good behavior with daily walking, fitness, and healthy eating. It must become a part of you just like breathing, brushing your teeth, and kissing your cat. It's way too easy to stall and then slip back into your old eating and non-exercise habits that got you into trouble in the first place. You have to be vigilant in your healthy lifestyle efforts forevermore."
Oh, sure, you can lay off once in a while or occasionally even slip up here and there, but only for one meal, only for one special day, period. Don't make a habit out of it. You have to immediately get back on your horse and begin again, otherwise you'll be right back where you started from, or worse. And that's another yo-yo we all want to avoid.
When I attended the American Heart Association's annual luncheon, Go Red! For Women, recently at Chicago's Navy Pier. One of the speakers told the story about her own heart attack and stroke. She was a lovely, vibrant woman and to look at her you'd never know she had any health issues.
She told of how, before her illnesses, she would try (sometimes not too successfully) to fit exercise into her daily routine with caring for a family and working a full-time job.
After the wake-up call of her heart attack and stroke, she had to switch priorities and fit her full-time job and family into her fitness lifestyle. We all laughed, knowingly, but it's no joke.
Heart disease is a major health threat and the number one cause of death in women. One out of three women die from heart disease or stroke annually, versus one in thirty women who die from cancer. Heart disease claims the lives of more women than men every year. Just our luck.
You must make healthy eating - and I mean really healthy eating with a good, sensible, effective diet, and daily cardio the number one priority in your life. If you don't, no one else will do it for you.
You never know what's coming just around the next corner. And I'm sure, being the curious gals and guys that you are, you want to be here a bit longer to find out.
Think of all the new friends you'll make!
550 N. Kingsbury St. #120
Chicago, IL 60654
312-933-7325
February 9, 2005©
dionjones@aol.com
http://www.lauradionjones.com/
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