Sure, I could have expressed the time as four decades or two generations, but it boils down to the same essential meaning. Namely, this quote has been in my brain for most of my life and all of my adult life.
So, what makes it top of mind right now?
The results of my weight watchers experience for the past four weeks.
The Success Story booklet used for the weekly weigh-ins is broken into four-week sections. At the end of each section is a place to ponder the results and the goals and assess what may need to change.
I take it one step further.
I also track my Gross and Net amounts of weight lost at the end of those sections.
That allows me to see how much backsliding I'm doing and overall progress.
How about a graph to show what I mean?
See those peaks?
Those are times when the mass I drag around crept, or leapt, upward.
For instance, notice that largest peak. That started after my time in Las Vegas, last July, when I was dancing every day and night for hours.
After my return home, and my efforts to shift into "retirement" mode, mentally and emotionally, I allowed the weight to rise.
During those two months, I was also trying to determine whether to stay with WW or leave.
I decided to stay with it... than they changed the game a bit.
Some items had changed point values, so that took some adjustment, but I managed.
Clearly, I did manage, being more careful with my measurements, moving a bit more. That last part was aided by it being time to clear the lantana bushes.
(smile)
I actually managed to continue the - slightly - downward trend through the holidays.
Then, in the middle of January, my weight was up four pounds from one week to the next.
I was so very disheartened!
I almost bailed on the program, then and there... but I stayed.
I decided to begin tracking my protein intake and to concentrate on maintaining or increasing muscle, to help my metabolism.
That action at least distracted me from the numbers on the scale. It also gave me a sense of purpose to my attention to food intake.
After a month of treading water or very small losses, I knew something had to change, mentally, if I intended to truly continue.
That's when I started looking at my weight loss in terms of "gross" and "net".
That was actually a big help.
I needed to believe that my efforts were making a difference, but that wasn't all.
I needed to see numbers, other than my weight, to track my progress.
Those numbers have proven quite beneficial.
They prove to me that I am losing, even though I have quite a few instances of losing the same amount several times until it is truly gone.
(smile)
That little hill in mid-May taught me that my body has become less tolerant of salty foods.
I had reintroduced Triscuits into my life... and then I kicked them out again.
I can't, or won't, eat them in moderation, so off they went.
(smile)
Perseverance, patience, precision.
Those three words shall become my mantra.
Why all with "p" at the start?
Because I come from the state of peaches, pecans, and peanuts, of course.
(smile))
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