Thirteen Ways of Looking at Weight Loss

Katherine here.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Notting Hill. It's the birthday scene and all the characters are vying for "a very good chocolate brownie" by sharing their pathetic lives and whoever has the most pitful story wins the prize. Though I think I'm supposed to root for the woman paralyzed after a car accident and unable to ever have babies, I always root for the Julia Roberts movie star character because she's been on a diet since she was ten. I can relate.

I was a skinny and athletic kid. I was a fat bookworm after puberty hit. I read a book a day and ate a pan of fudge a day. By the time I was a freshman I weighed almost two hundred pounds.

My mom rescued me through bribery. She offered me anything I wanted if I'd lose the weight. I wanted the newly invented bikini--horrible at my starting weight, but potentially cool if I lost the weight. I figured I'd look just like a blond Annette Funicello.

Mom told me to hang on for a week while she figured out how to approach the weight loss we both needed. She spent the week recording TV exercise shows onto a reel-to-reel tape recorder and writing a contract for me to sign. She agreed to exercise with me and provide healthy meals and I agreed to exercise with her and only eat what she gave me.

I started Mom's regimin in the spring of my freshman year and entered my sophomore year at a 125 pounds. It was like being reborn--good stuff happened. Mom and I abided by that contract until I left for college.

I no longer use the approaches to food or exercise Mom started over forty years ago, but I'm still constantly working to maintain my weight at 125. I gain and lose five pounds over and over again to do that. I've been doing it a lifetime.

Right now I'm working on my newest five pounds. This particular poundage is the result of a nasty sprained ankle that took a frustrating eight weeks before I could really begin working out on it and it's still not close to 100 percent. I can barely run for heaven's sake and running is what gets the pounds off the quickest.

My lack of exercise was compounded by a delicious new experience in life. During my immobile eight weeks I woke slowly, drank coffee and read the paper slowly, and left to go coach my teachers without a sense of rush or urgency. It was way cool and it's been very hard to give it up the last two weeks as we've returned to the gym and the rushing around in the morning to get there. Anyway--immobility did me in and I've just begun to attack this current extra weight.

Since I've done this so often and for so long, I decided my expertise might be worth sharing. So here are 13 ways of looking at Weight Loss

1. Visit the butcher shop. I always go to Tony's and I order a pound of hamburger. Mel (my favorite meat guy) reaches into a chilled display case and scoops up the beef and puts it on a mound on the scale. Then I look seriously at that pound of meat. I think about it while Mel wraps it up in brown paper. When he hands it to me, it feels heavy. Then I think about where I could get that pound of meat off my body. It wouldn't be easy to get that mound off of me or most folks. It's really important to see and feel what a pound is when I decide to lose weight. Losing ONE pound is monumental and I'm always elated over losing ONE pound.

2. Don't get on the scales too soon. It takes me a while before I'm sure I've lost one pound. Sometimes a month. I can tell because of how my jeans feel and how my belt buckles.

3. Realize losing real weight takes time. Aim for a pound a month. Losing one pound permanently (not just shedding water weight) is hard. I'm ecstatic for one pound in a month. If I do better, time to think about a non-edible reward.

4. Bribe yourself. Mom raised me on bribery and now I bribe myself. I'll be looking for a new belt in Jackson, Wyoming this coming July.

5. Think like Sisyphus. Losing weight is like Sisyphus in Greek mythology rolling his rock up a hill eternally. He chose to enjoy it and beat Zeus. It's better to get a mindset that likes the gym and veggies rather than resisting the necessary weight loss regimens (more activity and better calorie counting).

6. Think about fitness rather than fatness. Fitness leads to weight loss. Weight loss doesn't necessarily make you fitter. I'm trying to regain my ability to run 5 miles happily and lift weights that need ankle support. That'll make hiking in the Tetons and on Kauai this summer fun and not ardorous.

7. Read some sort of book about eating, exercising, aging--something body centered. Phillips' Body For Life made me a weight lifter and Weil's Healthy Aging added a daily 2 mile walk to my work out to fight off Alzheimers. Once I even read Carmichael's book on training Lance Armstrong and decided that was too fit for me. Anyway, reading something new in the body world makes me think in terms of my body while I'm struggling to renew my physical and nutritional habits.

8. Make resolutions. Nothing big and not about pounds. Resolving to lose five pounds doesn't do much. Resolving to eat more veggies is possible. For me, anyway.

9. Don't count, avoid. I don't count calories or carbs or anything. I know most experts suggest this. It just makes me neurotic. Instead, I practice general avoidance tactics. I avoid fats. I avoid white foods. I avoid sweet stuff. I avoid large portions of meat. I avoid sodas. I avoid a lot of foods, but I also eat and drink whatever I like now and then. Moderation doesn't make me crazy.

10. Try the push up challenge. Ironically this is something I count. Scott Hastings (former NBA player and local Nuggets broadcaster) does the push-up challenge every spring. He does 10,000 push-ups in a month. It's about 300 a day. I did it the first time after my mastecomy and before Franny's wedding before I was cleared to lift weights. It's a great way to get the upper body in shape even if you do them on your knees like I do. I'm working up to starting soon. I've gotten as high as 256 one day last week, but I couldn't move my arms the next day. I'm shooting for May for this year's challenge.

11. Look happy. Perception determines reality. If you pretend to be happy doing all this weight loss stuff for a while, it's not long before it is real. Look happy and soon you'll be happy. This works for lots of things besides weight loss.

12. Drink water. Obvious. All the experts say to, but it's hard for me to do and I have to remind myself. Lots of water.

13. Remember the 12 week rule. A sociology professor once taught me that it takes 12 weeks to make a change in your life. You can undo that change in a week. That's weight loss.

That's it for now.