Vision for the Future

For many of us in our group, losing weight has been a lifetime process...something about THIS time makes us feel like it is going to work...really work.  Most of us are losing slowly at this point, unless we are doing it for the first time.  But slowly is the way we SHOULD do it.  And what we are proving, is that there is not a magic pill, a special surgery, hypnosis, therapy or other things...we are helping each other by doing it the right way...

Many of us look at our past with regret...why didn't we figure this out when we were "____" age?  Why couldn't we have done this when we were kids?  What is different now?

The problems we see in the news regarding obesity is alarming.  The part that scares me the most is in regards to our kids.  Most likely, obese, underactive kids, become severely obese very unhappy adults.  Many of us in our group were active kids...many of our issues happened as adults...and then for some of us, it has been a lifetime.

There is a town in PG County as detailed in the Post today (link below)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/a-town-trains-its-kids-for-a-5k/2012/04/17/gIQAjlN7NT_story.html?wpisrc=nl_health

that has made exercise, as a community, a focus.  Our group, has shown, that when we work, as a group for a common goal, exercise, diet, motivation is our focus---we do succeed.  It may be slow, it may not always be easy, but it does work. 

In the future, could all communities work like this small town in PG County?  Aren't we doing that, a little bit at a time in Catonsville, MD?  I think so....

Summer's Coming

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...and my fellow losers.  And, boy does it feel like it.  The sun is SHINING in Maryland, the birds are singing and everything is BLOOMING like crazy (even azaleas which bloom in late May usually in MD)...  And summer is COMING!!

This is the first time that our group supporting each other has not taken a REAL break...meaning a week between games.  Yesterday, the world was closing in on me...and I took penalties and ate a few things I shouldn't have, and well, finished the last month off basically at the exact weight I was before.  Some folks might think it was a waste...it certainly wasn't a plateau...but it was my anniversary, our spring break, Easter, a death in our community that hit us all.  Tough month.  And so is life.

So, I didn't lose at least 4 pounds.  No biggie.  I have a feeling that this group, right now, those of us playing, supporting, teasing and really rooting for each other...we are going to have a big month--Summer's Coming and these teams of men and women feel it...HERE WE GO!! LET's PLAY!!

New neighborhood, new neighborhood, time to move!

The fifty or so men and women losing weight in the same group as me are all coming to different bends in their road...hurdles, some say, not plateaus as I wrote about before, but teetering on what we refer to as "a new neighborhood." 

Everyone's new neighborhood is different, and rarely does one hint at to which 'hood they are reaching for...just one with a smaller set of numbers...going from 250 to 249 lbs...160 to 159...180 to 179...many of my loser friends, me included, come close, oh so close, only to bump back up...and that number feels OH SO DIFFERENT...even if the number is only said to oneself.

This is not just about the weight...this is about how much better we feel by doing what many have said, scientists, trainers, Oprah...eat more often, but eat less.  Eat some carb, eat some protein, don't get rid of all fat...Move more, drink less alcohol.  Drink water, lots and lots of water.  Move more.  Sleep more.  Less processed foods, more whole foods.

It all works.  Packing it all up to move to the next neighbornood might be the goal.  Or getting off heart meds.  Or using less insulin.  In our group, all these things are happening...  My advice to my fellow losers is, start packing...we are all moving to the next 'hood.  It might not be as fast as we want it to be, but by moving more, drinking more water, sleeping more, watching the fuel we put in our bodies and reducing the bad stuff that goes in our body, we will all be moving together...small clothes, healthier bodies, more confidence.  Together.