GO BOLDLY
On July 9th, 2014, logged my breakfast in MyFitnessPal. It was a struggle to get it in there and time didn't permit me to get the rest in there. But it did get me started and I was determined to get three full days in the log that week as was my goal. I accomplished that and each week got better and easier.
Courage wasn't the lack of fear or obstacles. Courage wasn't lacking respect for fear or pretending the obstacles aren't there. Courage was dealing with them.
WITH HUMILITY
There's a certain humility I had to have to put on my shoes and get outside and walk for 20 minutes for no purpose at all, except that it was good for me to do it. Twenty minutes in a 1440 minute day wasn't going to matter and I have better things to do. But I put on my shoes and stepped out that door and walked for twenty minutes -- and did it again a few times a week for the next weeks -- and that habit has grown such that I am in the habit now of working out and have trekked hundreds of miles and worn out several pairs of shoes.
A sugar packet or a spash of milk in my coffee isn't going to help when I burn 2500-3000 a day. But in starting the process of weaning myself off of sugar and milk in my coffee, I also put the rest of my day on notice that things were changing. As I learned more about logging calories, I learned that these humble sugar packets and milk splashes amounted to over 160 Calories a day saved. A calorie saved is a calorie earned.
GIVE TO GET
You people here in /r/loseit-land and in my local weight-support group (TOPS Chapter MA 0081 Dennis) have held my hand through this, and I have held yours. Today we hold an election that will replace me as leader of my TOPS chapter: my two-years is my term limit by rule and someone else must take over. I was the Massachusetts State King for 2015. I have lost 115 pounds with MyFitnessPal, almost all of that in TOPS (I joined during my weight loss and TOPS only counts those pounds).
It was I who counted those calories, walked those many miles, and made individual days and walks into streaks and habits of behavior; however, it was you who held my hand, heard my struggles, and shared your troubles and together we supported one another. We did this together, you and I, and so it wasn't lonely. When it might have felt like a worthless or fruitless endeavor, you were there to remind me that in our daily frustrations we were doing something, and we were doing it together.
KEEP GOING
The answer to a splurge or binge, to a rough weekend, to a bout of regressive behavior, to invading relatives or a week where self-control became too far out of reach was and will always be to keep going. This 1943 paragraph has become the maxim: If you're going through hell, keep going!
Someone once asked a man how he was. He replied, “I’m going through hell!” Said his friend: “Well, keep on going. That is no place to stop!” If you seem to be going through the deep waters of physical anguish and cannot for the moment seem to gain the understanding which binds the strong man, keep on going. source
Life is not placid. We humans are evolved problem-solvers. We won't sit still for long; it seems we'll make our own drama if we don't have enough. To succeed at this, we need to anticipate that some thing at some time will throw us off course and that we will need to repoint our ship and sail again toward our destination.
BE A STUDENT
I have learned so much in all of this. What I can't do is transfer that so that someone just starting knows what I know. I can help them learn it too, but they need to have a context and that context is going to be in their life. It's going to be that thing that happened to them today, where I can shed a little light from my experience. I know this only because that's what happened for me.
I had a weight problem that affected a task at work and in a moment of humility, someone shared their before-and-after photos with me and showed me a way. That was six months or more before my first log entry, but that was the genesis of this particular effort.
THANKS FOR FIVE YEARS
I'm famous for a few things that nobody cares about.
I discovered Comcast blocking barbershop quartet music uploads and that episode launched over a decade of movement involving millions of people that they called Net Neutrality. I was the patient one of Net Neutrality but I wasn't alone. We did what we did together and we did great things.
You guys here in weightlossland have given me a kind of fame. I think you've elevated me to be a beloved uncle or something. I sure love that a lot, and I love you for doing it. I like my Net Neutrality fame but I love this more.
My goal is to continue. This isn't the end of anything, but it's a continuation. Healthy is a forever endeavor. I learned that here. I've learned not to put expiration dates in any of my goals.
My health is not my own, but it's my responsibility. If I've receive a gift, I didn't create it, but it's mine to care for. If fortune turns and my diabetes comes back, I will make the best of it. I'm not proud of my health, but I'm proud of my efforts. The health is somewhat gift, the efforts are my work toward putting me in the path to get that gift and to maintaining it as well as I can.
Thank you, /r/loseit, for five years of doing this weight-management with me and letting me do it with you.
♂56 5'11/179㎝ SW:298℔/135㎏ CW:183℔/83㎏ [3Y AMA], [1Y recap] MFP+🚶🏋+TOPS
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