Old Habits Can Haunt

For three weeks, I've been experimenting with how I eat and when I eat. See, for a year I've been unable to budge my scale, something I really need to do. And as I observed my habits, I realized that I was doing a few things poorly. I skipped breakfast. Coffee was my breakfast. I ate no snacks. I had a small dinner. And then when I got home in the evening, I attacked the fridge like I was facing my last meal.

You may ask why it took me a year to figure out this wasn't the best way to go. Don't ask, it's pointless.

Anyway, I switched to an 1800 calorie diet. Low in fat, high in fiber, and separated into 3 meals a day with 2 snacks. The results were immediate. I began losing weight within days, and so far I haven't stopped. 3 lbs the first week. 3lb more the second week. I hope to continue the trend this week.

Meanwhile, one of my good friends joined a quick weight loss center. They track you closely, give you food in a box and have you sign in with them several times a week.

Her results have been spectacular. She's lost 12 lbs where I've lost 6lbs. I considered joining the same program. But we've both developed another great practice. We work out 90 minutes on both Saturday and Sunday. It's great working out during the day instead of after work in the dark. And doing 90 minutes is like three of our normal workouts. So we are ahead for the rest of the week. It allows us more flexibility during the week, should something else come up.

So I met her this evening at the gym. She had left work a little early to go to the quick weight loss center and get weighed. The moment I saw her on the couch waiting for me, I knew the results hadn't been what she wanted.

"Not only did I not lose weight, I gained two pounds and my blood pressure was higher." We talked for a while about the disaster she'd committed of buying the 45 calorie bread instead of the 40 calorie bread. Then we talked about exercising too much or too little.

Okay, she did. I just stared at her and asked, "Are you serious?" several times. She wanted to go home and skip dinner. I made her promise not to.

Still, I know if the same had happened to me, I probably would have been tempted to do the same things. A pound loss or a pound gain in a day is hardly a problem, particularly after a 12 lb loss. But even though we hear good wisdom, even though we know what's right and what's not, we want to get exactly what we want, when we want it. We're willing to ignore all the good wisdom at the drop of a hat because of it.

And that's the way old habits return. And that's how we fail.