What's My Secret to Losing Weight?

When you are a stress-eater who gets overwhelmed to the point of paralysis, worrying isn't just upsetting.  Worrying is dangerous. We get fixated on obstacles and inadvertently the focus shifts to: how I have less time to workout than I used to; or how the economy influences my training budget; or the infuriating truth that age & metabolism are stacked against me. That my friends is physical &; emotional quicksand for someone like me. I sound like gym members I talk to every day: dreamers who have goals but don't translate them into steps.

My secret is getting past worried to angry. I think of the people who make up the heartbreaking statistics on obesity, I think of the girl that I was, and all the girls like her, and in my head I hear HOW DARE YOU!  How dare you-- obesity, economy, injury, how dare you rob these people (including me) of their health and happiness!  And I refuse all of it.  I refuse to believe that "everyone gains it all back."  I refuse to concede that "there aren't enough hours in my day."  But most of all, I refuse to consider this plight as trivial.  Fitness is not a summer romance novel that I indulge in after all the "important" things get done.

 To put that in perspective immediately without spending any time or money, I take a nylon drawstring backpack and fill it with a weight that equals 5% of my current body weight.  I wear it after work and weekends so I can really FEEL what it is to knowingly and willingly carry more weight than I should and of course so I can FEEL the relief and energy that comes from putting that extra weight down.  The simulation compels me to make other small changes that have a definite impact on the scale and on my priorities.:  I trade in my pajamas for clean workout clothes for the next day so I can make the most of my early morning cardio and quell my sleepy 5am excuses.  I chew gum during times when I am prone to snacking, I add a bar bell to my back when I'm on the elliptical.  I let my stomach growl. I schedule overtime around my training sessions even though I work in sales.   In short, I translate goals into steps and I avoid the quicksand.  If I have a weight loss secret it is really a bunch of little secrets that all say the same thing:  Fitness is not an extravagance. Fitness is life &; death.  Act like it.