3.25.2011

The power of positive?

My workplace is undeniably health-friendly.  We have one day a week where the menu options in the caf are all healthy - and a salad bar every day.  We have a workout facility in all the main buildings - one even has a walking path in the warehouse!  They have Weight Watchers at work.  They offer the program I joined that kick-started this whole thing.  We win awards (and funding, I'm sure) for our workplace health initiatives.  We even have an entire office dedicated to healthier living at work.

It's from that office that we got an email about March being National Nutrition Month.  March is probably our busiest month at work, so I haven't even had a chance to read the email until now.  Such is life.

But, I popped open the link for the American Dietetic Association, and was excited.  Yeah, I know.  Another website about "how to lose weight."  Well, I clicked on "Healthy Weight Loss," then "Back to Basics for Healthy Weight Loss."  Sounded like a good way to go.  I have to think it was.

In the first paragraph, there was a sentence that just kind of struck me.  "If you've lost and found the same pounds several times before, it's probably time to go back to the basics of a healthy weight."

I'll be honest:  I didn't read the article past that sentence.  I was just so excited that I had to blog.  Ha.  I just love that they say "lost and found" in regards to weight.  I like it better than "lost and gained."  I like things that don't sound SO negative when it comes to weight loss.  For me, it's really important to think more positively than negatively.  That's just my nature.  There's something about the easy forgiveness in saying that you've "found" that extra weight again.

I suppose this is the point at which I need to say that I don't think it's "okay" to yo-yo diet.  The fact of the matter (Or "Here's the thing" as my mamacita would say) is that it's going to happen.  You're going to lose all this weight, and some of it is probably going to come slinking back into your life.  Probably in the form of a gratuitous number of Shamrock Shakes.  Oops.  I don't think there's any shame in it.  It's not like two pounds found negates 60 lost.  Or 10 lost.  We can't think like that.  Thinking like that only adds to the resounding sense of failure that we feel just at being overweight.

While I don't like finding the weight any more than anyone else, I think there's nothing that I can do but accept it, say "bummer - let's do better tomorrow" and move on.  Move to a place where I can  focus on the positive fact that I've lost some weight, and zero in on what's left to go before I hit my ultimate goal.  Finding the light at the end of the tunnel, instead of focusing on the darkness that might be all around.

Sorry if this is a little rambling.  It's been a long day.  :)

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