Doing Hard Time

Summer's almost a memory, and now we're smack in the middle of the hardest time of the year for weight loss. And, sorry to say it, but the two weeks preceding Labor Day weekend are usually remembered as the worst of times for all of us in terms of weight gain!

Up to this point we've hung in and lost, or at least maintained; however it has not been easy! In fact, it has felt a lot like swimming against the tide, and if you're like me, you're running out of strength and there's a real chance of drowning! Now's the time to decide: will you give in, stop treading water, and sink like an olive in a martini? In other words, will you hit the pool parties and barbecues and chow down on the hot diggity dogs you so diligently avoided all summer, or will you try to stay focused?  It's still your choice, you know.

I might seem like ages ago, but try to remember back a few months to the late spring when you could see victory on the horizon. Where is that optimism now? Perhaps that little voice on your shoulder has been baiting you with absurd ideas, insisting that you deserve some guilt-free fun enjoying your favorite summer goodies?  Is the voice also suggesting that you've been way more active than usual? Perhaps it's reminding you that kids and company spell crisis for every healthy eater, and it's not your fault? Maybe it's even lulled you into a making a deal: weekdays diligence; weekends be damned? I'm absolutely certain that it's whispering assurances that you'll totally get it together the minute you put the kids on the school bus! After all, the brisk autumn breeze always motivates you to set sail!

And so your mind starts spinning, and you think the thoughts of every delusional dieter who says to herself, summer after summer, "I should just eat away 'cause Labor Day weekend is only two weeks from now and it's going to be crazy, and I'm so stressed out, why should I try to plan meals that nobody eats? I'm so tired of throwing out perfectly good food! Look at all the beautiful produce I toss 'cause I don't have time to prepare it. I just need a break. Who cares? No one! And if it bothers them, then they really don't understand me, and they don't care about me! Not really, 'cause if they cared, they would accept me just the way I am, leave me alone, stop judging, stop giving me the look every time I eat something!  It's just two more weeks. I know what I'm doing. BACK OFF ALREADY!!"

Feel better?  Here's the thing: you can't let the summer heat and humidity turn your plucky resolve to a puddle of remorse!  You don't want to give in now and gain back what you lost last spring and kept off until this moment! Nobody is really having a ball and eating whatever suites her fancy.  Nobody!  We are all in the same boat, trying not to drown before the tide goes out. We are all struggling to realize a mere half-pound loss, or to maintain, at the very least!

So, this is my advice: get a grip!  You haven't gone overboard yet, and if you think you have, climb back on deck and keep it as clean as possible. This will help you keep your weight gain to a minimum and even allow you to lose the bit you might have put on during vacation.  The truth is that the only thing summer's end will bring is weight gain-unless you understand that you're in the throes of the same repetitive cycle that has created your difficulties with weight forever.  Allow me to explain the cycle in the hope that naming and defining it will empower you finally to break it.

I'll begin with the first of the year, since that's when the general population jumps aboard the soon-to-be-sinking ship!  January first. A very special day. On this first day of the New Year we chant mantras and vow allegiance to our object of worship: the All American Diet. We set our sights on the pot of gold, and vow that on this sacred day we shall get on board and set sail for the Promised Land. Unfortunately, the only ship that sails on January first is the HMS Tomorrow.  The Tomorrow usually cruises through your consciousness until mid to late January, when you finally get all hands on deck working together to catch the breeze that will start your journey back to the self you dream of becoming. 

Ah, but the going is slow...Until March moves in with warmer weather, the promises of spring, and the seasonal winds that get your sails billowing! At this point, nothing can stop you! You're on the plan (my plan, perhaps?); you've dusted off the gym card and laced up the Nikes you got for Christmas, and it's truly smooth sailing! You finally have it together, and you're inspired every day by the pounds you're leaving in your wake.  Feeling victorious, and anticipating a summer of delightful conditions for exercise, fabulous produce to prepare in elegant dishes, and flaunting a slimmer you, you are finally in the groove. The months roll by and before you know it, it's the end of June and you're riding high! 

But then the humidity kicks in, and the July seas become stormy.  The heat, the hot dogs, the barbecues, the bloat; the endless weekends of fun in the sun add up to nothing short of disaster! Suddenly, you realize you're not hearing the things to which you've become accustomed.  No more, "You look phenomenal, baby."  And so you pause to look. You notice the swollen feet and hands and think, "Well, it's water weight. Nothing to worry about." Until, that is, you have to resort to wearing looser summer clothes. Then, one day in August you make the fatal mistake of getting on the scale. It flashes numbers you haven't seen in a very long time. The thing's run amuck! It has to be broken. Right? Do you dare try to prove it?  Do you chance walking the plank? Do you try on the jeans you haven't worn since June?

Oh no! What happened? It was just a few barbecues!  All you did was go to a couple of barbecues like everyone else! Right? This is so unfair! And, as if it's coded into your DNA, you begin to go adrift.  You compromise your commitment. What's the use, you've already blown it, right? You're up a couple of pounds and officially done, right?  Well, what you don't realize is that all of your work has kept you from gaining big time up to this point! If you jump ship now, you'll only start adding weight that you'll have to lose in September. And let me point out something you don't want to hear. That soothing inner voice telling you that the cooler, more tightly structured days of September are made for effortless weight loss is flat out lying. In fact, you have been listening to that fairy tale since the day you learned to rationalize irrational behavior! Historically, the weight you lose in September is the weight you gained during the summer-especially the last weeks of the summer. Thus, the cycle continues and you spend September and October losing the August weight, remembering that the August weight is the weight you lost in the spring.

And so the cycle spins. The fall weather is wonderful, and you're in sync all over again, just in time for the holiday season. And yes, you now find yourself losing control all over again. The weight you lost in the fall is the weight you will gain back at this point in the cycle.  As if on cue, the little voice begins its alluring work. It's the holiday season, and you deserve a break today! Dutifully, you start doing things you would have never done in October.  You let go just a little bit in November. And then a bit more before Christmas. And even more between Christmas and the New Year, secure in the knowledge that immediately after the ball drops, you'll have your chance to chant and avow and prostrate yourself at the alter of reinvention. Except that all you will do is begin the cycle anew. The weight you gained in the winter you'll lose in the spring; the weight you'll lose in the spring you'll gain in the summer. The weight you'll gain in the summer you'll lose in the fall; the weight you'll lose in the fall, you'll gain in the winter. Ah, thank goodness for January first! 

Do you believe me? This is truly how it works! So, if you really want to get to the Promised Land you have to break the cycle. The rational part of you knows that even if you broke one link in the cycle you would reap the benefits.  All you have to do is change the part where you gain. Figure out where it always shows up for you and fix it! Change it! Man up! It only takes a month or two to break your cycle and move quickly to your goal!   

So, before you throw in the towel and begin giving yourself what you deserve, why don't you start giving yourself what you have worked for this entire year, and the year before that and every one before that? That is what you deserve! 

I guarantee you won't find the Promised Land unless you keep your promise to yourself just once and refuse to give in to the temptations of the fleshy!