OK, so I didn’t try to eat the starship Enterprise but sometimes it seems like I’m trying to eat pretty much everything else. For someone who often complains about the need to lose weight, which would indeed ensure continued good health and promote better athletic endeavors, I do not seem to work with equal consistency toward achieving that same goal.
In mulling over the various justifications for this behavior, some common themes appear: (1) “I was stressed out and didn’t care. I wanted the ______ [fill in blank with any greasy, sweet and/or readily available unhealthy indulgence] and so I ate it.” ; (2) “The food was there and it looked/smelled good. I couldn’t resist”; (3) “I brought healthy food to work but when it was time to eat it, I wanted something else instead”. Often all three of these work in concert. And finally, the rarest but still too-plentiful of excuses: “I was bored.”
These are unacceptable cop-outs. At this point, I have not failed to finish (or even suffered greatly during the completion of) any of the events which I’ve started. But this great big 26.2 mile marathon is larger (by 100% in fact) than anything attempted thus far. Saying I wasn’t able to give it my all because “I was too stressed out, I flip-flopped on healthy eating and I couldn’t resist cake” is going to sound really stupid if I am not in good enough shape to go the long distance. “I was too bored to eat right” sounds even worse. When my patients come to me with excuses like these as to why they can’t control their blood pressure or glucose levels, I feel like they are being irresponsible and will surely be sorry later if they even live to regret their mistakes. It is time for me to practice what I preach.
I’m going to take a hint from the 12-step programs I promote at my volunteer job. I’m going to take it one day at a time. A perfect day will be one in which I consume 600-1000 calories less than I expend. For every seven of these days that get strung together, I can lose 1.25 – 2.00 pounds. I know how to do it. I’ve done it before. I teach it to people every day. All I really need to do is BE SERIOUS ENOUGH to ditch the excuses, postpone immediate gratification, and FOCUS on the absolutely ginormous reward of finishing that race.
126 days remain before the Berlin Marathon. Somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds wait to be kicked to the curb in that interim. It will be done. ONE DAY AT TIME.
More later…
Boldly running where I've never gone before 