Can You Do This?
This is timely for me, not because of the exercise, but because of the diet. I woke up and weighted as usual this morning, and I am 107.2 lbs. today. That means that I am still about 2.2 pounds away from where I want to be on Wednesday for the support group meeting. However, starting today, dieting will become very challenging. I have a lunch meeting that I have to make, followed by a girl's night out tonight and this is only Thursday. The whole weekend is jam packed with festivals that Alan is playing at, song release parties and even an 80's night at my friends house--complete with a full 80's band. It's going to be really hard to stay anywhere as disciplined as I need to stay. Every choice is going to be important and will test my resolve. In the end, it comes down to how bad do I want this.
Well I guess that answers the should your or should you not work out today question.
Don't forget about one very important aspect in life...balance. I am not saying forget about it and go eat, drink, and party your ass off all weekend and who cares about the 3-5lbs you might gain. I mean find the balance between what you want to do and what you need to do. Maybe the 2.2lbs can wait but also maybe you behave at half of the functions you have an play at the other half. We all have times of the year when things pickup and slow down socially, you appear to be in a busy time.
You don't want to get to the point where you resent the weight loss journey because you can't have fun and enjoy life. I know you don't think that way, but I am afraid that mindset is one of the paths that can lead to failure. Throughout my career I always heard people talk about work/life balance and I always dismissed it until I became so burned out I could barely function. I am not Zen in anyway, although I wish I could be if I only had more patience, but as I get older the balance thing starts to make a lot more sense and not just work life, but everything. I have always talked about Yin/Yang, but weight loss is a good example of balance. It takes diet AND exercise, within diet is the right balance of carbs, protein, fats. To be happy you need to balance work (not just job/career but also housekeeping, lawn, chores, etc) and fun.
I have a great story about my recent trip to Nashville. There is a bar there called Tootsies Orchid Lounge. Its a lot of fun but I never really enjoyed it because it is a very narrow and often extremely crowded bar. I go to Nashville every year for CMA Music Fest. At 384lbs it was never very fun. I was always sweaty, couldn't get to the bathroom without jamming my way through people an NOBODY wants to be squeezed by a sweaty fat guy. This year at a svelte 220 and by all comparisons in that place a very normal sized Keith had a freaking blast. I could get to the bar, squeeze through the crowd and hell women actually stopped to talk to me too. My time in Nashville before was not balanced i was going through the motions.
You are incredibly good at what you do, but I don't think is necessarily a one versus the other choice. i think its a choice of how are you going to balance your social life with your personal goals. So maybe its really a plan of action rather than a choice. A choice to me sounds very final.
Clearly I am in a writing mood today. This is like the 5th long ranting post or message I have written today. Now if I could just focus on work.
