After each bath, I would always step on my bathroom’s prominent fixture - my weighing scale, as if my life depended on it. As the gauge moves up, so does my hand to my mouth. The remainder of my day is then defined by the number registered on my weighing scale.
Like most women, I am a perennial weight watcher –of mine and that of others. I would not be called “Chubby Abby” for nothing. When I was young, I thought it was cute. Now, I cringe each time I would be called by that name. I now understand that “Chubby” never rhymed well with "sexy."
My “affair” with the weighing scale started about three years ago, when wanting to get rid of my excess pounds, I was introduced to a variety of weight-loss programs where I lost my cash, but never my bulge. Conscious of my weight, as I already spent hundreds of dollars to trim it, I thought of buying a weighing scale to monitor every milestone of my journey. Alas, the journey was never forward, it was a chronicle of weight-loss setbacks that ultimately made me depressed – and so I ate more.
Until I discovered the “laws” to effective weight-loss, tossed on my lap by a friend, who like me, had a turbulent battle with excess fat. Be careful with these laws, lest they “trick” you into believing they’re simple, thus, easy. It is this simplicity which makes them difficult to follow. The resoluteness of our purpose often surrenders to things we consider less important, like eating less but eating well.
Law #1: Aim low and hit it.
Be realistic. There is no short-cut to becoming healthy. Just like habit, it does not happen overnight. Repetition is an effective form of learning. Thus, ways to healthy eating and living have to be learned again and again. Go slow but steady.
Take hold of a calendar to jot down your progress in cutting down calories daily from your food intake. A 250 caloric-slash daily will tantamount to a half-pound of fat, off your waist, over the weekend. Do this regularly and you will be amazed at the results.
Law #2: Eat less.
These are the magic words to a liberating experience from excessive weight gain. The problem with most people wanting to lose weight, they often forget their purpose in a bowl of chicken teriyaki or a plateful of baked macaroni.
Be conscious of what you eat, lest it show on your waist.
Law #3: Eat healthy.
Limit fat in your diet. What you will have difficulty taking out should not be allowed to enter your body. This is the simplest approach to weight loss.
Law #4: Examine your life.
Do you seek comfort in food when you are depressed? Most of those who gain excessive weight admitted to have used food as an emotional crutch. Feelings of inadequacy, emptiness and helplessness are dealt with better by either a psychiatrist or psychologist – not by food,
Law #5: Commit.
How strong is your desire? The success of your weight-loss program depends on the regularity and intensity of this desire. Commit to good health, rather than the fleeting desire to look good for someone, or for something.
Law #6: Press On.
No matter how determined you are to lose weight, sometimes you will fall occasionally to “sin” – like tucking a bar of chocolate under your pillows –no matter, just press on. As you step on your weighing scale every morning, resolve to do better everyday. Renew this vow before your mirror, as you stare back at the image before you. Never give in to the feeling of helplessness, no matter how strong. Rome was not built on one day, same with your goal to redefine your life by reinventing your self-image.
Never lose sight of your goal. Hold a mental image of yourself the way you wanted to look. The longer you hold on to that image, it will slowly, but surely manifest in your life.
