Joel: The Philosophy Behind Weight Loss

After yesterday's miserable failure, I'm encouraged about today. I'm excited that I only have to run for one minute. How exciting! The thing that excites and encouraged me the most is the realization that a week ago, I was dreading the thought of running for one solid minute. Now it's a challenge, but it is a surmountable challenge that I have accomplished in the recent past (yesterday) and I know that I can accomplish it again tonight before I go to bed.

Then when I got home, I was encouraged again by a post over at The Scholastic Scribe basically telling me and Carol that If George Costanza Can Do It, Wii Can Too. Essentially, Jason Alexander has signed on as an advertising spokesman with Jenny Craig. One of the comments left by a reader got me really thinking.

[H]e's probably being paid 6 figure a year to keep the weight off. i could lose weight too if they pay me!

So I wonder, is that really true? I tend to disagree. I have had a cardiologist tell me to lose 20 pounds, but it didn't change anything. This was while I was still recovering from an operation he performed on me. I don't think external motivation will cause us to make lasting change.

Sure, it may help us temporarily make some adjustments to where we can win a faculty weight-loss contest or sell millions of diet books for a while or whatever. In fact, for this reason I assume I won't win the contest this spring, because someone somewhere will go onto a low-carb or grapefruit only or some other extremely quick weight-loss method and beat me in two months. But those kinds of extreme changes aren't maintainable over a long period of time. I am looking more to see which of us is better off at the dawn of 2011. That's the real competition!

This is more than a weight-loss experiment for me, this is a starting point for a total lifestyle transformation. At least that's the goal...

So enough philosophizing for now, time for me to get out there and burn some calories!