You hear people say there’s no such thing as an ex-alcoholic, that even if he hasn’t had a drink in twenty years, he’s still a “recovering” alcoholic. Cancer is a bit more forgiving — you are in “remission” for a few years, but can eventually be declared “cured.” And then there’s something like athlete’s foot or bronchitis, where you have it, and then it goes away, and you no longer have it.
I wonder where weight problems fit in the spectrum. I was recently reading the blog of a guy who has lost over 200 pounds. His name is Tony Posnanski, and the only reason I have heard of his is because his brother is my favorite baseball writer. Anyway, Tony wrote a blog post called “What Successful People in Weight Loss Rarely Say…,” and he said this:
I know how to lose weight. But I also know that I will struggle.
I thought once I was there, it would be easy. But it was not. It never will be.
… I will struggle with food.
What Tony seems to be saying, I think, is that he will never be cured. He will never reach a point where he can stop being vigilant. He will always have a weight problem, even when he weighs the perfect amount.
I can understand that point. And to be honest, Tony has lost a lot more weight than I have, he is currently in better shape than I am, and I admire the heck out of him for what he has accomplished. I find his blog inspiring and motivating and intriguing. I think he is great.
And I hope he is wrong. Or, I should say, I hope what is true for him will not be true for me.
I’ve been going for ten months. In the grand scheme of things, ten months is not very long. But in the life of a guy who has never before stuck with anything health-related for more than three months, it is an eternity. In those ten months, I’ve lived a normal life. I’ve had ups and downs, major life changes (both good and bad), frustrations and joys and tons of different emotions. I’ve been through every major holiday that involves food — Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, my birthday, and the birthdays of my wife and all three kids.
And I have succeeded. I have not cheated. Every single day the past ten months, I have followed the plan I laid out for myself. Every. Single. Day.
So when I look to the future, I don’t see it as a struggle. I don’t see myself as someone with a latent weight problem just waiting to unleash itself if I’m not careful. I see myself as a healthy person who is still following the healthy plan I laid out for myself on October 29, 2012, every single day. Not because I’m afraid of what will happen if I don’t, but because I am excited for what will happen because I do.
Maybe it’s semantics. Maybe it’s a distinction without a difference. But it is important to me, because I want to be cured. Like I’ve said before, I’ve spent enough of my life as a fat person — I sure don’t need to be fat even when I’m skinny.
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