Yesterday, I was at the gym carrying two 25 lb weights up and down 4 flights of stairs, two steps at a time. When I first started this exercise 9 months ago, I could only carry 1/5th of the weight, with two 5lb weights and most steps one at a time. I realized that as my strength and muscle mass have increased, my fat and weight have decreased.
So, you have to "put the weight on to take the weight off." That is, the more weight I can carry, and train to carry, in my workouts, the less weight I have to carry on my knees, my back and in my mind throughout the day itself... it's putting this weight on in my thirty minute session that produces the magic of taking it off in the other 23.5 hours of the day.
Of course, the challenge that weighs on my mind is that the weight may come on again in the next few weeks or months or years, and then I'll go through the endless kick-starters to get it off again. That's a different can't of weight. I'm okay with that. As long as I'm conscious of the pattern and the reasons for the gain, and have peace around them.
For example, overindulging with family and friends during the holiday season is a good one, drowning my sorrows in the pantry mourning the loss of a loved one is a "bad" one... but as Shakespeare says, "nothing is good or bad, only thinking makes it so." I think I'll be working towards that maintainer this time, because that's a real challenge! Maintaining my weight through the joys and sorrows, that is the ultimate goal for 3-5years to establish long term success. Then again, there are some fabulous exceptions and "joys to the rule." Having a baby would be one of them. That's what happened to me after my second dietbet ever;)
But i digress! For now, let's stay true to taking the weight off, friends, and making goals that keep us on point... bikini competition, anyone? Hee hee hee. Not if the prospect weighs heavy on your mind!! That's the blank within the blank of where the weight starts: in our souls.