I like to dive into things. I think about it, then I research the crap out of it, then I dive in. It has led me down some wrong paths, but has also taken me into grand adventures.
Where my health is concerned, the path is considerably more linear. Since around the age of 35, I have slowly, incrementally put on weight. Perhaps it would have been better had it all happened in one fell swoop. I would have looked in the mirror, flipped out, and taken a direct course. As it was, I just kept setting new thresholds. I mean, I would notice the scale creeping up, then beat it back to a new acceptable line. That number kept creeping ever upwards, and every time a new line of ten was crossed, that became the new threshold. Fifteen years later, I found myself in the obese category of every website I googled.
When I first stumbled into DietBet three years ago, it was an epiphany. My competitive side was finally unleashed, every weigh-in a personal challenge. Tremendous success, champagne corks, the works. Then the aftermath: a bit of emptiness, and loss of purpose. Slowly the number crept back up. So, more DietBets, and more success, but no concern for doing it the right way, just a mad dash to each weigh-in, the last few days an unhealthy cocktail of tricks designed to tease the scale into submission. Even that stopped working though, and I lost far more than I won.
Finally, last August, midway into a Transformer that was going nowhere, I realized that I needed an actual plan, one that I could sustain over a life journey. As I have aged, my body has changed. It no longer responds very well to quick fixes. It responds to solid commitment.
And so I did. Where I went wrong is thinking that I no longer needed this site after the final weigh-in two weeks ago. Damn, it didn't take long for things to unravel. Chip away here, chip away there, suddenly a few pounds are back on, and I'm watching four months of hard work slip away.
This morning I made the decision to take on another six-month commitment. For now, I still need this structure. I need the comfort of knowing that I have solid goals, and that if I stick with them, I will receive a small but important cash incentive, Nothing glamourous, no quick fixes, just the day to day concerted effort that this site affords me. For that I am humbled, but also grateful.
So, I take pleasure in the mundane, knowing it is exactly what I need in my life right now.