Give it 12 Weeks. Don't Quit.

Stages of Weight Loss:

I love this photo (left). I love it because I did not know this before! I knew about the predictable stages of weight loss. I did not know about the results phases/stages.

What are the stages of deciding to Diet and Exercise? Well, contrary to popular belief, for most of us the dieting and exercise phase rarely comes after reasoned and careful thought about our health. For the  most part we don't wake up one morning and think, "You know, I'm really fat. I should lose weight." It takes the loss or pain of something, a job, our health, our spouse, a relationship; or the humiliation of being who we are in a society that hates fat people.

No, the decision to "do something about our weight" usually comes after:

STAGE ONE

• Suddenly seeing oneself in a photo, a mirror or a reflection in a store window unexpectedly.
• Having someone on the street, in a store or restaurant call you "fat," or worse.
• Your doctor says, "Been nice knowing you, you'll be dead before your next checkup," or, "Seriously, do you have a death wish or what?"
• You faint, lose your balance or can't catch your breath after getting up off the couch, toilet or out of bed.
• You have to rest half way up one flight of steps.
• You have to rest on the way back from the mailbox, and it's just 30 feet away.
• You have to "squeeze" into the front seat of a car.
• You wonder "how much walking" you're going to have to do if you agree to go somewhere with friends.
• Your children tell you you're "too fat" and you embarrass them. 
• Your children don't want to be seen with you because of your size.
• You fall down and you can't get up and no one will help you because they're afraid they'll hurt their back helping you simply stand up.
• You fall and have to roll over on your hands and knees to get up.
• You no longer need a table to set your dinner plate and glass on—your stomach works just fine as a level surface.
• You notice you use your stomach as a second shelf.
• If married, or in a relationship, you honestly can't remember the last time you had sex and your spouse doesn't seem to care.

There are thousand of other "aha" moments. Fill in your own.

STAGE TWO

Whatever it takes to break through our denial of how much weight we've gained, is followed by Stage Two which consists of an exclamation, "OMG Am I really THAT FAT??!!!" which is followed by:

• A Food Binge.
• Depression.
• Copious amounts of tears.
• A Biggest Loser seasons 1-13 Marathon while consuming gallons of ice cream and piles of junk food and telling yourself the contestants are "way fatter than you,"
• Taking a week off from work because you're suddenly "too fat" to show up — as though you honestly believe that no one else noticed this about you before now.
• A decision to "lose weight."

Stage Three

Once the decision to go on a diet and lose weight, is made, stage three follows. This is where, gripped by firm determination to "actually stick with diet and exercise this time," you then:

• Spend a weekend in the bookstore looking at diet and exercise books before buying at least two of each.
• Spend an evening, or a weekend, shopping for "new workout clothes and equipment."
• Orchestrate another Biggest Loser Marathon weekend while drinking water and feeling righteously smug that "this isn't as hard as you thought it would be."
• Tour and join a local gym, while remarking how long it's been since you even thought of the Y.M.C.A. as anything except a disco dance song.
• Go to sleep blissfully sated with the excitement of the new clothes, new shoes, new exercise DVDs, new gym membership, new exercise clothes.

Stage Four

Stage three is followed by Stage four, actually working out and eating right. It can last from two days up to two weeks or even two months (my all time record), at which point the "diet and exerciser" is swayed from their weight loss mission by:

• Soreness.
• A realization of how much time and money exercise and eating right actually takes.
• A realization of how they've suddenly doubled the amount of laundry they have to do now that they are sweating, showering and changing clothes so often.
• Lack of willpower.
• Lack of discipline.
• Fear of being skinny.
• Fear of dying on the treadmill.
• Family and friends who continue to enjoy eating like pigs and staying skinny (life is not fair), while you struggle more and more.
• Self-pity at how hard this is.
• Depression at the realization that the fat didn't creep on overnight and it's sure not going to leave overnight.
• The realization that it's far harder to lose the weight than to find it.
• The realization that you don't really "lose" weight...you beat it off of your body with a series of machines and eating thousands of pounds of rabbit food.

I can't really talk about Stages Five, Six, Seven and so on...because I'm one of those people who gives up after a month or two of working out. I've never really made it to WEEK TWELVE. I can say my excuse is my health, but I think it's a combination of health and fear and lack of discipline. I want to make it to WEEK TWELVE this time. Like the picture says, "DON'T QUIT. Give it time. Give it 12 weeks." So, I'm giving it TWELVE WEEKS. Whether I fall off the logging wagon or not, or miss a day, it's NOT going to derail me. I'm doing it. If you're reading this and feeling inspired...join me!