My lovely wife has been a member of Weight Watchers (WW) for many years. She joined to get help losing 30 lbs. that she had gained in the years immediately after college. (In case you are wondering, my wife reviewed and approved this entire post before it was published).

WW was founded over 40 years ago by a woman who began inviting friends into her home once a week to discuss how best to lose weight. Today, it is the “world’s leading provider of weight management services,” and is dedicated to helping people “lose weight safely and effectively and keep it off.” According to their web site http://www.weightwatchers.com/, the focus is not on teaching people how to diet, but on inspiring and helping people adopt a healthier way to live. I love that philosophy … it is good for each one of us, and good for all of us.

Body. Mind. Spirit. Community.

I had the good fortune of being involved in 4-H when I was kid, and now many years later I can still recite the 4-H pledge:

I pledge …
My head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service, and
My health to better living,
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.

My wife takes the bus to the WW program office, and so I am the lucky one who gets to pick her up after the weigh-in. When she gets in my truck, she is generally either perturbed to be .43 pound over her goal weight, or delighted to be .67 pound under her goal weight.

If she is a fraction of a pound over her goal weight and perturbed, I try to comfort her by saying something like, “Well you know, Sweetie, that I will always love you just the way you are.” I’m sure that she appreciates my devotion, but she still spends the first few miles travelling down the road processing her memory of every meal she ate over the past month … trying to figure out where that .43 pound may have come from.

As for myself, I can get down to 204 lbs. if I cut my hair, trim my toenails, blow my nose, clean out my ear wax, not drink or eat anything for several hours, empty my bladder, have a bowel movement, and get completely naked before getting on the scale.

At 204 lbs., I am exactly 40 lbs. heavier than I was when I got married 10 years ago. So, if I continue to add 4 lbs. every year, I should hit 300 lbs. by the year 2033 – just in time to be looking in vain for the monthly Social Security check that I would normally be receiving at age 73.

Now I was either emaciated when I got married at 164 lbs., or I have packed on a few pounds over the years. The increased weight is not all muscle mass, I can assure you. And if I packed them on, by golly I can pack some of them off. (I refuse to believe that the extra weight has made me more jolly and huggable).

One thing I do to create a healthier lifestyle is to build exercise into my daily routine. I am so glad that my cubicle is on the 5th floor of the office building, I made up my mind when we moved into this building that I would take the stairs at all times … the only exceptions are when I am in a hurry, or when I am engaged in a business discussion with someone who is taking the elevator.

On the rare occasion when I am in a hurry and get in the elevator at the 1st floor, I must admit to being a wee bit irritated when some perfectly healthy and fit twenty-something gets in on the 2nd floor and gets off at the 3rd floor. I’m tempted to say, “Get that freakin’ fone implant out of your ear, Buddy, and get yo’ ass in the stairwell,” but I never say that because I try to be a compassionate soul.

I am also blessed by the fact that my wife is a registered Dietician, and we eat quite well around here. We eat whole-grain low-sugar cereals, low-fat or no-fat yogurt and cottage cheese, free-range organic eggs and meats (turkey, chicken, and fish), lots of fruits and vegetables, and when we bake we use whole-grain flours (not that processed white crap) and substitute applesauce or something similar for the some of the oil called for in the recipe. And scones, I ain’t giving up my scones … I eat 1 or 2 just about every week (but you didn’t hear that).

I was just kidding earlier when I talked about gaining weight every year leading up to retirement. I don’t envision myself being overweight, poor, and depressed as I enter into retirement … on the contrary, I envision myself being fit, richly blessed, and happy. I hope that you will also create within your mind a positive image of yourself and of what you want to be, and may that image in your mind empower you to manifest it in reality.
Laughter is also good for the whole being, and my prayer is that you are inspired by my blog today … and also enjoyed a few chuckles along the way (not the candy).