I've been bouncing around these same few pounds since early February.
But perspective matters. Look at it in the context of the "journey", which started in January of 2010:
The eye really tries to keep the downward slope going through the last few months, doesn't it? It almost works as a downward trend, though as if it were approaching a limit. I could do math on this, to see if there is an actual trend here, but there are limits to how nerdy even I can get about this.
But here is the real revelation I just had. I've been recording my weight in one way or another since 1988 - at least that I can find written records for:
When you look at the time since February this year, it's just a blob. But look at where I've been in during all this time. Back in 1988, I weighed (at least for one recorded day) five pounds more than the point I'm currently stalled at. I was thirty-three years old then. For seventeen of the last twenty-three years, I weighed more than I weigh now. In 1992, I was thirty-seven years old, I had my dream job at United Airlines, my first nephew was born, I took up photography as a serious study and a part time business, and I got my pilot's license. I also fought my way down to this same weight I am today in order to have more fun on a major photography excursion to the North Slope of Alaska.
I know I'm stronger now than I was then. I like the shape my body is now, with some shoulders to balance my giant hips. I'm pretty sure pants fit me better now than they did at this weight in 1992. I can do those push-ups. I can celebrate what I have right now, without thinking about what life would be like if I achieved the weight I've had in my mind as my goal weight since my thirties.
Perspective is a wonderful thing. During most of the 1980s and 1990s, I did not keep a journal as I did when I was younger and as I picked up doing again this century. But I have some recorded history in these numbers which I like to arrange into pictures to tell a story about myself back then. I'm not satisfied with where I am or giving up going even lower, but I'm less frustrated about this plateau when I know there are heights behind me I don't need to scale again.
4 comments:
<>
this is EXACTLY where I am living right now! I don't have your wonderful analytic histories, but I know I'm a full 25 pounds thinner than I was at my 40th birthday, which then was my heaviest. I am also so much more active. For the last 2 or 3 years I have had some consistent activity in my life--a trainer, the Y, yoga, walking. Some months were better than others, but I don't think a whole month went by without some at least bi-weekly activity, which isn't enough but was more than I had done for the first 45 years of my life. I am so stalled, now, too, but thinking about that perspective does give me heart and the wherewithal to keep on chugging along.
I meant to have this quoted, but blogger ate it:
"I'm less frustrated about this plateau when I know there are heights behind me I don't need to scale again."
geesh--and by "bi-weekly" I meant twice a week. nice word usage. that bi- thing always confuses me...
Hooray for facing your fifties fitter and thinner - and more conscious of your body and your activities - than you began your forties!
Post a Comment