Slowing down but speeding up

Twice this week I drove past the gym on my way TO the gym. Another time this week instead of turning left onto the road to go TO the gym, I drove straight on the road that takes me to the freeway, which is the way to work. Each time I had to turn around and drive back to the gym.

Yesterday I was driving to work, on the freeway where the speed limit is 60 mph, and I was thinking about work. Traffic was light. I glanced down at the speedometer and it read 85 mph. I couldn't believe I was going that fast. I drive fast if I can, around 70, but 85! I immediately slowed down to a more reasonable 70 mph.

This is how people get in terrible accidents and either kill themselves or kill someone else. They get distracted, don't pay attention, and do really stupid things.

This is exactly how people gain all their weight back. The weight they fought so hard to lose. They get in a hurry. They don't put their health first. They're distracted. Everything and everyone is more important than paying attention to what they're doing. And this is exactly what I've been doing. Moving too fast through life, distracted, forgetting my main focus should be losing weight and eating healthy.

I've done this many times in my life. Lose a lot of weight, get bored, distracted or tired of the whole thing, and then I gain all my weight back, plus some. It's a vicious cycle I've fallen into for the last 30 years. In the beginning it was only ten or fifteen pounds I needed to lose. This time it was 104 pounds.

I've lost 77.2 pounds since February of 2008. I still need to lose another 26.8 pounds. That may not sound like a lot to some people, but for me it may as well be another 100 pounds. I am struggling to lose this last bit of weight.

I'm going to re-focus on getting to my goal weight. I'm going to do what it takes to get there. I know what to do, this isn't rocket science. I need to speed it up a bit now, but slow down in other areas of my life. I need to keep my eye on the prize.

I have a plan that I'll write about tomorrow. It's not terribly exciting, but it's a plan that I think will work for me.

Now I'm heading out to my Weight Watchers meeting. I'm hoping for a loss, but I won't be surprised with a gain. I have a plan so I have hope for the future.