A SAD Month
A number of years ago, after an especially big holiday season, the readout on my scale went berserk. And if you can believe the coincidence, at exactly the same time my leather belts all shrunk by an inch or two. Hmmm.
As I was contemplating this odd series off events someone near and dear to me suggested that it may not be all that odd at all... that perhaps I was looking for an explanation on the wrong side of the equation. She thought it possible that it might be ME that changed and not the scale and my belts. Hmmmmm.
After getting a second opinion from a second scale (what else would you get from a second scale?) I had to reluctantly agree that it was indeed ME that was different... that I was expanding just like the universe after the big bang. Holiday dinners, parties, and celebrations are all replete with calorie-loaded temptations -- candies, cookies, hors d'orves, more deserts than I have fingers, huge meals with 17 side dishes, spiked egg nog, and alcoholic concoctions of all varieties. And all of it in abundance. All these offerings are the crack cocaine of weak willed people like me... people with little will power to control our intake... people who's brains somehow suppress the knowledge of what we're really doing to ourselves while rationalizing that 'just a little more' isn't going to hurt and, besides, we can always exercise it away later... right? Well, however it happened, I had gained a bunch of weight.
As an aside, I've always been critical of all those diet programs and diet books out there. They seemed to me to be just gimmicky and when boiled down to the core, they were all saying the same thing. But a lot of people were making some serious cash from writing them. So I went to work and wrote my diet book... a book that would fit on an index card. Here it is... in it's entirety...
That's it. But I had a problem getting it published. You see, a "book" usually involves "pages", more than one, and publishers, while they were curious about it's novel simplicity, didn't know how to make a book of just one page.
Back to my story.
Faced with a choice of having to buy a lot of new pants or doing something to loose those holiday pounds, I chose the later. But I needed a gimmick... a way to trick myself, motivate myself, into action... something that would direct my efforts for the maximum effect. Maybe that's what those big diet books are really all about.
Here's what I came up with: Since most of my "gain" comes during the holidays, and since it's best to address any problem right away, whatever I did should probably be done in January. Furthermore, for me the elements of my intake that contain the most calories and have the least food value are sweets (candy, cookies, deserts, etc.) and alcohol (beer, wine, booze). So that's exactly where I should focus my efforts for maximum effect. What if I gave both of them up entirely for the month? Could I do it? Would it work? Hmmm.
And since I was still working at trying to get my diet book published, I thought it'd be good to come up with an acronym for my 3 step plan. Acronyms are hot... they really help sell ideas, not to mention, diet books. So I decided to call my diet the SAD Diet... the Sweets and Alcohol Discontinuation Diet. And maybe I should stop calling it a "diet", which is way too simple sounding. Maybe I should refer to it as a "program". That's it! The SAD Program.
So I did it! I knocked off the sweets and alcohol for the entire month of January that year. And wow... did it ever work. I lost all the pounds I packed on during the holidays and more. And because it's a month long program, there's a learning effect that extends beyond those 31 days. When February rolled around, I found myself slowly and deliberately sipping wine, and really savoring it. When I ate them at all, I took smaller desert portions. Both were enjoyed more deliberately.
Anyway, I decided this January would be a SAD month for me again. It's been a couple years since I've done it but it's going well. The sweets I can take or leave -- I usually take, but if I have any excuse at all, they're easy to leave too. What I really can have a hard time with is the alcohol. I love a glass of wine while cooking, or a drink during happy hour, with dinner, maybe a second after dinner. But the SAD Program gives me the motivation I need to say no.
Still looking for a publisher...
Thom
(8 days down...only 23 frickin' days to go)
As I was contemplating this odd series off events someone near and dear to me suggested that it may not be all that odd at all... that perhaps I was looking for an explanation on the wrong side of the equation. She thought it possible that it might be ME that changed and not the scale and my belts. Hmmmmm.
After getting a second opinion from a second scale (what else would you get from a second scale?) I had to reluctantly agree that it was indeed ME that was different... that I was expanding just like the universe after the big bang. Holiday dinners, parties, and celebrations are all replete with calorie-loaded temptations -- candies, cookies, hors d'orves, more deserts than I have fingers, huge meals with 17 side dishes, spiked egg nog, and alcoholic concoctions of all varieties. And all of it in abundance. All these offerings are the crack cocaine of weak willed people like me... people with little will power to control our intake... people who's brains somehow suppress the knowledge of what we're really doing to ourselves while rationalizing that 'just a little more' isn't going to hurt and, besides, we can always exercise it away later... right? Well, however it happened, I had gained a bunch of weight.
As an aside, I've always been critical of all those diet programs and diet books out there. They seemed to me to be just gimmicky and when boiled down to the core, they were all saying the same thing. But a lot of people were making some serious cash from writing them. So I went to work and wrote my diet book... a book that would fit on an index card. Here it is... in it's entirety...
Thom's Weight Loss Program
step 1: reduce your caloric intake
step 2: increase exercise... move more
step 3: go back to step 1 and repeat until you reach your ideal weight.
step 1: reduce your caloric intake
step 2: increase exercise... move more
step 3: go back to step 1 and repeat until you reach your ideal weight.
That's it. But I had a problem getting it published. You see, a "book" usually involves "pages", more than one, and publishers, while they were curious about it's novel simplicity, didn't know how to make a book of just one page.
Back to my story.
Faced with a choice of having to buy a lot of new pants or doing something to loose those holiday pounds, I chose the later. But I needed a gimmick... a way to trick myself, motivate myself, into action... something that would direct my efforts for the maximum effect. Maybe that's what those big diet books are really all about.
Here's what I came up with: Since most of my "gain" comes during the holidays, and since it's best to address any problem right away, whatever I did should probably be done in January. Furthermore, for me the elements of my intake that contain the most calories and have the least food value are sweets (candy, cookies, deserts, etc.) and alcohol (beer, wine, booze). So that's exactly where I should focus my efforts for maximum effect. What if I gave both of them up entirely for the month? Could I do it? Would it work? Hmmm.
And since I was still working at trying to get my diet book published, I thought it'd be good to come up with an acronym for my 3 step plan. Acronyms are hot... they really help sell ideas, not to mention, diet books. So I decided to call my diet the SAD Diet... the Sweets and Alcohol Discontinuation Diet. And maybe I should stop calling it a "diet", which is way too simple sounding. Maybe I should refer to it as a "program". That's it! The SAD Program.
So I did it! I knocked off the sweets and alcohol for the entire month of January that year. And wow... did it ever work. I lost all the pounds I packed on during the holidays and more. And because it's a month long program, there's a learning effect that extends beyond those 31 days. When February rolled around, I found myself slowly and deliberately sipping wine, and really savoring it. When I ate them at all, I took smaller desert portions. Both were enjoyed more deliberately.
Anyway, I decided this January would be a SAD month for me again. It's been a couple years since I've done it but it's going well. The sweets I can take or leave -- I usually take, but if I have any excuse at all, they're easy to leave too. What I really can have a hard time with is the alcohol. I love a glass of wine while cooking, or a drink during happy hour, with dinner, maybe a second after dinner. But the SAD Program gives me the motivation I need to say no.
Still looking for a publisher...
Thom
(8 days down...only 23 frickin' days to go)
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