Frustration

A good friend has been going to Weight Watchers - and is incredibly frustrated because she is only averaging a loss of a pound or so per week. I've been trying to encourage her - and told her that the experts say that is a nice steady rate. She has heard me talk about my weight loss - and thinks she should be losing faster. I asked her not to compare with me. She made the statement that she wants to lose as fast as I am losing, only without the surgery.

I think this is the reason that so many people get frustrated with diets and weight loss programs. We want the results without the investment. My husband teaches piano and voice lessons. He says that the biggest reason people stop taking lessons is that they do not want to LEARN to play the piano (or to sing) -- but they just want to PLAY (or sing) right here, right now. I don't want to follow the proven steps to weight loss - eating healthy, exercise, and portion control - BUT I DO want the weight to be gone.

Diets, and weight loss programs, and even weight loss surgery - are all just tools. But if we don't use the tools we have - no matter how wonderful they are - we aren't going to lose weight. Think of it this way: suppose there is a master carpenter - the best in his field. And suppose the carpenter has the best tools that money can buy. What will he ever build if he doesn't pick up those tools and use them? A great big fat nothing. Not a house, not a cabinet, not a toy. It really doesn't matter at all if he has the BEST tools. In fact, they might as well just be garbage if he isn't going to use them. But when he picks up the tools, and uses them the way they were intended to be used - he can create a masterpiece - a thing of beauty and function.

My surgery is only a tool - and if I don't make the choices I need to make about portion control - and exercise - and even the kinds of food I need to eat, I would have been better off not having the surgery at all. Honestly, it would be wonderful to wake up and somehow, just suddenly be the size that I need to be. But since nothing of value ever comes that easily, then I really want - and need - to go through the learning process. And when I DO get to where I need to be - I'm sure that I will look back and say that the JOURNEY has been worth it! And as far as my friend is concerned...I will do everything I can to encourage her to stay on her journey.