The right way vs. The easy way

There is never really just one way to do anything. The old adage 'There is more than one way to skin a cat' is incredibly true as I discovered in my high school Physiology and Anatomy class*. Such is true with everything in life.

Now I won't go so far as to say there is the hard way and the easy way, because sometimes both ways are easy or both ways are hard. Life sort of sucks like that sometimes. Hard way vs. hard way is why people say such things as 'Stuck between a rock and a hard place.'

What I am thinking about in particular today is weight loss. It is a subject that is rather at the forefront of my mind lately considering I am on the path to a less fluffy me. I have listened to a lot of debate lately on the whys and hows of weight loss and it is sort of dizzying.

To get one thing straight, I am losing weight for no one other than myself. I don't give a fig what anyone else thinks of my size and shape. I mean if I did my families disapproval would have made me anorexic decades ago. The husbeast is happy with the way I look, and he is the only person I am trying to impress (and I really am not trying to impress him). I am also not losing weight for health reasons. I have no overlying issue which will be helped by weight loss. I am certain that weight loss can not hurt me as I have more than enough to lose, and I am certain I will feel better in some way, but I am not doing this because my doctor said 'Do it or else'.

I am currently down roughly 30 pounds and I have another 70ish to reach my ideal goal (which is not close to what the BMI says I should weigh because the BMI is a load of crap). It is a goal I set because remembering back to that weight I was very pleased with myself. I am still over the societal 'acceptable' weight, but again I don't give a damn about that.

The biggest question I get though is not why (people assume it is health or society), it is how. How am I losing weight? Am I on a diet? Am I getting surgery? Am I doing anything special? The answer is I am doing it the right way. Diets may lead to fast weight loss but normally result in me being miserable and fast rebound of weight. I am not going to get surgery because I can lose the weight on my own.

So it comes down to I am eating right and moving more. I am lucky in that this method actually works for me. I have cut out sodas completely from my life, and really most beverages that are not milk and water. Right now lemonade is my beverage vice, and even then I drink the light stuff. I have cut down the size of my portions significantly. I have also changed when and how many meals I eat. There is no longer a lot of snacking in my world. Also the things going onto my plate are different. There are a lot more fresh veggies and fruits, we have never been huge red meat fans so lean meats were always on the plate they are just smaller cuts now and not fried as often. There are still sweets and treats in my world, they are just smaller and further between occurrences.

Then there is working out. I really hate this portion of the plan. I try and be good and make it to the gym two to three times a week, though here lately I am lucky to make it once. Even if I don't go to the gym I try and do something active every day. I take the stairs at work, I park a little further out at the grocery store, I stretch and do stuff around the house. In general I move more.

Is this easy? No not really. It certainly is not fast. It is effective though, and really it is not hard. It is however the right way, at least the right way for me. I could try some fad diet and probably lose a lot of weight really fast, but in the end it would only come back because I would not have fixed the underlying problem which is how I eat and how I move. This way I am fixing things as I go. Now even on weeks I do not lose any weight, I am not gaining any back, which means I can maintain things when I reach my goal.

Now all I have to do is stick with it.
Slow and steady wins the race, right?




*According to my teacher there are only two proper ways to skin a cat; from the top and from the bottom. She was however only using methods involving a scalpel. There is also boiling the cat, though that removes all the flesh as well, or using an air compressor, though that can rip the muscle. I bet you all really wanted to know that.