Psycho!

This morning's meeting was interesting. We were talking about success, failure and the tools you need to separate one from the other. Our leader had a list of little factoids about Abraham Lincoln and some of the struggles and setbacks he had throughout his life. As the old chicks talked about him like they knew him personally (which, to be fair, they may very well have), the topic of conversation started to get veered toward the point of the meeting: Helpful Habits.

She asked people to discuss which habit they felt was most important to them. I wasn't really paying attention to what was being said because I started thinking about it to myself and reading the list:

• Ask for help
• Learn from experience
• Manage your environment
• Manage your feelings
• Manage your thoughts
• Monitor yourself
• Prepare yourself
• Take care of yourself

Before I realized it, I had raised my hand, heard my name called and started talking. I said something like this, "I think one of the most important aspects of weight loss that so few programs really emphasize is managing your feelings. There are some important psychological and emotional aspects in both gaining and losing weight. This may not be true for everyone, but for someone like me that managed to become grossly overweight there are some deep-seeded psychological issues at play. You don't gain almost 150 pounds above a healthy weight just by snacking here and there, and you can't just lose the weight and move on. You have to be aware of why you gained it in the first place and stay on top of it for the rest of your life. That is why I'll be a success with Weight Watchers."

I felt my eyes glazing over as the words just poured out of me. I guess I made a good impression on the room because once I finished, there was some applause. I love my meetings. People congratulate you on your successes, help suggest how to manage the struggles and pitfalls and pay attention to you when you go off on some psychobabble rant. There are a lot of success stories in those meetings. Probably close to 10 of our regulars are lifetimers that have been there since well before I started last May. I'm looking forward to being another one of those lifetimers that continues to come to meetings week after week.

It's gonna take a while longer to get there (especially since it slows down at the end), but it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

Progress so far: 86.4 pounds.