I think Nike's onto something

Of course they are: Their ubiquitous "Just Do It" slogan has been around for ages, and is still working for them, whether they use it as a tag line or not. When you hear those words, who do you think of? [Or, rather, of whom do you think?]

I tried to research their advertising success story at the Nike site, but their flashy splash page just loaded and loaded and loaded until I gave up. Dial-up sucks. Wikipedia came through, though, with a timeline stating the "Just Do It" campaign was introduced in 1988.

Yesterday was kind of a let-down day, after a great weekend and then the visit from my dad. Here in the Middle of Nowhere, company is a wonderful distraction. I spent the morning being cold – we're having an unusally cool spring here in the mountains – cold enough to wear layers. I even took a shower to warm up. Then my throat started hurting and then I alternated between feeling cold and hot. I developed a slight fever [my body temperature is normally in the 96.7 to 97.5 range, so 99.6 is a fever] later in the afternoon.

Because my morning routine was off, I kept putting off the daily walk. I read e-mail, surfed the web, updated the blog, cleaned the kitchen, knitted while I watched Sunday night's West Wing finale and Desperate Housewives, both of which I'd taped. [No, I don't have TiVo®.] I was a master [mistress?] of avoidance.

At about 3:30, after I'd exhausted all the distractions at hand, I Just Did It. Put on my walking shoes and Shuffle and took off. I did four miles at a decidedly leisurely 18-minute-per-mile pace, but it was done. Done! I felt better about myself afterward – as I always do – even though physically I still felt kinda crappy. I decided to stay home from the volunteer gig at the prison last night, and turned in early. I ended up getting 10 hours of sleep, which I must have needed, and am feeling fine this morning.

Just doing it – whether it's just eating what's on the menu plan, or putting one foot in front of the other, or not giving in to an emotional temptation – works. For some of us, it works more slowly than others, and for some us there might be a true physiological reason that weight loss doesn't happen. But I wasted years – years! – trying to convince myself that there was something wrong with me, whether it be thyroid problems or menopause or whatever.

I'd been trying, again for years, to lose weight and eat sugar at the same time. Not a lot of sugar, not even daily. But I've convinced myself that this body and this metabolism just can't handle sugar. The first time I went sugar-free was after I read a book called Sugar Blues. It was an eye-opener. I still have it, and should probably read it again.

What else was wrong with me is that I wasn't moving my body. It was uncomfortable and hard, and I didn't like to sweat. Sometimes it's still uncomfortable and hard, and I still don't like to sweat. [Being a knitter, I almost typed 'sweater' there.] But if sweat is what it takes, then sweat is what I'll do. The rewards are too great.

Thanks, Nike.