Comfort is my racket

Have I ever mentioned to you how very much I dislike dial-up internet service? I have? Then I won't bore you by telling you how hard it was for me to get online yesterday, and in order to preserve what little of my sanity remains, I gave up.

The connection seems to be fine this morning. Perhaps it needed a blog rest.

I've been known to say that 'comfort is my racket,' meaning I'll do anything to stay in a place – physically or emotionally – that feels comfortable to me. As long as I don't have to struggle, I'm fine with the way things are. Only when the cons of a situation outweigh the pros do I feel the urge to change. I've operated like this all my life, and I don't think I'm much different from most of the rest of you.

Several things happened around the end of last year to create my own little perfect storm of discomfort, which led me to commit to a more healthy, fit lifestyle. It's not that I haven't been trying for the past several years – I just wasn't uncomfortable enough to explore all the options and do all the necessary work. I wanted to be thin, but I wanted more to be comfortable.

It's tempting to look for an easy way to lose weight. Watching television doesn't help. If commercials aren't suggesting you ask your doctor about the latest pill du jour, they're proclaiming that their product makes weight loss 'easy, fast, simple!' [Okay there are some beer and car commercials, too.]

Three commercials yesterday, for Hydroxycut, Nutrisystem and Bowflex, really set me off. All had great-looking spokespeople praising the products and claiming their weight loss was fast and easy.

In order to lure you in, even the plan I use claims you'll 'lose 10 pounds in five weeks!' That's a steady, reasonable expectation, not unrealistic at all if one's metabolism is cooperative. [Do you think exclamation marks help weight loss?]

eDiets' Glycemic Impact plan is pretty easy to follow. You print out the week's menu plan, make sure you have the right foods on hand, prepare some simple recipes and eat what they tell you. My losses haven't been as dramatic as two pounds a week – I'm averaging less than six pounds a month – but I'm losing steadily as long as I eat what I'm supposed to and do oh, about 10 times as much exercise as my body naturally wants to do.

There it is: Move more, eat less. [To which I would add: Eat the right combination of foods!] Why is it that I really want to move less and eat more, when it clearly doesn't support my final goal?

I'm a little more than halfway to that magic number, and here's what's happening. I'm starting to feel normal. I can wear shorts and capris that stay on with a button and zipper, instead of an elastic waistband. I don't huff and puff going up a flight of stairs, and the dumbbells aren't so heavy that I grunt and groan when I lift them. I noticed yesterday that I was breathing normally – not panting – after a spurt of jogging during my long morning walk.

Normal, for me, and especially at this point in my weight-loss effort, probably isn't such a good thing. It's too comfortable. I have to be vigilant and prudent and disciplined, qualities which aren't quite normal for me yet. Normal people have second helpings. And dessert. Those aren't on my plan, no matter how normal zipping up a pair of shorts feels.

In a recent comment to Lainey, Mrs. More wrote:

"… the bottom line is, sometimes we have to be a bit hungry."

Thanks for the reminder, Mrs. More. I needed that.