Unlike this bear barreling out of his den following a deep winter’s sleep..skinny as a rail and hungry as a ..well..a bear, I have emerged from hibernation this spring even fatter than when I ducked into my man cave after last fall’s final round of golf only to poke my head out long enough to fulfill occasional obligations.
It’s become an annual ritual for me; being unable to stand the site of my own reflection, to vow to do something about it. Over the decades I’ve tried about every diet out there with varying degrees of success, only to slip back into old habits and pack the lard back on; crushing my self confidence a little more with each failure. Now, I’m a reasonably intelligent guy (maybe not, I just had to use spell check on the word intelligent) and am absolutely aware that the only lasting solution to my problem of achieving and maintaining weight loss is to change the lifestyle that led me down this long sad path in the first place to the town of obesity where I have lived since childhood. Sure, it’s easy for you strong willed people or those with the metabolism of hummingbirds to dish out advice to us fatties about simply eating less and exercising more and..bingo, problem solved.
But I maintain that some of us were genetically predisposed to be fat and our battle to lose is never ending and not the same as those who need to shed a few pounds gained while grazing the buffets aboard ship on that Caribbean cruise. But lose I must and here’s this Spring’s plan of attack which comes from an actual Doctor recently featured on Public Television no less so it must be more factual than faddish. At least that’s going to be my approach. His name is Dr. Michael Mosley a British journalist and physician who set an ambitious goal for himself to become healthier and lose weight. Here’s the kicker that got my attention, he wanted to make as few changes as possible to his lifestyle! And HE DID IT.
Dr. Michael Mosley at final weigh-in.
In working toward these goals, Dr. Mosely rediscovered the old idea of fasting as part of a program that still allows him to enjoy his favorite foods. Huh..doesn’t that sound good?
You can read more about it here or just Google his name and you can watch the entire TV program in which, by fasting two days a week, he managed to drop over ten pounds a month. There’s nothing much more to it than that.
I started this morning and will let you know how things go along the way. I know that I can make myself go without food for a day at a time…it’s the fear of being perpetually hungry that kills my willpower and will to live. My friend, John Mogen, has been fasting one day a week for over thirty years. It began as a spiritual experience to literally practice what the Bible preaches to fast and pray. I’m afraid my motivation is not quite so lofty but I have spent a lot of time in fervent prayer seeking divine guidance to rid His temple..my body..of all this abundant flab which threatens not only my lifestyle but life itself. I’m sure He has more important things on His plate (pardon the pun) than my food intake but, I seem to recall some preacher’s message about no request being too small. I’ve got a long way to go so I’m going to try fasting three days a week instead of two and not to gorge on eating days. If nothing else, my gut and guts probably deserve a rest.
Whoa..I just heard a growling noise and looked down to see if our granddog, Brandy, who we’ve been dog sitting, needed to go out then realized she went home yesterday and that grrrring sound was coming from my ample abdomen. Now, I’ve got to turn off the Food Network on TV and stop browsing Facebook since most of my friends have decided that this is the day to post pictures of all their favorite recipes.
This may not be so easy after all.