I recently met someone who has lost nearly 150 pounds in the span of about a year. An incredible feat, to be sure. From what I understand, he did it through a rigid routine: He knew exactly when (and what) to eat. When (and how long) to sleep. When (and how) to exercise. And clearly it worked.

This man worked very hard to change his life – presumably for the better. And I’m sure in a lot of ways he did. Here’s the thing, though: He’s now a svelte 180-190 and he still seems to be living within a routine that is so rigid that he has very little… fun.

I think this happens to a lot of people who lose a significant amount of weight. They are so worried they will put the weight back on, that they forget why they lost the weight in the first place: To live fuller, longer, happier lives. If you’re just going to shut the world out, what’s the point?

I’m certainly not suggesting that once you get to a healthy weight and feel comfortable with yourself that you go back to your old habits – not by any means. But I also don’t think that the occasional drink or dinner at a restaurant from time to time is a problem, either.

It’s all about balance. Again, the whole point of losing weight is to live a better life. So why would you not grasp that life and and enjoy it?

My problem right now is that I’m grasping and enjoying life, yet I haven’t finished losing the weight I want need to lose. I’m living like I’ve already gotten there and am merely trying to maintain that weight loss. I’ll get there though. It’s that whole balance thing again. For the time being, I think I need a little more rigidity and a little less enjoyment. Find that happy medium. The balance.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Trials and Tribulations, Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.