2-20-07
265/242/200
Day 51 and still 23 pounds gone.

I got on my scale today and saw that the indicator WANTED to go below
232, but it didn't quite do that. It balanced just below the line.
Well, I did well yesterday with calorie control and am headed in the
right direction again. I expect to lose a pound or two in the next
several days.

I am really impressed with how impactful toxic information can be. It
was brought to my attention again several days ago when I woke up
early in the morning and made the mistake of turning the clock towards
me to see what time it was. I almost always resist this activity as I
realize no good will come from it, and of course no good came from it
several days ago. I could see that it was 4 am and I stayed awake the
rest of the night worrying about having to get up at 6.

Suggestions from others, the latest fad recipe, people offering us
great tasting food - all of these things can get us off track. At
times it helps to be simple-minded and just continue like a horse with
blinders on.

There's a story I like about the two guys who graduated from Harvard
Business School and they bought a shoe store in Boston. They ran it
for about a year but it was always losing money and so they sold it to
an immigrant from Italy, Luigi, and then these two MBAs went to work
for GM in Chicago where they made a heck of a lot of money for the
firm. There was a Harvard reunion a year later that they went to, and
then they decided to visit their old store to see how it was doing.
Well, it was bigger than ever and the owner had bought the whole
block. Customers were coming and going and clearly this was a very
profitable business now. So they stopped in and visited Luigi.

"How'd you make the store so successful?" they asked Luigi.

His response was: "Simple! You buy the show for $5. Sell them for $50.
10 percent profit is okay with me!"
Clearly Luigi didn't know anything about business numbers but he had a
successful business, and in many ways, to lose weight (and win at the
dieting game), you don't have to have the equivalent of a Harvard MBA.
Have a few things that work and stick with them, and avoid a lot of
the things that don't work. One of the hardest part is sticking with a
successful plan day in and day out, week after week, month after
month. (And to maintain weight loss, it's gotta be month after month
and year after year.)

We shouldn't be distracted by toxic information, especially about
relatively minor factors. Let's not get distracted, disheartened or
derailed.

I hope everyone meets their diet and exercise goals today and for the
rest of the months ahead!
Yours truly,

Caleb