“Wow, honey, you look like you did in college,” Kathy said one morning. “You look really good,” she said with a sexy growl. I turned red. Her words remain encouraging today. That is a picture of my old belt, fits a size 44, and reads XL on the inside leather. Had to cut it to fit my trimming waistline; down to a size 40 five months into this plan and an exercise regimen counting out 70 consistent days with 49 hours, 279 miles, 45,245 calories burned, and a BP reading 110/73!
The book You On A Diet, needs no other endorsement. Having read the book twice, it is the most comprehensive helpful thesis on health I have ever read. Perhaps, it is the great pictures and cartoons accompanying their terrific research captivating my attention. Page twelve of the introduction is what takes many by surprise and holds our attention, changing the way we think about our body and health. For years, and in many of our doctors consultations, we have heard time and again, “loose the weight.” Listen to the word again, “loosing;” as if something was lost and would be found. Don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to find that weight again. Loosing also means there is something lost, a looser to be ridiculed. Our family enjoys the show Biggest Looser, and the title throws us. “Congratulations, you are the biggest looser,” sounds negative and though true in terms of weight loss, the kudos do not rightly affirm what those contestants are truly going through; which is becoming a healthier, slimmer, truer you! It should be called, “The Real You!” I progress.
Back to page twelve of You on a Diet. The good doctors talk about the most significant breakthrough toward good health; waist size! The healthy waist size for a woman is 32.5”, and for men it is 35”. It has been a joy watching my body slim to what my wife said, and into becoming the real me; and keeping track of the weight has not been important. Dr.’s Roizen and Dr. Oz’s approach to “waist management,” is the only important figure to focus on and move toward.
Answering dear friends questions one night after a slew of difficult meetings, on why I was making so much progress, I made sure they would get the book to help jump start their new life, I showed them my waist and how my old pleated pants were bunching up even with a new “cut belt” holding the mess up. Our friend’s wife said with a laugh, “You need to go shopping for new clothes, and stay away from pleats!” I can remember the afternoon at Macys twenty-three years ago, when I had jumped two waist sizes and was given the “talk” by the clothing guy, “Perhaps you should try something with a pleated front, you’ll look better.” Listening to that silliness play again in my head, worthless. Realizing I could shop for flat front pants, hilarious.
For a little while, during the late summer and early fall of 2011, I was grateful for bigger shirts because it covered the vagabond look I was sporting with my chopped up belt. My parents had purchased a suit for me ten years ago when I was “seriously” going to loose weight for the fiftieth time. The suit’s waist size is a 38 and it was purchased to help motivate “weight loss.” Instead, it collected dust for ten years and was a constant reminder of what had not been done. With Kathy’s encouragement that morning, I sneaked into the closet later that night and tried it on and it fit. Thinking out loud, “How can I be in a 38, that’s two sizes away from my goal of 34 inches,” I ran to mirror and growled. Funny thing is I was only able to wear the suit for two months; flew right through it. In fact, we gave all of my suits, and slacks and sport coats and sweaters to Goodwill. It is an amazing freedom to watch your closet slim.
That’s when many in the church began to see the results. One woman shared after services with some joy, “Pastor, you are wasting away before our very eyes!” And that’s when the homonym fell out of the sky: Waisting away. How fun to be waisting away! For the first time in 25 years I could see my goal waist of 34” buckling around me. Cheesy, I know. What I did not see coming was the 34” being a brief gift at Christmas. To date, we have been through three cycles of three different shopping times, and each purchase of a new belt, or pair of jeans with a healthier waistline, makes Kathy grin from ear to ear.
Give up and Go, Keep Going because TODAY is the only day that matters, and Waist Away into the true beautiful you. You are worth every slendering waisted inch toward a healthier longer life. You are moving into lean. Good for you. Today is your day!
Dr. Tom Lobaugh