Suck it, Mother Nature!

I read a somewhat depressing (eye-opening?) article on Yahoo! yesterday. I learned that as women approach their middle years, it takes an hour of exercise per day, JUST to ward off the weight gain that occurs each year. I had three separate, rapid-fire reactions to this news:

1) What the HELL????!!!!????!
2) Hmmmmm…maybe I can get used to, and even embrace, my aging “fluffy” self?
3) *Sigh* FINE. I’ll cut a few more calories and lace up the hiking boots (resigned to my destiny).

My friend is doing a week long “Belly Fat Cure” diet. The guru, Jorge, is pretty convincing, and easy on the eyes. He comes straight to your home via an internet video and talks to you….personally. Then you get “the program”, which is a low carb, high protein, pretty easy to follow basic eating plan. This is followed by a few more emails (he becomes a little stalker-scary at this point) with subject lines like: “We’re in this together now!” and “I need your help!” (What he needs is for you to invite friends to join). But he seems like a nice sort of fellow, and he’s so personable! He’s kind of like the perfect boyfriend who provides loving concern along with some high energy motivation, but doesn’t clutter up your house. I liked him instantly. And I don’t know why, but I love to follow “new and exciting” eating plans! I’ve joined and rejoined Weight Watchers numerous times…mostly when they change up the “tracking logs”, cook books, and program style. It’s all so shiny and new! But alas, Rob took one look at Jorge and was instantly disapproving. I’m sure it had less to do with Jorge’s high energy and good looks (and my increasing excitement with every video and email I received from him) than the fact that what I’m doing now seems to be working and is sustainable long term. I also think that Rob took a peek at the dinner menu of “Grilled Meat, Spinach with Balsamic, and ½ Cup of Green Beans” and realized that both he and I would be running to Fernando’s for some real sustenance after just one night.

The point is – the Yahoo! news story just illustrates why guys like Jorge and these diets are so prevalent. Nothing else seems to work!!! We women work out and try to eat healthy, but that just maintains the status quo as we age. It’s these quick-start, rapid initial weight loss diets that make us feel like we’re accomplishing something.

I have a cousin training for a marathon, a friend training for Ironman (after already running several marathons, half marathons and triathlons), and now my sister is training for a 5k. There’s my hiking buddy, my “daily motivational email” healthy lifestyle buddy (because we don’t call it a diet), my “Losing 20 in 2010” buddy, and a number of other women friends who are all on some sort of transformational journey. I’m starting to realize that it has a little less to do with losing weight and fitting into “those jeans” or “that dress”, and more to do with accomplishment. As we get older, it may be harder to keep the figures we had in our youth…but could those bodies do what we’re pushing our bodies to do now? Not the way I smoked!

So, lace up your running shoes or your hiking boots. Boil your egg, have your burger without the bun, track your points, your calories or your fat/carb grams, whatever. With or without Jorge, we can do this thing! Whatever this “thing” may be!