What good is losing weight if you just gain it right back?

As I noted in last week’s newsletter, I had a preliminary appointment with my new doctor and was awaiting lab results. I had a follow-up appointment on Friday. I want to tell you I’m happy with my results. I’m not.

When you’re in school, teachers measure your performance by report cards and GPA. Once you’re an adult, you still have report cards, but they don’t have grades. Adults measure performance through credit scores/reports, job performance appraisals, and lab results. For someone who is used to getting good report cards, I just got a bad one.

You might have this picture of me as some super disciplined person who is focused entirely on health. In some ways, I am very disciplined. I’ve been writing online daily for over 1,300 days. I haven’t missed a day of work due to illness in years. I am responsible with my finances. There are aspects of my life that are in complete control. Then there’s the weight thing.

I’ve struggled with being overweight most of my life. I was never athletic or in good physical shape. I have to force myself to exercise. I also have to force myself to eat “healthy” foods because I tend to want to eat too much of the stuff that tastes good but is bad for me. That’s a lot of baggage, and the aging process makes it even more challenging to maintain a healthy weight.