On Sept. 11, as I told you in the last post, my weight
dipped below the 50% mark on my weight-loss plan — for the first time. Yes, you
read that right. The next day, for some unfathomable reason, it shot up again a
whole two pounds. I’ve said before that fluctuations like this can happen even
when you do everything right. So, after screaming in my head about the
unfairness of it, I shrugged and went on with my program. On Friday, it dropped
back down 1.6 pounds, which was good even though it didn’t completely erase the
jump up. Back a little across the halfway line.
The people on Lose It! cheer every little drop, no matter
how small, and offer encouraging thoughts for holds and upticks. One friend,
Marjorie, joked that she was “totally jealous” about the drop. When I said I
didn’t know why she was jealous, she replied, “Because I get excited when I
lose 0.5 lbs. in one day so to drop 1.6 lbs. is wishful thinking for me and totally
awesome that you did!” (I have to think Marjorie is an age peer because of her
use of ’80s lingo. When I’m not writing and with my friends, it all comes out: totally,
fer sure, excellent, bogus, gnarly, “I’m like”, dude (regardless of sex or
gender), etc. Totally for us is what literally is for
young millennials — a clean all-purpose intensive.)
I reminded Marjorie, “If you lose [an average] 0.2 lbs. per
day, you’re losing 1.4 lbs. a week. That’s a great, safe rate to drop. Again, I
don’t know how much of the ±
1-lb. fluctuations I sometimes (SOMETIMES) get are scale wackiness and how much
are body wackiness. Don’t envy me; you’re doing great!”
Wackiness … what a terrific word to describe the
effect of imprecision on weight loss. It’s like playing blackjack: Even if you
don’t cross the (objective) “bust” line, you still have to beat the dealer,
whose hand is also variable. Nevertheless, there are winning strategies that
don’t guarantee victory in every hand but can generally lead to leaving the
table with more than you sat down with.
But in sensible weight loss, you’re not really competing
against another person. The complete set of physical, emotional, and social or
environmental challenges each person faces in weight loss is unique. Put
differently, we all play against different dealers under house rules that vary
slightly from table to table. That’s why, while group goals and challenges can
be motivating and fun, you should never take them so seriously that you
interpret someone else’s progress as an implicit reflection (and judgment)
against you.