215.0 Magic!

The Boys - Lennox, Alex, and Julien

Since I started writing this blog, one of the great things that has happened is that I have heard from friends with whom I have never talked about weight loss, or weight gain, or weight!

One of my friends, Barbara, was a roommate at UCLA. She was slender then and I was, too, on and off! I remember borrowing some of her clothes and they fit me just fine - well, often a little short, but just fine. So, what happened during the intervening years? She stayed slender, and I didn't. She has always looked the same whenever I have seen her over that past 40+ years. I never asked her about it. I assumed she had tapped into some kind of magic...that she wished herself slim and that was that. I also decided, in my wisdom, that she had been blessed with a much more finely tuned metabolism rate, one that I could never aspire to.

About a week ago, we were talking on the phone about this blog and she began to tell me all the things she has done over the years to keep herself slender and healthy. I was blown away. Hadn't it been easy for her, like magic, to maintain her weight? Hm, not exactly! I thought weighing every morning was excessive. She weighs herself before meals to determine how much and what she will eat. She walks on the beach 5 miles every morning. I know she does this, because she will often call me while walking. And, she has learned all she can about food, weight loss, and health. There has been no magic involved, no special edge that I didn't/don't have. Well, maybe that's not totally true. I do have back crap that has led to pain that has impeded the amount and type of exercise I can do. But would I have had so many back problems if I had kept my weight down? Could I have prevented some if not all of my back issues? What I know now for sure is that my weight has not helped my back at all.

She sent me a website to share with you. It's is a concise and helpful list of things we can all do to improve our health, and help with weight loss. If you read Prevention Magazine, perhaps you've seen it. Check it out on the right in the list of links. And, thanks, Barb.