Skipping Dessert … and taking the stairs

Let me be clear that I am not complaining.  This morning I weighed in at 261, which is a full pound less than last week.  That’s 26 pounds in 26 weeks.  You may note that 26 weeks is fully half a year.  Which kind of surprised me just now.  It seems like I just got started down this path, yet I’ve already burned half a year.

Part of me wants to celebrate – 26 pounds is a lot to have lost, and I know there are people who would give anything to be able to lose that much.  Another part of me, a part that resists reason, is stunned and discouraged that I have so far (54 pounds) to go.  I have more than a year ahead of me on the current path, and then the rest of my life to spend keeping myself on the straight-and-narrow path that is weight maintenance.

That’s just where I am.  In the doldrums.  A long, slow, windless part of the journey where sheer will is the only motivator.

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Some of you may have read, on my Lovely Wife’s Facebook feed about a curious incident that Sprightly Daughter 1 relayed to us from her school.  The gym/PE teacher told her and her (first grade) classmates that the reason they need to play sports and active games (and I am not making this up) is, “So you don’t get fat.”  Followed by her pointing out that the skinny kids among them (Sprightly Daughter 1 being thus), “Have a head start.”

Now, she’s a nice lady – a dedicated teacher, and God BLESS anyone willing to take on the treacherous work of public-school employment.  But … really?  The reason kids should play is so they don’t get fat?  Seriously?  How about because it’s fun to play?  Because the playing fields are where you learn about teamwork and character?  Because competition makes you strong?  Because being fit feels good?

No, society has so deeply ingrained in this poor woman’s mind the importance of not being fat that this is the message she’s passing on to six-year-olds.  As if the magazine rack at the grocery store and everything on TV didn’t already reinforce it.  Bad news:  All that massive reinforcement of the evils of being not-skinny isn’t working.  Americans are getting bigger, and feeling worse about it.

Imagine how much more likely we might be to get off the couch if the reasons for doing so were having fun and feeling good – rather than punishing ourselves by spending an hour on a fake bicycle that doesn’t actually move.

How much more likely would we be to eat well if the options being sold us (hard) tasted good, were filling and gave our bodies proper fuel instead of fake food that tastes kinda like good food, leaves us hungry for more and isn’t what our bodies need?

I am not upset with the gym teacher.  A friend (and friend of the blog) sat down and talked with her about it already, and she felt horrible about the choice of words.  No, I feel sad for the teacher.  She’s trying to do an honorable thing.  She’s trying to get kids moving and interested in sports.  Brava!  I just find it a sad commentary that the first reason in advocating play that came to her mind was to warn them against the evils of not growing up skinny.

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Next time on Skipping Dessert, something happy and smiley.  I haven’t picked the topic yet, but I don’t like the tone around this blog lately, and SOMEBODY’S going to have to do something about it.

Thanks for reading, as always!