Terry and Erica Farrell
The following is our March column for our 60 in 60 challenge. For those of you who missed our October column (see bit.ly/1LqaMVq) Erica and I have embarked on a journey to lose 60 pounds (combined) in 60 weeks (combined). We have weekly online updates and monthly submissions into the Record newspaper. It’s been 22 weeks since we started.
For those of you who have not been following our blog online, let me give you an update.
The last five weeks have not been easy. We’ve hit the proverbial roller-coaster on our weight-loss program, although we take full responsibility for the topsy-turvy ride.
We got a bit full of ourselves after the “potato” column. In our last print column, we announced that just barely halfway though our challenge to lose 60 pounds in 60 weeks, we had reached the 40-pound mark.
That meant two-thirds of the way to our goal in only half the allotted time.
We’ve got this.
Easy peazy.
Oh, how quickly one can fall into a false sense of security.
One week we had our son pay us a visit from Alberta. We didn’t over-indulge to any great degree, but we certainly backed off on the exercise while he was here. We didn’t lose any weight, but no big deal; we didn’t gain any, so we figured “hey, at least we know how to maintain the weight we are at.”
One week we went out of town for the weekend, visiting family. We over-ate and drank too much, and justified the resulting weight gain by saying it was bound to happen at some point during the process.
Then it happened again.
Then we had a week where, despite getting back to the gym on a more consistent level, our weigh-in was flat. Nothing gained, but nothing lost.
By last week, we were getting rather discouraged. But we knew we had only ourselves to blame. So we got back to what was working. We were conscientious of our eating, and re-committed to our exercise. Yes, we cut down on the calories, but most importantly, we cut out the excuses.
And we got off the roller-coaster. Hopefully for good.
Our latest weigh-in was our second-best yet, in 22 weeks. We lost a total of 4.8 pounds last week, matching our loss for the first week in November… way back when we were still shedding the ‘easy’ pounds.
We went into last week’s weigh-in cautiously optimistic. I was fairly certain I had lost weight, and Erica felt the same about her week.
One thing we have not done during this public weight-loss campaign is reveal personal losses. This has always been about the two of us. But the following story has to be told, and the humour in it can only be fully appreciated with full disclosure.
Our weigh-in morning routine is always the same. I tip the scale first, and then Erica goes. We have a digital scale, which measures weight in .2-pound increments.
This week, I stepped on the scale and was very satisfied with a 2.8-pound loss. That is substantial any week, but it was particularly gratifying to me on this day, considering what has been happening the past month or so.
Then Erica stepped on. She timed it perfectly, so that just as she stepped on, the scale shut off. It showed nothing.
“Woohoo!” she shouted (I’m sure the neighbours heard). “I weigh nothing! Mission accomplished!”
Somehow this does not seem nearly as funny in print. Definitely something lost in translation, but it was great for a laugh at the time.
At any rate, once she re-triggered the scale, she realized a two-pound weight loss herself (which is actually a bigger achievement than mine, when measured as a percentage of total body weight lost).
If the past month taught us anything, it taught us that the weight-loss “roller-coaster” so many people claim to experience can – at least for some people – be explained, and resolved, by looking within, and putting an end to the excuses.
For us, at least, the roller-coaster was a result of a departure to the commitment.
We are re-committed. We’ve got this. Easy peazy.
Terry Farrell is the editor of the Comox Valley Record
