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Getting My Mind Right

On May 24, 2006, I weighed 272 pounds at my doctor’s office. That was an all time high for me. I have had to fight my weight for the last forty years, I am sixty years old. When I was younger, 235 was a high weight and 185 was an ideal weight. I was six feet tall, or slightly under, depending on who measured me. Today, I have been whittled down by the years and I stand at 5’10. I do have a large frame.

My weight that day really scared me for several related reasons. I was less than five months from turning sixty and my wife and I have adopted five maternal brothers, ages two through eight. First of all, I owe it to my wife and children to stay around for a while. Second, the big “sixty” scared the “you know what” out of me.

I have detailed the fateful meeting and discussion with my doctor, the goals that I set, and how I have been trying to accomplish them in another blog. I have also detailed why I chose swimming as the way to exercise and given swimming tips that I have learned in several other blogs.

I weighed 192 pounds (on real scales, as opposed to bathroom scales) this morning. My doctor and I have now agreed that a goal of 175 would be very good. I am now losing weight very slowly, I’m not sure if I have lost any weight this month. I will never be able to eat more than one meal a day for the rest of my life. I am pretty sure of that.

I do know that this time I am going to be able to keep the weight off. I can remember a random thought that I had about 25 years ago. The fact that I can remember it is why I know that it is important. I was traveling in Missouri on business. It was very cold and I was going to be in the elements for the better part of the day. Breakfast was going to bring me the only pleasure that I had that day.

The place where I was staying had this huge breakfast buffet. Eggs, cooked to order, ham, bacon, sausage, homemade biscuits and gravy, pancakes, all you could eat, it was all there. I had been to the serving table several times already when I noticed two elderly couples sitting at a table. They were eating pears and peaches. One gentleman drank the juice from the bowl after he had eaten the fruit. That was all they were eating.

My thought was, “I don’t want to live a long time, if eating like that is how you get there.” My thinking has changed.

Ed Paul is a Families.com Adoption Blogger. Read his blogs here.