The weight of things...

Slowly as we come out of lockdown and embrace our life again, it seems for a lot of people, that involves talk of diets or needing to lose weight.

If you have spent three months housebound and your head is full of weight loss upon release, I'd hazard a guess you aren't living enough.

Sure, cut out the desserts, slow down on the comfort food - maybe cut back on the alcohol and up the exercise, but don't taint your day but filling you head with the negative and frankly the infinitely boring. Try to eat healthily but don't make food, diets or weight loss your focus. Don't fill your head or worse, conversation with it. It only makes it bigger than it needs to be.

As I said when recounting the following tale, I didn't get to this age to bore everyone by talking about my weight, even myself in my own head.

The other day I put on my beloved but twelve year old Miro leggings. I thought 'I'm probably a bit too fat now for these to look good' but then decided to wear them anyway because I had places to be. Some noise is just too tedious and annoying to pay much attention to.

As I headed on my way, a complete stranger stopped me and asked me where I got the tights, because I looked 'fabulous'. And there you go. Who would I listen to? The voice in my head that's spent a life time chipping away unhelpfully or a complete stranger who went out of their way to let me know how good I looked?

It put a spring in my step and I thought, the Augusten Burroughs How to be fat chapter in his wonderful book This is How had obviously sunk in. For those that remember my Epiphany, I feel I've come a long way since then, weirdly without even realising it.

This COVID shutdown has been hard, there's been a lot of stress for everyone  - both emotionally and societal. If you have come out of this happy and with enthusiasm, don't drop the ball now over your weight. If you want to lose weight, lose weight but don't put yourself down about it.

I will lose my excess weight but it's not my focus. It can be a by product of getting my life back and really savouring opportunities and experience. We had everything stripped back for over three months. It's been a lesson in appreciating all the great things on offer and not to let events slip by. We lost a lot of time. What we should have gained is motivation and drive to experience more.

“Everything is irrelevant but this: to embrace life. To feel it. To savour it. To love it.”
― Marty Rubin

I know this isn't a fashionable idea, and as I said to my friend (who prompted the post) 'I'm very uninspiring when it comes to weight loss' but I've lost 2 kilos just by cutting out nightly desserts in the house and potatoes with dinner. Hoping switching to apples when snacking will finish the job. The cocktails are staying! I will need to do a bit more than that to get back to my old shape but as a by-product is fine by me.