A Weighty Matter

Edition #97 — August 28, 2007

If you want to live the same day over and over again, don't change a thing and stay on "auto pilot." Keep your routine or schedule as it is and chances are good that nothing in your life will ever change. Sound enticing?

I had to go off auto pilot back in 1997 in order to quit smoking. Once I had conquered my nicotine addiction I gained enough weight to stretch my skinny "starving artist" waistline a few inches.

Over the next three years I gained about 20 lbs since my hunger was no longer being artificially suppressed and I was sitting at the computer more than ever before. My weight was 168 lbs and spread evenly so that I didn't actually look fat. But did I need that extra mass? Not all of it.

I then gained another ten pounds when I went on tour with Rick Justice in 2001. That's not supposed to happen to a touring musician, but we were making good money so I was eating like a king. I was also building up muscle mass from all the heavy lifting we did twice a week, plus riding my bicycle every day to see the sights. I ate lots of fruit and vegetables, but my daily dose of potatoes and corn (with my salmon fillets) had me starting to look good and "corn fed" - a term I learned in Lincoln, Nebraska, that describes the strong, healthy-look of the local girls who danced in front of us at our shows.

When I came off the road I weighed almost 180 lbs. I didn't look fat, but I did look "full" - as Jim, our drummer, jokingly put it. Once off the road, I maintained my touring weight for years without gaining or losing. I felt bigger but not uncomfortable with my new body - and not so frail as I had felt when I was wafer thin at 140 lbs. Yet I also felt the extra pounds and knew that I didn't need them. And, just as I had known that one day I would quit smoking, I also anticipated that I would eventually tackle the gained weight issue.

That time is now. My goal is to reach 155 lbs. I now weigh 160 lbs and the journey has been almost effortless. All I had to do was go off autopilot and become aware of my eating routine.

Secret? What Secret?

A few months ago a friend of mine had mentioned a book and spiritual phenomenon I'd never heard of entitled "the Secret." What secret? It has never been a secret to me that the only way to reach a goal is to first create one, and then do something about achieving it. And, above all, don't distract yourself with shallow, inane activity. Success requires focus - whether it's public and commercial success, or just a personal goal we have, such as losing weight or learning to play piano. Diversions don't lead us anywhere but off the road. Unfortunately, effort, change and bruised egos can make distractions seem more attractive...

My current weight loss began with my intention to lose weight. Prior to that defining moment I was in an information gathering process - what am I eating, how often, and what is a realistic improvement I can make? To repair something, you need to observe it first to determine what is actually broken. Without that, you're just wasting time and money on unnecessary work.

The only dietary change I made was removing whole milk and the frequency of dairy from my diet. Dairy makes your body acidic and creates mucous. As a singer, it was a change I'd been considering anyway. The second change was only too obvious: I stopped eating when I was full and not when my plate was empty. Nowadays I walk away from a meal feeling satisfied, not bloated. I no longer feel obligated to finish everything on the plate.

All in all, my success comes from breaking out of my established routine. Nothing more. I didn't require pills or special diet foods or anything like that. I lessened the presence of dairy and began eating responsibly rather than compulsively. I wrote a new eating script for my auto pilot. It's important to note that I don't eat junk food or drink sodas except on very rare occasions. Rich, sweet foods repulse me. I do, however, eat German dark chocolate every day because it's amazing. That and my cups of tea with raw sugar and soy milk.

The changeover from whole milk to soy milk in my tea was uneventful. The first few days it tasted "not as good" but the point was to fix the problem, not surrender to it. Ironically, that "old school" white sugar and milk taste in my tea no longer appeals to me. After using raw cane sugar for years and Silk Soy Milk for the last 8 months, my body has changed its preferences. But first came the change in mindset, the intention to change what I preferred. Interesting formula...but no secret to a life-long intender. I used to "love" smoking too. And then I changed my mind.

Other dietary changes were more incidental rather than intentional. I used to drink a glass of orange juice at bed time but after quitting dairy the citric acid started giving me cramps; perhaps the milk fat offered a protective gut coating? Now I drink my orange juice during the day and as a bonus, the added sugar content gets used up while I'm awake, rather than being stored as fat while I'm sleeping. A small change, but when you add them all up, it equals success at 160 lbs. And yeah, I do feel lighter these days.

Is Jenny Craig Rich, Fat And Lazy Yet?

My current success is based upon a simple approach. It's not rocket science. There were no additional costs involved and no need for third party parental hand-holding. Many weight loss organizations are just opportunistic vampires that suck the economic marrow from those who refuse to take control of their own life and always seek the guidance and permission of others. All I had to do was wake up after having fallen asleep at the wheel of my biological destiny. I also wasn't afraid to fail, and I was not impatient with the process.

I also did not set a deadline or a quota. Just a rough guideline to be about 20 lbs lighter in the future. Since the beginning of this year I've been losing 2 lbs every month — not every day. Many people flock to promises of losing 20 lbs in the first week, but that kind of gluttonous compulsion is also what drives food addictions. I suspect that people who want more food, faster also want more weight loss, faster. It's all part of the same drowsy-headed attitude that seeks maximum benefits for minimum effort and personal responsibility — and that's why quick fixes don't work.

In closing, I hope that this newsletter gives any of you looking to shed some of your own "fullness" a little hope that it can be done by you without a huge, dramatic, fear-inducing shift in your current circumstances. It begins by just taking yourself off auto pilot. This also works for any change you wish to make in life. All we must do to stop being the passenger in life is get back behind the wheel again — and have a meaningful destination in mind.

Happy driving. Where to? (Woohoo!)

Roland K. P.S. Speaking of losing weight: happy trails, Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales. It will be interesting to see who hires them next. Had they only been a little more ethical, perhaps the mafia might have offered them a respectable position.


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