Why do I do stupid things? (Part 1)
I know the problem. I don’t know the full solution, but I certainly know things that would help. They’re not even things that challenge my fears.
They are things I keep doing things that I should stop. I’m sure my wife would tell me that they’re comfort things that I don’t want to give up. But I want to get over my fears more and I need to give up certain things to do that.
Ok, that was all very vague. I’ll go into specifics over the next few posts but here’s the first one:
I’m extremely self-conscious about my over-weight appearance.
I’m a big guy. I certainly have over 100 pounds to lose. Now I should let you know at this point that I’m close to six and a half feet tall so being over 100 pounds overweight doesn’t look as bad on me as it would on a five and a half foot man. No, it doesn’t look good on me, but… you understand my point.
So, all I have to do is eat less at meals (or just stop after my first serving of a meal) and especially stop eating junk after dinner. Doesn’t sound hard does it? Lots of times I don’t even know why I eat the junk. I often don’t really enjoy it and then I feel yucky after eating it. That’s so stupid, isn’t it?
And get this… when I try to lose weight, I do. My wife is very jealous of how easily the weight comes off me when I just try.
So, make the change! Stop going to the fridge and pantry after the kids are in bed and stop eating after one serving of a meal! You want pros and cons? Ok, fine:
Pros:
- Less self-conscious about my appearance.
- Clothes would fit better.
- Can bend down to tie shoes without being sooo darn uncomfortable!
- Would feel better.
- Would live longer with less strain on my heart.
- Much more fun in bed!!! (That should be enough right there!)
- Would be able to wear clothes I want to but can’t right now because they don’t come in XXXLT sizes.
- Lower food bill.
- More fun with the kids since I would be more active with them.
- Would sweat less.
- Would not get so out of breath going up stairs.
- All of the above would reduce my stress and raise my rock-bottom self esteem.
Cons:
- (What possible down-side could there be to this? Anybody got one? I’ve got nothin’.)
One of my favorite books as a kid was Where the Red Fern Grows. Yes, I cried at the end. I cried when I read it to one of my kids a few years ago. Badly. Hey, I’m a senstive guy. Anyway, there’s a scene where Billy has to catch a raccoon to get a hide for training his coonhounds. The way he does it is to put a shiny ball of tin foil in the end of a branch that’s been hollowed out. Nails are put in the end of the log so their points go through the wood and point towards that tin foil ball. The curious raccoon reaches in past the nails to get the shiny ball but once his paw grabs onto it he can no longer get his paw out. So? Let go of the ball, right? Nope! That ‘coon won’t do it. It will hold on to it until Billy and his Dad find the stuck ‘coon at the trap and kill it.
Food is a shiny ball in a trap to me. It’s an addiction that does me no good. Worse, it does me quite a bit of harm both physically and mentally. It will eventually kill me if I don’t let go. It’s time for me to let go of the ball and pull my hand out of the trap.
