The Five Year Thing

There was a little kerfuffle on April's blog a couple of days ago. One of the issues, as I understand it, was the contention that a person had not really succeeded at "weight loss" unless you kept off the weight for five years or more. Of course, CR and weight loss are not synonymous. And success even for weight loss is not entirely defined. Most strictly, I assume it would mean not regaining any weight at all.

I lost 25 pounds in 1988. I did it by eating very carefully - but not really ON - for 4 months. I did track calories every day and recorded. It was certainly CR. I would not call this successful. I did regain most of the weight in 5 years. Five years later, I suspect I had regained 15 or 20 of the pounds back. I was not able to lose more than 5 pounds at a time after that - until 2000 and CR. So, I have some sympathy for the 5 year thing. I kept all the weight off for a year or so. But, I didn't know about CR, and didn't realize that I would need to do CR indefinitely to keep it off.

When I did sort of the same "diet" thing in 2000, I did it with an emphasis on nutrition. Six months into my "diet", I discovered CR. This has made all the difference for me. CR gave me a framework on which to build a lifetime habit of eating less and eating better.

For the first several years of CR, I was very strict. I don't think I ate a dessert for at least 6 months. I ate almost no fruit. I almost never ate extra calories in a day. I still don't. My weight has not varied hardly at all. The entire range of my weight has been between 116 and 123. It stays the same thing for a year at a time. I think I have "succeeded".

I do think there is a risk for someone who has not reached this level of stability - that they will not stick with CR. Just because "you did it, and you can do it again", doesn't mean that you are.

If I think about why I can do CR - why I succeed - it is a complex thing. It's not that I am into self-denial. I am not really obsessive. I love food. It's really that I am aware of the two paths I can take. I've taken them both and I know them well. One path is paved with excuses, a loss of self control, guilty pleasure, socializing with food, and health problems. The other path is paved with focus, discipline, optimal health, beautiful food, and social stress. I just choose that second path, day after day. It's a day to day thing. My image of myself is a person on that second path now. That is who I am. I was on that first path for a long time. I did not care for it. It is a sad path. This one is a joyous one. I enjoy my CR life. It's part of my joy.

My CR life has helped me make the decisions that led me to my current life in my personal paradise. I enjoy each day in my house the same way I learned to enjoy food on CR. I notice the colors, the smells, the touch, and sounds of everything. A million precious sights are there each day to see. The same way that I've come to appreciate each food - its taste, its texture, its nutrition, the way it makes my body feel - I am learning about each thing in my environment: the plants, the views, the rocks, the birds, the weather, the sky, the stars, the sun, the moon. Just like CR, I cannot imagine getting tired of it.

So, there's my secret to the 5 year thing. If you enjoy it, and continue to learn it, and experience it as something interesting every day, then five years is a short, short time.