Do it right. Do it once.

Let's think about this backwards. When we gain weight it's typically not all in one week. If we gain weight in a week it's nothing so significant that we can't manage. The weight slides on over the course of at least several months when we're least paying attention. One week of eating poorly doesn't change our body much (otherwise we wouldn't keep doing it). It's the accumulation of many weeks and months.

Keeping that perspective in mind, why in the world would we ever realistically expect to lose much weight in a week? I think it's the worldly influence of instant gratification. Every single person I know that's lost a bunch of weight in a short amount of time ultimately ends up putting back on more weight than they lost.

One way I find to get over this short term fix for weight loss is to look at a person that's healthy and has always been healthy. Most of the time for me it's taking someone in their 40's or 50's that has always had a grip on their weight. The type of person that's had control over the course of their lifetime. I ask-what do their habits typically consist of? Normally it's good eating combined with priority appointments at the gym each week. They do this over and over and over again. Being healthy isn't rocket science, it's taking control of your energy output and input. If that balance can be attained and maintained, weight loss and health will come as a natural side-effect.

This whole blog entry was manifested earlier today during yoga class. We were working on spinal balance pose and then a progression from there.

I began with my right arm and left leg extended as in the picture. Then our option was to take hold of our left foot with our right hand, making a circle with our limbs. The first time I tried this I rushed everything. I grabbed my foot into my hand and opened my hips pressing for the end result of a huge hip-opener stretch and controlled balance posture. There wasn't much control along the way and not much of a stretch either; it was a forced movement. I made my end result pose arrive so fast but with no foundation, just a quick movement. I lost my balance immediately and had to start all over. Frustrating. I knew at that moment of tension that I moved too fast through the movement and decided to slow down for the other side-my second try. As we moved to the right leg extended with the left arm out I purposely grounded my hand and knee into the floor and then methodically found my foot with my hand. I firmly bonded them together. Then, every so incredibly slowly I began to open my hips with such control that I have no idea where it came from. I made it to the top of the pose and held it strongly for what seemed to be forever.

The difference for me was night and day and made me realize that so many times in life we insist on rushing through everything. Only to get the end result the easiest, most pain-free way possible. If we get to it that way, we've cheated and chances are it won't last (just like my first attempt at balance today). Then we have to start over from scratch and arg! does that stink. Doing it right is true victory in the end. However, remember that most often it takes a couple times doing it wrong to get us to the point of where we want to do it right.