The cure for "quick fix" disease

I'm guessing I have read something in the range of 80-100 diet books in my lifetime, and have actually been on 20-30 diets that lasted more than one day. From each experience, I have learned something that I'm carrying with me now.

This year alone (yes, since January 1) I have read at least five books on fitness and nutrition (and there are three in the pile yet to be cracked open). The one I just started is called The Body Fat Solution: Five Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight by Tom Venuto.

I'm only on Page 17, and I've already found myself written about. The author talks about Brian Tracy, an expert in success psychology, describing "diseases" running rampant in America and much of the industrialized world today (emphasis mine):

One of them is called quick-fix disease. People with this affliction want to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny. [Note from AuntJ...I actually prayed for this several times.] They're suckers for the latest fat-burning cream or steroid-replacement scam. They impulsively buy "miracle" solutions...They search for instant cures...They look for overnight shortcuts... Saddest and most ironic, they often waste years of their lives on this fruitless quest, with no results to show for it.

Years? Try DECADES!

In 1985-86 I gained 100 pounds in about a year. During that year, I was an emotional trainwreck. To put it bluntly, I was a RAVING PSYCHO BITCH. When you're desperate, your intelligence and common sense fly out the window. I have some distinct memories from that period...I remember exactly where I was standing in the office when I practically screamed at a co-worker that I would not eat one more bite of food until I was under 200 pounds! (I think I was about 215 at the time.) She looked at me like the crazy person I was and calmly informed me that if I did that I would die. She got me to agree to at least eat some bananas (so a lack of potassium would not cause a heart attack).

Well, here I am at age 48 and I have yet to make it back to under 200 pounds. I would say that my average weight over these last 23-24 years has been around 285...let's say about 120 pounds overweight. At the generally-accepted ideal rate of weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week, had I started a sensible nutrition and exercise program at age 25 I could have been at a "normal" weight well before I hit 30 years old. Heck, even if I only lost one pound per month, I could have been at a normal weight by my mid-thirties!

Instead, I always wanted the quick fix. At least five of my dieting attempts were of the "fasting" variety - protein shakes and such. Almost all of my dieting attempts have resulted in more weight, which finally topped out at 330 pounds about 10 years ago.

The cure to quick fix disease is, of course, taking a long-term perspective:

Long-term perspective includes setting long-term goals, but also much more... Each goal is a stepping-stone, not an end point. Without a bigger vision and purpose for each area of your life, you won't have the motivational drive that keeps you going and you'll be more likely to fall for quick fixes...

Making decisions with the long term in mind often implies sacrifice...[which is] a misunderstood word. Many people think sacrifice means deprivation or giving something up. What sacrifice really means is giving up something of a lower nature in the present to receive something of a higher nature in the future.

Somebody asked me recently what finally got me onto the path of weight loss and fitness. There wasn't really a single event to point to, although the realization that I was approaching age 50 certainly had something to do with it. But it seems to have been more like reaching a "tipping point". My continuous search for knowledge (picking up something valuable from each book and dieting experience), my recent professional success with goal setting (the satisfaction of achieving those goals), my good fortune in finding excellent teachers (including my trainer) and my belief deep down that I would never give up the quest (even if there had been years without any attempts) have all combined to finally push me past the point of no return.

I still have days when either my nutrition or my exercise goes off the rails. Some days both my eating and fitness plan derail in a spectacular fashion! But I am (thank God) past the point of quitting, or returning to the "quick fix" mind set. I am striving for that "something of a higher nature".

This is the best time of my life.