I don’t think my weight loss effort started with hope. I think it started with fear. I was going to either drop dead or have a stroke. We had 2 little kids at home. And it was really when I started seeing a stroke as a more likely outcome that I became fearful enough to act.

But act how? Do what? My initial plan was to go far into the north woods with enough food to survive the winter if rationed properly. Take that, an exercise bike, a DVD player, and a stack of books. Crazy? Goofy? Yes and yes. But I could see it working. In an instant I had hope. I could seem myself losing weight. My childish fantasy revealed a real issue- it wasn’t just a matter of losing weight, I had to live my life while I did it.

But the ability to see myself succeeding at weight loss changed nearly everything for me. I read the motivation board a lot. All the de-motivating issues that come up there- medical issues, some real, some exotic afflictions that can only be cured at a vitamin shop, failed past attempts, damaged metabolisms, need for immediate results, limits of the calorie calculations- all the evidence that the system just won’t work. Thsoe things are an attack on hope.

Anyone see the Micheal Jordan documentary The Last Dance? Near the end he says this about the 6 NBA championships and, I think his career in general, “It started with hope.”

When I stated WW of course I was exposed to the success stories. OK, I thought, the program works.
But just because it worked for these folks doesn’t mean its going to work for me. I had to see some results to get to hope with WW. Different than my initial effort. Don’t know why.