It's that time of year again - time for resolutions and decisions and things we want to do. Nothing wrong with that as long as we take it one step at a time, and be realistic. This time of year many of us take stock of what we have done - or not done - in the previous 365 days. Some of us say we want to quit smoking, others - like me - want to lose weight, and others want to make changes in the job or family life. Nothing really wrong with that.
But I need to remember that I got where I am one step at a time, one day at a time, and that is how I will get out of the situation. And another important thing to remember is that the magazines at the check-out counter in the grocery store might as well have Fantasy Island written across them.
No one, no one you see on the magazine covers looks like that. Especially celebrities like Jessica Simpson, or Oprah, or Faith Hill or even the guys on the cover of Men's Health or Muscle and Fitness looks like that.
They have ALL been touched and retouched and sometimes even morphed into someone we would not recognize, by Adobe Photoshop artists.
Nothing wrong with Photoshop. It's a wonderful tool; I use it myself. But it allows photographers to idealize people's images. Even Jenny McCarthy, the former Playboy Playmate of the year, acknowledged that there is no way that she looked that way. (Ironically, Jenny became a spokesperson for WeightWatchers after she had a baby).
That is not to say that these people don't look good - they do. They just don't look like they look on the magazine covers. Weight has been my battle. Since I was five! Every year I have to wrestle the python of appetite and every year I win some and lose some. But I keep fighting because I need to control my weight to avoid more serious problems.
So the battle has been joined - again. And I will lose some weight, and I will lose some battles. I realize that calories are like gasoline - you put them in and they have to be burned or stored. No way around that. No magic bullet, no easy way out.
Even people who have had surgery have to have counseling to deal with the emotional issues that contributed to their weight gain. I am still trying to get a right attitude towards food. It's necessary to live, but it is not my comforter. And so it goes ....
