New Year's Resolution: Lose Weight or Else

For the last five years I have made the same resolution each year. I am going to lose weight. When pigs fly seems to be the answer to "when?". For the first four years of those five spectacular failures, I actually gained weight. In 2009, I managed to lose between seven and ten pounds. I am still about seventy pounds too heavy, as I weigh in at two hundred sixty pounds. Much of my excess fat is packed around the middle of my five foot eleven inch body, which I've been told is the most dangerous place to carry the weight. My health reached an all time low in February and March of 2009. I have developed high blood pressure, poor circulation, and sleep apnea, among other things. I lost my job in March, and though I don't like to admit it, I'm not convinced that my weight was not at least partially at fault. Since then, for the first time in recent memory, I've been able to lose weight and keep it off.

I've tried all the usual remedies for obesity: mainly diets and exercise. I haven't tried pills and don't plan to do so this year either, but I do have a new wrinkle in my plan. I believe that I've hit upon a plan that will give me the advantage I need. For several years my wife has asked me to go to the doctor for my sleep apnea, blood pressure, and circulation. It seems the only thing I like less than obesity is doctors, because here I am, refusing to seek help from a doctor while the years roll by and my health issues remain unresolved. The thought that has softened my view towards doctors is the fear that I will continue to experience little or no progress, and in another five years, I will be at this same weight or worse.

This year I have an ace in the hole. I've promised my wife that the very first month I don't lose three to five pounds, I will go to the doctor, and I will do what he tells me. This is a win-win situation. If I can lose the weight on my own, I don't have to see the doctor, and if I can't lose the weight on my own, the doctor will help me. Either way, I end up losing weight.

Here are a few features of my plan:

1. I will drink only water, and plenty of it. No soft drinks or other sugary liquids, and no coffee, tea, or hot cocoa. Eight glasses every day. My daughter bought me a giant tub-like mug that holds eight glasses of water at one time. I will fill it in the morning and drink it all day until it's gone.

2. I will exercise at least three days a week, beginning with moderate exertion that will simply form a habit of getting up and moving.

3. I will eat one plate of reasonable portions, three times each day. No seconds, no in between snacking, and dessert once a week. Eating out will be a rare occurrence, I will prepare my own food at home, with an eye on a healthy and balanced diet.

4. I will reduce my expectations. Losing three to five pounds each month in 2010 will bring my total weight loss to a satisfying thirty-six to sixty pounds. In the past, my goals have been much to ambitious.

5. I will lose three to five pounds each month, and the first month I don't reach this goal, I will go to the doctor and I will do what he says.

I am cautiously optimistic. I want to live a long and healthy life, and right now, my chances are not so good. I love my family and want to be with them for many years to come.