New Attitude Requires a Name Change

[peak]

I am going to be frank...

"Uhg!" I said to myself when joining the Whole 30 forums six months ago as it required another password and another user name to remember along with all the other recreational and professional subject forum websites to which I belong.  What W30 name to pick…  Should it be something clever or something simple? Perhaps it should be something that clearly stated my goal at that time.  I thought it should be a cute, positive little reinforcement “pseudo- reminder” to me as to why I am on this forum … I will see it and recognize it each time I log in.  Hence the former “Goal= -40” moniker.

 

Imagine my embarrassment after joining to read in one of the topic responses that losing weight is not necessarily a point on which one should focus ...but rather a person should concentrate on being HEALTHY instead of losing weight.   I will admit to not really becoming fully immersed in the finer points of The Program Rules when starting;  I only thought of how simple this eating plan really is.  I do not consider W30 a diet, per se, because to me it is not a diet.  For me it is eating sensibly …but it took the plan to realize how the simplicity of eating right really is.   I do not have a problem eating good, healthy foods but I needed a realistic outline.  Whole 30 concept provided it for me.

One point of the W30 that I read is ...that "the plan is not difficult" and for context of that attitude it followed with items that ARE hard to do.  “Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard."  Those examples piqued my curiosity, but as a relatively healthy male, I have experienced neither.  Furthermore, short of Divine intervention and with a healthy lifestyle, I hope to never have the need to understand either one.  Those illustrations made sense, but, I had to find my own examples to keep me charted on my own W30 course.   I have been very fortunate in the past few years and my professional satisfaction has given me a sense of well-being.  Nary a day goes by that do not think of my parents, rest their souls. I have them to thank for my existence.   I have silently self-referred to them as good examples before.  Because of their fortitude, when they were young, to overcome adversities which certainly can be considered “hard”, I used them a source of inspiration once again for perspective in the Whole 30 Rules.  If they got through their hard times back in the day, then I can perform a simple act of eating right.  Both lived the Depression as teens.  Both served in WWII with dad serving on Guadalcanal.  If anyone has seen the miniseries, The Pacific,  it will give an idea of what “hard” is from an infantryman’s perspective.   Hard is being a child of the Depression and fighting in war, my father did both.  Eating right is not hard.

I have opportunities that my parents never did.  I should honor them by becoming the best person I can be which includes striving to be in the the best physical shape that is realistically within my ability.  Continuing to eat right will be one of many attributes along the next steps my journey.  In order to be at my Peak performance I need to continue eating right and be patient.  My doctor, a couple of weeks ago, mentioned that dropping another 20 pounds would do wonders beyond the good feelings I am already consciously experiencing now.  I never thought that the realm of dropping upwards of 60 pounds would ever be in my scope!  (No, a new username of “Goal= -60” never crossed my mind-  LOL.)  Moreover, I am not going to focus on dropping another 20 pounds as an endgame but if it happens then great... perhaps that is what my weight should be.  I weighed 215 when I was discharged from the service, but that was 33 years ago as a 20-something kid.  I will set realistic goals.  I am not going to attempt, at this new starting point, to get into the physique that will allow me to pass the Marine Corp PFT standards again, but I will not rule it out either. 

I completed my first Whole 30 late March this year- recording my weight loss of about 17 pounds;  I had plenty of girth to donate to the cause.  Six weeks earlier in January I scaled at 260+.  That large number staring back bewildered me! 

Last Sunday, 2 June 2018 after a weekend of hard physical work, I dipped the pointer on the scale to about 218 pounds.   Yes, I also know that stepping on the scale should be limited according to the program.   But, regularly I have been teetering around the 222 range.  I am not superstitious nor a poker player but “three deuces” are a much better number than 260!   

I still need to continue in striving towards a better physical being…  but I consider that my initial goal of shedding 40 is achieved.   Therefore, another positive reminder every time I log in to the Whole 30 Forums is appropriate and necessary.   I am feeling that the attitude of “be-my-best at my age” is a righteous goal towards I will continually strive.

I am changing  my username on the Whole 30 forums to “peak.” 

In the opening steps of the program, there are words that say “Whole30 could change your life”  …and the logo even states “let us change your life.”  Respectfully, I must partially disagree with this.  No one thing, concept or diet nor any one person can change another.  I am the only person who can change me.  Whole 30 definitely gets full credit in the nutrition/ food factor arena for helping my self-sense.  With the right attitude, Whole 30 can change one’s life, but it is up to the individual.

To those here who have met their goals I congratulate you.  To those who are in the midst of W30 I say keep going.  To those, without some extraneous adversity, who are finding it difficult I say keep your chin up... find the internal fortitude to keep going because it is realistically easy when compared to things that really are difficult... and the results are worth the effort.

Respectfully- frank.

[SugarcubeOD]

Thanks for this Frank!!  Very proud of you!