The road not taken.....

I had a long walk outside today...and was thinking...or as pooh likes to say...

think.think.think....think. think. think.

and while I was thinking I thunk....

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

(props to Bob frost)

Or as yogi bera would say....

"When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it."

I realized lately, I have been getting impatient with my journey.

I want it to  Go Faster.

I want it to be a Spectacular Drop...

not a simple choice.

Not a quiet simplicity.

Not a logical result stemming from conscious decisions...

That isn't very exciting, thought I.

I really get pumped about making it a fight.

When in reality....this journey isn't like fire, it is like water.

Fire consumes...water slowly erodes.

Fire burns out...water...well, it's forever.

or as a favorite poem of mine says:

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night;

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -

It gives a lovely light.

(props to edna)

Water made the grand canyon.

Not all at once, but with persistance.

With a slow, steady dribble.

When You get to your last 30 to 40 lbs.  It doesn't come off in three and four pound chunks.

It comes off in .5 to 1 lbs bits and pieces.

It's consistency.

It's repetition.

It's the rest of your life.

So, what's with the poetry. and what in the world does that have to do with water, and weight loss...and winnie the pooh and....

Well.

I have been a consuming fire.

Now,

I have to be like water.

At the end of February...I will switch to my maintenance eating.

What does that mean?

Well...What I expect to be eating to maintain my weight at 132 lbs.

I will be doing the exercise I will be doing for the rest of my life.

Will this slow my weight loss down?

Probably.

But you know what.

In the end....this path is the one that will teach me the most.

and knowing how way leads on to way....

I doubt I will go back to firebrand Chris.

I am hoping to  have more of a TJ attitude.

 She is a person Whom I admire greatly.

I will still be working out 6 days a week.

But my eating will be between 1500-1600 calories a day with three higher calorie days per month...We will see...in time...where that lands me.

In the end, the final victory will be all the sweeter...because I will have done it the right way.

Please go over to steve's blog and give him some support.
His Dad died suddenly last night. 

Hugs,

Your thinking, poetry loving and water logged blogger,

Chris