Thursday, July 12

Pour a Little Sugar on It, Honey

In my late teens my best friend and I worked together at a hoity-toity furniture store where most of the people were surprisingly kind. But one of the designers there seemed to have it out for us.

One day, as my friend and I were getting ready to leave, I mentioned that I was planning to go to a dance that night. This particular designer was standing nearby, apparently listening in on our conversation. She whirled around, and asked: “Who’d dance with you?”

It was so bizarrely nasty – we were, after all, teenagers – that we just doubled over laughing. There was no other response.

* * *

Today I got not one, but two, “Who’d dance with you?”s.

The first came from a long-time friend. She asked how I was doing on my diet.

“Pretty well,” I said. “I feel healthy and I’m losing lots of weight.”

“Well, so far,” she replied.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“I mean, you won’t keep it off. You’re just going to gain it all back.”

“You think so?”

“If you go back to eating the same way you did.”

“Well, yes,” I said. “I suppose that goes without saying.”

* * *

I told Johnny Walker the story. He just laughed. “You should have that engraved on your tombstone. ‘You’re just going to gain it all back.’”

And here’s one of many reasons having a personal trainer is awesome. Johnny added: “People who want to drag you down, you don’t need them in your life. They make themselves feel better by trying to keep you where you were. They don’t want to change themselves, and so they hate you for changing.

“People who cheer you on are people who don’t measure themselves by whether or not you fail. They know who they are, and they’re happy to see you make progress. It doesn’t demean them when you succeed.”

* * *

Tonight we had a gathering for my youngest daughter’s birthday. A family member, commenting on my weight loss, announced to everyone in hearing: “It’s not sustainable. You’ll never keep it off.”

So, yeah. Dieting is a strange way to learn about other people’s character. Who knew it could be a truth serum?

- - - -

Today’s soundtrack (and if you didn’t see the original video – as I did in 1969), you’re missing out on a real treat! The Archies: Sugar Sugar.

2 comments:

  1. I have been dealing with this exactly. 21 lbs lost in 24 days. My therapist tells me - "That's not ok. You won't sustain it. You will become unhealthy." Naysayer - and I'm paying her for it!!

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    1. Congratulations on the weight loss! That's a lot of hard work. High five! (And the "You will become unhealthy"? That's rich. Because losing weight is surely the best way to "become" unhealthy! (big smile))

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