The pathetic irony about fat people on the bike trail who are eitherpower-walking or biking or jogging is that they are trying to get into shape and insteaqd are likely killing themselves. The human heart is not equipped for such stress;nor are the knees;the hips;the ankles. I often feel like dismounting my bike everytime I see one of these poor, lumbering souls to preach to them the merits of the low-carb life.
This life takes the commitment of a monk as well as considerable patience, and grit. When you go cold turkey and commit to zero carbs for two weeks, you suffer agonizing withdrawal symptoms; plus after a week of the cravings for bread or cerial pr pretzels or some other poison, the diet doesn't seem worth the effort because your weight pretty much remains the same. After two weeks, however, you begin to drop two or three pounds suddenly and the cravings moderate. This is when you alolow yourself a single piece of bread a day. After two months, you are down 15 pounds. Celebrate. You new may have three glasses of booze a week and, occasionally, a small portion of desert, provided you don's exceed 75 grams to 100 grams of poison carbs on any given day and provided you walk a mile or two each day as well. (I said it wasn't easy. Anything worthy achievement takes effort).
Patience is an attribute that is hard to come by in my family. I began to appreciate patience on Christmas day, 2006 when my wife bought me, a non-musician, a guitar and two-months worth of classical guitar lessons!
I looked at that thing , turning it uneasily in my hands, and said, "I am going to master you!"
My marvellous teacher, Zoe Johnstone, who lives near Baltimore, demanded that I learn to site-read music! I began one string at a time. Within two weeks, I could do it! (with the help of a book by Jason Waldron) I've been practicing 20-minutes-per day for a year and a half now. My 58-year-old fingers can make choords that were impossible for them in the pre-guitar era. I'm a plodding pupil, but a determined one. Now trying to learn on my own--having moved too far from Zoe's classroom to get there every week-- I've managed to simultaneously get halfway through two classical guitar manuels for beginners. Younger students or more gifted ones no doubt cover twice the ground in the same period it has taken me to go this far. Age has its disadvantages. I still struggle to place my fingers perfectly before the fret, a physical challenge given my small hands. But I am determined to become proficient on the guitar even if it takes ten years.
I see progress each day. This delightful experience in music has has given me the ability to stick to my new lifestyle of low carbs and exercise.
Remember the anxiety ridden character whom Bill Murray played in the film "What about Bob?"(Hint: Bob). Bob's psychiatrist, played by Richard Dreyfus, urged Bob to proceed each day with "baby steps." It's another version of the adage, "You must first learn to creep before you can crawl." For most of us, this is true. So prepare yourself for a campaign that lasts months, not weeks; and for incremental results that add up to major weight-loss in a quarter of a year; and then for a maintenace diet that lasts a lifetime.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
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