Facing the Facts

I am not a big fan of the heat, but when people tell me how much they are looking forward to the fall I cringe.  It isn’t because I don’t like the weather or appreciate the changing of the leaves. It isn’t even because fall is the craziest month in our house because of fall sports and school and the thousand and one other activities that fall one after the other.  It is because of the jeans.

Jeans don’t lie.  If I have had one too many slices of blueberry pie or scoops of ice cream, I might be able to hide it from others and more importantly from myself with a nice light sundress, but the minute I have to put on jeans, the truth can no longer be denied.

After speaking with several local athletes I find that I am not alone.  It isn’t that we are lazy.  We don’t spend our days sitting on the couch eating bonbons.  Instead, with more exercise comes more and more hunger and it is easy to fall back on the excuse we know is not true. It is easy to believe that we can eat whatever we want because we ran/walked/biked/swam this morning.  And thus the summer, that was full of activities, ends, the jeans are pulled out of the closet and suddenly, I am faced with the five or ten pounds that will definitely need to be shed.

The good news is I am not alone.  Instead of having to starve myself in the privacy of my own home, I know there is a better way.  Weight loss does not have to be hard because it doesn’t have to be fast.  In fact, losing weight at a reasonable rate, over time, increases our chances of keeping the weight off. 

It also doesn’t have to be done alone.  With the help of a network, whether it is a group of friend working together to lose weight or a group of strangers that meet through a local weight loss or exercise program, having support makes the process easier.

In Pasadena, Jenny Craig and further afoot, Weight Watchers offers weight loss programs that combine diet and exercise with a support system. At Jenny Craig, clients work one on one with a weight loss counselor who helps guide and motivate them towards their goal.  At Weight Watchers, weekly meetings and weigh-ins inspire clients to work harder each week to meet their goals.

However, if you are trying to lose a smaller amount of weight, you might find that a weight loss center is not right for you. That doesn’t mean you have to be on your own.  Luckily, several of the local gyms, including the women’s exclusive gym, Transformations and Big Vanilla, offer weight loss program catered to the active athlete.

The active athlete poses a different set of challenges for weight loss.  We are already running, biking, swimming, lifting weights.  We have already bought into the importance of leading an active life, but still we don’t look like Megan Fox or Brad Pitt.  Almost always, for the active athlete this is because of diet. 

By working with either a licensed dietician or a program at one of the local gyms that focuses on increasing our workout intensity, we can overcome that last five or ten pound obstacle. 

I do hate fall, but I should learn to appreciate it.  I should learn to appreciate the fact that it keeps me honest.  Instead of being able to bury my head in the sand and ignore the weight that has slowly crept up on me over the summer, fall gives me the opportunity to try on those jeans, face reality and take steps to remedy the issue.