By Roberta Russell
I am always on the lookout for others who want to join me in the ongoing endeavor of embracing the rigors of arriving and staying at the right weight and enjoying a healthy lifestyle. It is easy to find people who want to lose weight, but very hard to find those who are willing to do what that takes for the long term.
There is nothing like sharing the thrill of letting go of the transient comforts of addictive eating or excessive drinking or repetitive heartless sex in exchange for the excitement of paring down to one’s shapely firm body, and enjoying the high of clearer thinking and, ultimately, more intimacy.
I have watched fellow travelers emerge from the karmic mist of life-numbing addictions with wonder, joy, and hope. They were guided by the discernable facts and the dedicated support of acquaintances and friends. I had this privileged exposure in the course of my work on myself and with others in the free Calorie and Exercise Logging groups that I started 21 years ago after consulting the outcome research. This was an antidote to unsubstantiated commercial claims of the “best weight loss ever.” You can download and read the details in my Report on Permanent Weight Loss to learn the supporting evidence.
After a long post-widowed search for a significant other, I now awake early in the morning next to Manuel. He smiles at me. Lexi, my white standard poodle, a naturally adept therapy dog, shifts her position from the foot of the bed to the floor and looks up expectantly, letting me know with a low guttural sound that she is ready for her pate breakfast. Manuel has started to be the one who serves her canned breakfast al fresco on the terrace in a familiar blue bowl with finger holes on the sides. He has also installed a new slick black Swiss Jura coffee machine that grinds the fresh coffee beans and makes cappuccino and expresso without the use of polluting plastic K-Cups. The grinds are alleged to be good for plants because they contain nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. We are into recycling here.
The comforts of coupled habits are returning. My updated appetite, the one not induced and fueled by frustrated need and disappointment, is now guiding me to the lower ends of my normal body mass index (BMI) boundaries. I am being fed from other sources.
You may choose to check your BMI here and now. Perhaps you would like to sculpt away any extra that might be getting in the way of your vitality and shortening your longevity? Joining together is a game changer.
“While loneliness engenders despair and ever more isolation, togetherness raises optimism and creativity. When people feel they belong to one another, their lives are stronger, richer, and more joyful.” Murthy M.D., Vivek H . Together (p. xvii). Harper Wave. Kindle Edition.
Incidentally, after seeing the multi-media Smith Learning Center at Columbia TC where I am currently enrolled with its larger-than-life zoom screens, I decided to expand my online, free, calorie and exercise logging group (www.permanentweight.org) internationally.
Does being part of this appeal to you?
Roberta Russell is the author of R.D. Laing & Me: Lessons in Love with R.D. Laing, Report on Effective Psychotherapy: Legislative Testimony, and Report on Permanent Weight Loss. She has also been a contributor to various international magazines and journals including: Psychologie Heute, Japan Times, The Psychologist, Human Potential Magazine, Changes, Clinical Psychology Forum, Psychoanalytic Studies, and Bottom Line. Occasionally, Russell hosts a New York City cable television show called Lifetalk, which has featured interviews with movers and shakers in controversial areas of psychology, weight loss, nutrition, medicine, the environment, and population growth.
