As a long-suffering Bay Area sports fan, I have been in pretty good spirits as of late. The Sharks are in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Warriors are in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. The NFL draft is tomorrow, and the San Francisco Giants have won 8 games in a row. All is well in the sports world.

This sports news is not much of a segway to my topic for my ninth weight loss blog, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Today I find myself preparing to leave AOS in a little over a month. I just returned from an OCC where I drove around the Bay Area with my mother looking for businesses where I might want to work during the summer. I guess it was kind of a wake-up call, seeing how soon I would actually be in the real world doing this weight control thing all on my own. It is a frightening thought, and I realize that I really need to buckle down. So until next time, I will be working with a higher sense of urgency to leave in June with LTWC skills in good shape.

Labels: long-term-weight-controller, sports, support

With the NCAA tournament starting today, I figured that it would be an appropriate time to bring up just how great sports are.

It is well known that playing sports is a form of exercise, which is quite beneficial to the health. However, most people don't take time to look beneath the surface, and examine how many parallels there are between sports and health. Weight control is a multi-faceted effort. Not only does it involve exercise, but also goals, peer support, proper education about what foods are healthy, and above all, the will to succeed. Sports share many of these same attributes.

Take a team playing in the national football league for example. As the players enter training camp in late July and early August they have several objectives. One is to get into game shape. They go through series upon series of grueling drills to ensure that when September comes around, their bodies will be ready to handle the impact of a 60 minute game. Another is to learn the play book, and get themselves mentally ready for the upcoming season. Many teams also state clear goals going into training camp. Some shoot for a divisional title, while others have a "super bowl or bust" attitude.

Once the season starts, and the players have done all they can to prepare themselves, there are two main elements that can be viewed as the make or break points for a certain team. One is the coaching. Players can be extremely talented at what they do, however if they are not put in a position to win, then they will not have success. The other element is the desire of the athletes. These multi-millionaires, who live a privileged life have to ask themselves how hard they are willing to work, and if they are willing to put their bodies on the line to succeed.

As farfetched as this analogy may seem to be, organized sports, and weight control have many similarities. It is easier to view health as a challenge, something that you can work towards, similar to sports, than an insurmountable problem.

18 days until opening day.

Go Giants

Labels: determination, sports, weight_control