preparing for battle (m)

Yesterday's WW class was packed.  One crazy soul even joined (really bad timing, I think).  Karen, our leader, is armed to the teeth with words of wisdom to help us face the days ahead.  We talked about how to recognize obstacles, work our way around them and what to do if we succumb.

Karen introduces us to a concept called Lapse, Relapse and Collapse.

Lapse-is when you eat something (like a piece of cake) that is outside of your points allocation.  Regroup and move on, she instructs.  And, forgive yourself.
Relapse-is when you go outside your points allocation a few times, but then recover.  Same instruction as above..
Collapse-is when you go back to your old ways and "blow it" completely and for a period of time. This is to be avoided at all costs.

I resolve this will not happen to me.

Then Karen shares with us some scary statistics about people who "take a break" during this time of year and never come back. 

This causes us to pause and think about it.  The room goes quiet.  I can imagine people are thinking similar thoughts.  Next week is Christmas.  We each will have at least two events to attend.  There is no class on Friday, our regularly scheduled time, because that is Christmas Day.  So, say you have a bad week.  Right behind it is New Year's...more parties, more eating, more drinking.  WW is closed on that Friday, New Year's Day.  That would bring us to two weeks of being off track.  The beginning of the slippery slope.

I think about Legally Blonde, the movie.  In it, Reese Witherspoon's character is a student at Harvard Law School. The first day of class, the professor tells each student to look to his/her left, and then look right and says, "One of you will be gone by the end of the term."

I pray this will not be me.

Karen dismisses class, tells us to be strong (and forgiving).  We clap for her and, as usual, say "good bye" to each other.

Only today, we look each other in the eye and say: "Good Luck."