d and i make a pact (m)

You may recall back in January when I went to the Nationals in Spokane Washington that I met a woman who lost over 100 pounds on a program called Slimgenics.  She dieted faithfully and worked out 2-3 hours per day.  Almost like an individual "Biggest Loser" competition.  Her name is "D" and she is a well-renowned coach.  Harrison's coach introduced me to her, knowing the weight thing would be a connection between us.

I saw D on Wednesday in Delaware.  She has put some of the weight back on although she has kept most of it off.  She noticed that I had lost more since January and congratulated me.

I asked her how she was doing and she said maintenance was "harder than losing."  She had not been to the gym in a while and felt "gross."

I could tell by her eyes that she was slipping.  The gleam I saw in January was gone.  I know that feeling of hopelessness.

I wonder about weight loss programs where one has to be so regimented to lose weight.  Clearly, her success was stunning as she lost 100+ pounds from May of '09 to January of '10.  But, is it sustainable?  I'm not sure.

I wanted to be helpful to her as her story did inspire me.  I switched topics and asked her how her students were coming along.  One pair was doing well and then struggled to break through to the next level.  I asked her how she coaches them to break through plateaus and she seemed to know exactly what they had to do.

I asked her if that wasn't the same for losing weight.  She paused and nodded her head, almost to herself, and looked at me and said "thank you."  I told her that for her to maintain and even lose some more would prove to her students that she knew from struggle and would set a wonderful example for them.

I told her how much I wanted to lose between now and next January.  She told me her goals.

She then extended her hand to me and said "See you at Nationals.  We'll both be even better by then."

It was the shot in the arm we both needed.