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Occasionally, I feel the need to transfer thoughts from some corner of my mind to some forgotten corner of the blogosphere. So this is the space where I do that.


The postings here are a good cross-section of my interests. There are quite a few posts on some philosophical thoughts. There are also more professional posts on areas of strategy, IT Management, and data science.


I hope they are enjoyable and thought-provoking to read. Please leave comments and let me know what you think. I would enjoy the opportunity to engage in a conversation on these topics.


Sunday, January 31, 2016

The drive to Denver

I've driven across the Great Plains three times in my life.  It's a long and sometimes boring drive.  Depending on how often you stop, it takes a few days of driving to get to the Rocky Mountains.  Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I live, is at about 1,000 ft. of elevation above sea level.  Denver, Colorado, the "Mile High City", is at about 5,000 ft. elevation.  So in the drive from Ann Arbor to Denver, you will increase your elevation about 4,000 ft.  Because the 1,200 mile drive to Denver is across the plains, you don't really notice the increase in elevation.  It's about 3 feet per mile.  Because the drive takes time, your body gets used to the change in elevation as you go along.  If you've ever flown to Denver from Detroit, you know that you have a risk of having altitude sickness when you arrive.  You definitely notice the difference in altitude.  When driving, you don't really notice at all.

Now suppose Denver was the next town over from Ann Arbor, but it was still at 5,000 feet.  That would mean that there would be a 4,000 foot cliff at the edge of Ann Arbor looking up to Denver, somewhere in the sky.  If you've ever seen photos of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, it's about 3,000 feet high.  The cliff to Denver would be another 1,000 feet higher.  If you lived in Ann Arbor, Denver might as well be on another planet.  You would never go there, and you would never even try.

Keep that image in mind.

Imagine you are someone who weighs 300 lbs.  You've been that weight for as long as you can remember.  It's part of who you are.  Supposed you decide you want to get to a healthy weight, and your optimum weight, based on your BMI, is 170 lbs.   The idea of losing 130 lbs is like a person in Ann Arbor wanting to move to Denver and all they can see is that 4,000 ft. cliff in front of them.  It's impossible.  They'll never do it.  "Diets" that they read about are like a jet pack you can strap on your back to give you a lift.  The problem is that it will get you 50 ft. up the cliff before it runs out of fuel.  Then, you're most likely going to crash back down to the ground. 

The only way to lose that 130 lbs. is to realize that Denver isn't at the top of a cliff next to Ann Arbor.  It's across a wide plain that can be crossed.  The way to do it is to do it gradually.  You don't try to drive all the way in one day.  You take your time.  You go one mile at a time, and you adjust to the elevation as you go along.  Losing weight in a way that will be permanent is like this.  You have to set small, attainable goals and work toward them.  Little by little you change the way you eat, you change how you exercise, and you change how you live your life so that eventually, but definitely, you'll get to the point where you are living like a 170 lb. person.  That 170 lb. person is who you are.  It is now part of you.  Like someone who moves to Denver, because you took the time to get there at a healthy pace, you have become a Denver person.  You almost don't even remember what it was like to live in Ann Arbor.  It seems foreign to you. 

This is the approach that I took when I lost weight more than a decade ago, and wrote about here.  I was never "on a diet".  A "diet" has the connotation of something that is temporary.  "I'm going to go on a diet and lose 50 lbs!".  And then what?  Go back to the way you ate before?  If so, you'll just gain that weight back again, like the jet pack crashing back to earth.  The only way to stay at a healthy weight is to change how you eat.  Permanently.  And the only way to do that without driving yourself crazy is to do it gradually.  Change small things, little by little.  Drive one more mile down the road toward your destination.  Be persistent.  It's worth the trip.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Good read. Good advice.