I’m hungry.

And I have been for about two weeks.  On August 29th, I started yet another diet plan.  But this time, there’s a difference.  I have discovered the absolute, gotta-have-it, can’t-ignore-it ingredient to weight loss.  (Hang with me a bit.  We’ll get there.) (And, no, I’m not selling anything.)

For all my adult life, I’ve been overweight.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.  Mostly more.  A lot more.  But, goodness, in the last fifteen years, I got just huge.

In an article I read today about a barbecue joint, the original owner’s nickname – – Big Ed – – was given to him because “he was 5’10” and 220 pounds.”  Well, I’m an inch shorter, and for the last five years, I’ve outweighed him by 65 to 80 pounds.  If he was Big Ed, I wonder what they’d call ME?  (Hold on – – it’s still coming.)

This morning, I weighed in at 24 pounds less than I did two Monday mornings ago.  It’s the first time my scale has shown a number in the 260’s since early in the 2000’s.  I’m finally well on my way.  And I know it will work this time.

Why the certainty?

Because THIS time, I’ve added to the plan the one crucial ingredient I had always left out before.  Yes, burn more calories than you take in, yes balance intake and work-out, yes moderate fats and sugars and carbs and soft drinks and desserts and extra meals and on and on and on and . . .

But here it is.  HERE’S THE SECRET TO THE WEIGHT LOSS YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED.

Make yourself vulnerable and accountable to someone else.

Inner motivation, sadly, has never been enough for me.  In the bigger picture, I’d love to be athletic again.  I’d love to be thinner again.  I’d love to be fit again.

But in the moment, RIGHT NOW . . . I want a cheeseburger.  And the moments have ALWAYS won out over the big view.

I always can say, “Yeah, I’m trying to lose some weight”, when someone asks.  But it doesn’t mean anything if no one else knows what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.  It’s far too easy to stay so general about your goals and plans that no one else knows just how you’re doing.

So this time, I’ve made myself accountable to someone else.  A couple of someone elses, actually.

First is my wife.  See, she knows whether I cheat.  How does she know?  She sees me with my clothes off. She sees money being spent on food.  She sees the scale when I weigh.  She sees whether I’m getting bigger or smaller. She sees whether the cost of this diet is something I’m taking seriously, whether I’m honoring the sacrifice of family income to make this happen.  I can’t one day say, “We have to make that [not cheap at all] payment for those packets of food, honey,” and the next day say, “Sorry, darling, but I just had to stop for a couple of slices of pizza,” or, “Oh, by the way, I finished that bag of Cheetos last night.”

Second is Don.  Don is losing weight, too.  He’s lost far more than  I have.  He’s using a more drastic technique, and he’s quickly becoming the poster boy for it.  But Don is also investing in me and my weight loss.  We meet and talk.  He challenges me, encourages me, argues with me, urges me on.  He gives me an example to which I want to be true.

Marlys and Don – – MY secret to weight loss at last.  They’re helping tremendously, by making me be honest about what I’m doing.

And that’s the secret.  You need someone who will keep you honest.  Someone who won’t let you get away with cheating without a good dressing down.  Someone who will care about you enough to say hard and sometimes angry things to you.  Someone who YOU don’t want to let down.

Vulnerability.  Accountability.  Most of you will not lose the weight any other way.  You’ve got to do it.

Write and let me know who your “Marlys and Don” are, and let me know how you’re doing.