Monday, November 21, 2011

Pugs and the Art of Visualization

This is a pug.
We have one, too, named Butch.

The other night Butch was laying on top of my chest sleeping and dreaming about a big, delicious bone, or whatever pugs dream about.  He felt heavy.

An adult pug weighs between 8 and 10 kg.  Butch weighs about 8.7kg as of his last visit to the vet.  That's when it struck me --- the amount of weight I lost after losing my job is only slightly more than this adult pug on my lap.
I used to walk around with an extra 8.7 kg (more, actually) of meat on me!  Suddenly I felt shocked.  It was a concrete way of visualizing what I had lost through diet, exercize, and stress management.  An adult pug.  MY pug.  I felt very good about my results so far, and motivated to keep going until I hit my desired weight (about another half-pug to go!)

Numbers on their own mean very little - it is when we give them context that they start to become important information.  How much weight would you like to lose to be at your ideal body size and shape?  Can you find a proxy in the physical world to refer to? (hopefully not an adult Indian elephant or polar bear!)  This kind of exercize can really help you set your goals and realize what those numbers actually mean.  It is important not to use this exercize to become discouraged or depressed.  Rather, it puts a realism to how hard it is to go through our daily routine when we are overweight, even by 5kg or so.

Proper visualization is an essential part of success.  What do YOU use?

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