Losing weight and the big picture

Weight this morning is 65.9kg. 

This is quite an interesting exercise for me.  The business-trained part of me is impassive, calculating, determined.  The emotional part of me that is somehow hitched to my body image is bouncing around in a very unreasonable fashion.  There is an inherent 'ideal' body image that is imbedded somewhere in my psyche.  This 'ideal' has been created by mindlessly absorbing marketing machinations for years.  Logic tells me it is meaningless; my emotions rage!

This is very similar to getting a group of people to reach a target and I have engaged the same strategies in this endeavour.    

1. Set an achievable goal (9kg weight loss)
2. Have a time limit (278 days)
3. Always know current status (brutal truth is required here - record everything every day)
4. Have a workable strategy (expend more calories than are consumed daily)
5. Stick to the plan (keep on going in spite of weight fluctuations)

I have always found that even emotions become happier when there is a plan and everyone is sticking to it.  In this case, it is that all parts of me are sticking to the plan.  I just have to keep an eye on my emotional part that can be incredibly childish.  The part of me that, when not properly directed, is scared and confused.  Understanding and dealing with this saboteur within me is the same as understanding and dealing with a saboteur in a team.   Emotions are wonderful for enriching life, they are hopeless at directing anything. Emotions can colour in; they are not allowed to design!

Diana Elsmere