Face the Music (or scale)

The Holiday weekend is over and back to work...perhaps there was a great barbeque yesterday...dogs, burgers, chips, beer, wine. Maybe in retrospect you think you may have eaten/drank too much and you are afraid to get on that scale.

Human nature is such that we don't like to confront bad news. Whether it be your stock market portfolio, reading about the prices of gas, etc., we often will avoid addressing the issue that may be unpalatable.

Losing weight is the same thing..when our weight goes up, we won't get on that scale for fear of the "bad news" that awaits us.

However, this is the exact time to get on that scale and see what happened, realizing that it is UNDERSTANDABLE that holidays/birthdays/vacations etc. will produce weeks in which weight gain may occur. The concept here is to see how much the weight may have gone up and then HAVE A GAMEPLAN as to what to do about it...perhaps a no carb/no fruit diet plan for several days...perhaps jack up the exercise. Have a plan as to what you will do to get back on track. Keep a clipboard next to your scale and log in your weight once a week.

When we do not monitor our weight or do not have a plan as to what to do about a weight gain, thats when we start the viscious cycle of spiraling weight gain.

Completely different topic: Memorial Day...just a word of thanks to everyone who has served our country...lots of sacrifice for the service members as well as the family. I was a Navy physician for 7 years and I was active duty at a time when there was no war. I was very lucky. I did treat many retirees from WW II, the Korean War, Vietnam. Now I have military families in my practice where the service member has been in the front lines. True heros...not getting paid millions of dollars to dunk a basketball or hit home runs...Real heros. Thanks!!!!!