Interesting

I had coffee today with a former publicist for a major news network who was fired in a department shakeup a few years ago and then launched her own PR company.

She's a lovely woman, and this recession has hit her hard. She's gone from owning a thriving small business to a drowning one in just a matter of months. It's scary. Another young publicist I know has also been booted from his company.

As much as I hate the negativity of my particular bosses -- and the fact that they send all their bull*** downhill -- there's no question that I'm lucky to still have my job. And in a dying industry, at that.

I fear sometimes I'm on the verge of getting let go and among the other worries, I gnaw over what that would do to my weight loss efforts. I get in a lot of movement walking and/or biking the 3.5 miles to work. Tonight I walked home too. And could I even afford my gym membership without a job? The concerns grow as I contemplate it.

But, in a nice bit of synergy today, the woman I met for coffee mentioned in passing that she lost just over 70 pounds herself -- 13 years ago!

Friends, it's so wonderful to meet people who have conquered the fat and kept conquering the fat. All too often we only hear the so-called medical studies that say people who have gained weight can never really lose it -- or those who lose inevitably gain back. I hate articles that tout the latest "findings" about the impossibility of long-term weight change.

So I was incredibly happy to find this real, living human in front of me who is a major success story. And not just her -- this divorced mother of two also has daughters, and one lost 56 lbs and the other about 70 lbs a few years ago!

How did they do it, you ask? Well, I asked that. Truthfully, just like we are doing it. Good habits over bad habits. Portion control, and regular exercise.

My coffeemate said she goes to the gym just about every day like clockwork -- it's habit for her now. And she never tells herself she can't have a certain food. She just regulates how much and when she has certain foods. She eats pasta, bread, dessert, but not every day. Her daughters have adopted the same habits.

I'm going to remember her during times of trouble. If she can do it...well, as we already know, so can we.