I hope that my story doesn't make anyone squirm, but I lost weight by having an alter ego. Anyone who really knows me could have told you that it was bound to come to this. Like some of you reading this, I'm completely insane. I just embraced it to get to my weight loss goal. For those of you reading who aren't insane, I'm gonna make you change your mind... literally.For years I could not get this excess weight off. It was driving me crazy (pardon the pun) hearing everyone say, "we all know what to do, it's just a question of doing it." If that were the case, then why was diet and exercise an $80 billion business? Why were we paying people to tell us what we already know? We aren't paying them for that! We pay them to help us with the doing. I am just so leery of anyone telling me that they will teach me how to eat... and paying them for it! I think that is why Nutrisystem didn't work for me. It was time to get to the doing, something I knew I couldn't do alone and couldn't afford to pay for, so I allowed someone in. Drill Sergeant Dan! I have an alter ego and the last thing I 'knew' before my lifestyle changed was that I was going to give Drill Sergeant Dan a life and power. This is not an unfamiliar phenomenon; people do this every day as a mechanism to deal with bad things that happen in their life (Sybil). So why would it be so unheard of for the opposite to be true. Why couldn't another personality take over for good things to happen?
Every morning when I wake up I'm greeted by Drill Sergeant Dan who tells me that he doesn't care how I feel today and to get my butt out of bed and to the gym. And he's been tested. One morning I woke up whining, telling my husband, "I'm too tired. I just can't go to the gym!" To which my husband replied, "Are you sure?" He didn't say another word as I rolled over to go back to sleep. About a minute later I was out of the bed with a start grabbing for my shoes and socks. My husband asked what was going on and I informed him that he could NOT cave like that. If I was going to make some changes, I needed him to stay strong for me. But that wasn't fair to him and quite frankly was not true. I have my own personal Drill Sergeant and things have definitely changed over the past 8 months.
Please don't get me wrong, unlike someone with REAL multiple personalities, I understand that it's really just me motivating myself to do what I know needs to be done, but if playing a character gets me to my goal... isn't that really what counts? There's something to be said for dressing the part. To get up in the morning and into camo workout gear really does change my whole attitude. Looking at that chocolate cake with a very stern, "Not Authorized!" yelling in my head works. Every night I sit down and create a plan for the next day. I create my menu and workout plan. My morning mantra every day is, "No thinking until Noon. Stick to the plan and execute. How you feel plays no part in executing the plan!" Now you want a split personality too don't you? I knew I'd change your mind! This would be classified as "mental" in my fundamental changes! LOL
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