Full Disclosure (WLC)

I just looked on the website and am slightly dizzy about how many people have joined this challenge. I’m feeling a little like if y’all don’t lose weight, I’m going to get run out of town. At the risk of sounding like I’m backpedaling, I have something to say…

I’m not going to name names here, but some of the people who have signed up for this challenge are already very small.  You people may not lose weight. I know: when I say that to your faces, you delight in lifting up your tee shirt and showing me your copious belly fat. Really, unless you’re fourteen or a runway model, most of us can grab onto a handful of ourselves somewhere between our neck and our ankles. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but that doesn’t mean you’re “fat.”

I lost weight on this challenge because I had the excess weight to lose. But it didn’t come off quickly. I didn’t lose a single pound for many weeks, and I was one hundred percent compliant. I texted Sharon, our fearless leader, and basically said: WTF!!?? And she told me the same thing happens with her. Her weight doesn’t come off until the very end.

By the sixth week of my first challenge, I’d lost a pound or two. Then a little more in the subsequent weeks. I felt incredibly good and energetic eating this way, so I did not “go off” the eating plan at the end of 8 weeks, and it was then that the weight started to melt off.

I’m telling you this so you don’t freak out, but mostly so you don’t give up. Most of us are used to going on a diet and seeing instant results. That may not happen here.

As I’ve mentioned, the eating plan is designed (at intermediate and advanced anyway) to eliminate the foods that most often cause inflammation in people. One friend, a nurse, had said to me that it made sense to her that the weight takes a while to come off — because it takes a long time for inflammation to go down in the body. Think about when you injure yourself and you swell up — a lot of the swelling goes down in the first week, but it takes quite a long time before it all goes away and things are again working as they had been.

Don’t go into this making it all about weight.

At the end of my second challenge, I actually had gained two pounds. It came off in a week or two, and by that time I didn’t worry about it, but it was still an unwelcome surprise.

It’s hard to say what parts of the challenge are going to challenge any one of us, but I promise you: some of this will be easy and some of it will be very hard. The first lifestyle challenge is going to be No Electronics During Any Meals. This is going to KILL me. We did this last time and I don’t think I got through a single day that week being able to check off “Yes” on that box. I’ll try again this week and see if I can do better.

We give things up when we’re ready, but also when we get a little push. The Whole Challenge is that push.

I cannot promise you will lose a lot of weight, or all the weight you hope to, or that the part of you that you grabbed a handful of and shook at me will recede back whence it came and leave you sinewy and hard bellied. But I can almost guarantee that eight weeks from now you will feel better  — by a lot.

I’m going to try and do a post about Coffee and Fat before tomorrow, but if not it will be up over the weekend sometime.

I’m so psyched all of you are doing this with me…I need all the support I can get!

xo

If you're late to the party read: My Big Fat Whole Life Challenge Blog Post

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