It’s All Relative

When I decided to get this blog going again in July, I made a conscious decision to steer it away from the usual (read: boring) Weight Loss Journey topics and more towards the things that truly matter in life, like Toast and Ramen Noodles.

But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t ever talk about the weight loss stuff. After all, it’s pretty much why this blog sprang into existence. And I’m not any less preoccupied with the topic just because I’m not writing about it regularly.

It used to be the case that when the weight loss blogger stopped blogging about weight loss, that only meant one thing: disaster. Or maybe that’s still the case. But not here. Diet #113 is still rolling along. First, check this out:

“Wow! What’s your secret?” you might ask. Well, as I’ve explained, there is no secret. The switch is either on or off, and for me it’s been on. But I will admit, cancer has a lot to do with it. I finally got back into Onederland solely because of that little issue and the thought of “throwing it all away” sticks with me. It’s a catalyst that just keeps me going.

“You’re so lucky, getting cancer and all!” I know, I know. It’s true. But I’ll try not to flaunt it.

The astute reader probably noticed that the above graph abruptly cuts off in August. That’s because I wanted to earn your awe and respect before showing you the textbook definition of a plateau:

I haven’t really changed my diet or habits, but there I am, stuck for nearly two months in the same spot. As we all know, sometimes the body just does what the body wants. Normally I’d be inclined to complain about this. But as I’ve grown older and wiser I’ve realized th. . . oh, who am I kidding. I’m going to complain about it. What’s the point of having a blog at all if you can’t rant about pointless problems from time to time?

But before I do, one more thing. The astute reader probably also noticed that there’s something missing from my graphs. Take a look again. No, not the unicorn pictures. Yep, the Y-axis is now one hundred percent label-free. I’m leaving that off because as I’ve grown older and wiser I’ve realized that the number on the scale isn’t the point.

After all, would you have reacted any differently to this graph?

Or this one?

No? Yes? It’s possible you actually would have reacted differently because of the labels. If the values on the Y-axis represented a range way above your own weight, you would probably think, “All right! You go girl!” And I’d be all like, “But I’m not a girl.” If the values on the Y-axis were way below your range, you would probably think, “Sheesh, what’s she got to complain about! I’d give anything to be her weight.” And again I’d be all like, “I’m not a girl.”

What’s important is that it’s all relative. It matters less what the absolute start and end numbers are, as long as the slope is heading the right direction. The slope is what we have in common, not the Y-axis values.

And that’s also why I find it funny that I still complain about plateaus. Sure, it’s frustrating. You think you’re doing everything right but you can’t break through that next barrier (which for some reason, always ends in a zero). Yet I can’t help but notice this is the exact same emotion I felt when I hit a plateau ten pounds above this. Or the one ten pounds above that.

And I’m positive, when I finally do lose ten more pounds and flatten out yet again, I’m going to complain about it. Hopefully I remember to trot out Einstein again and remind me: it’s all relative.