The totally shame-free, actual-life, real-time blog where I tell all, show all--without nagging or whining (all right--maybe a little whining...)--in my attempt to stop being a fat middle-aged woman who avoids mirrors and clothing stores and start being a woman at home in her body...brought to you by a real woman, the Independent Weltha Herself. I won't give any advice, and I'm not asking for any--just companionship on my journey.

Every day...a new post. Every other week...my real weight. Every month...new pictures.

For every woman who has ever tried to just lose the extra weight and feel good...overall and about herself...and who lived to tell the story.


Friday, February 11, 2011

Day the 95th

I am working on a project at work. It's actually a Data Quality project, and it is...endless.

In fact, I am working on a series of Data Quality projects, and they are endless. Not that I mind...the work needs to be done, it cleans up our records so they are more useful, and I am needed to do it. And all at a company I really like. Around really good people. It's a Win-Win all the way around. I am not complaining. Not at all. I'm happy to be working on these projects.

No, I mention this because I have learned a lesson from working on this particular project. One page of the spreadsheet from which I am working (I really don't want to go into detail because it will glaze over the eyes of my readership...suffice it to say that the information I need to do the clean-up comes to me in the form of an Excel spreadsheet) involves making a particular type of change...to 2470 individual customer records.

You read that right. 2470. And they are done one at a time...well, the first part is. After I do Step 1 on these 2470 records, there is an "automated" Step 2 update that I can perform that will make a certain change en masse. But I'm not there yet. Not by a long shot...

I'm somewhere in the...200s. That's right. I'm not quite 10% of the way along. I looked at this today and thought, "When, oh when, will I get to Step 2?"

Why do I mention this in my blog? Because it's exactly like weight loss. What I do every single day makes a difference, and this first step will not get done unless I plunge in and just work on it. I can't look too much at the big picture or I will get bogged down. I mean, really. Contemplate making 2470 changes, one at a time. I mean, the 5th Labor of Heracles (no, not Hercules...), where he cleaned the Augean Stables in one day comes to mind (and you can Google this if no bells are ringing or if no lights are flashing...). Cleaning up after 1000 head of immortal cattle. In a stable that had not been cleaned in 30 years, and no, I don't want to imagine it either.

Sometimes, I think about my 25 pounds of weight loss (huzzah!)...and then I contemplate the rest of the weight I am probably going to be losing to get to wherever it is that my body is designed to be. There is no way that it's going to be losing "just another" 25 lbs and then that's it. Because that will leave me at 200 pounds, and I can tell you right now, that's still not a healthy weight for me. I mean, it's healthier than my starting point of 250 (and still healthier than my All Time Fightin' Weight High of 265...) but it's not where I am headed ultimately.

And that means months and months of continuing to do the right thing, of establishing and reinforcing the habits of drinking water, eating the right things, not eating the wrong things, and exercising [clears throat]. There is a long road ahead of me before my weight stabilizes. Before my body looks like it is supposed to. Before I can fit the cute clothes in my closet.

Work doesn't give me a choice about giving up on the 2470 records, but life will allow me--if I choose--to give up on losing weight. On getting healthy. On being my normal size. On wearing that amber and black party skirt with the black sweater this Christmas...

So here I am. Some progress--very good progress. And now, I have to look back at it, salute it, and move on. Every single day.

I decided failure on this really was not an option. It's my health that I'm dealing with. I want to live a long and healthy life.

I'm actually more than 10% on the way to my weight getting to...wherever it's going to get to. I'm probably closer to 25% of the way. 20 or 25%. Somewhere in there.

The 2470 records will get done much faster than my weight loss. But they are a good analogy. The only way I am going to get those records done is...to do them. One at a time.

And the only way I'm going to lose this weight is...to do what I've been doing...and lose it. Period. One day at a time, one pound at a time.

I wonder what my readers are facing that is their own personal 2470 records?

Independently,

Weltha (PS...the weight was down today to 226...told ya...)
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2 comments:

  1. WelthaFebruary 11, 2011 at 3:46 PM

    1. It actually IS Hercules (aka Heracles...)

    2. I was making the project harder. I still have 2470 records I'm dealing with but I will get to Step 2 sooner.

    3. But the point still is valid. Whew....

    ReplyDelete
  2. The RingmasterFebruary 12, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    Hi friend, just wanted to drop in to tell you that you are inspiring and I love you. That is all. :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for havin' your say! You're an INDEPENDENT WOMAN (or an INDEPENDENT MAN!), too! Just remember, this is an ADVICE-FREE ZONE...so please send the advice back to its room, and PLEASE comment about what you've done or just join in the ray-rah!

Independently,

Weltha

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