(Reprise)

Oh, hello there, weight loss blog. Long time, no see. How have you been? Lonely? Yes, I apologize for that.

For someone who's been on a plateau with his weight for the last year and a half or more, when I say these past few weeks have been a rough patch, hopefully you can appreciate the gravity of the statement. My lovely wife is the Assistant Director for a local production of Sweeney Todd, and so has been absent from the house nearly every weekday evening and a large chunk of weekends. As anyone who has been on the road towards changing your lifestyle somehow, such a disruption to the status quo can be highly detrimental to progress.

But what if the status is not quo? More to the point, what if a disruption might be just what you need? I'm hoping it's that for me.

You see, during that time, I believe that I was coasting-- relying on doing things the generally same way as I had been, and for some reason expecting different results. (Isn't that, according to the old adage, a definition for insanity?) Weight went a little down, it went a little up, I was conscious of choices, I wasn't conscious, and I wondered why things weren't going right. I was doing, but I wasn't trying. There were moments when I would look down at the food wrapper or whatever and think, "wait, why did I just do that?"

I wasn't in control.

I was also, during these past few weeks, bereft of the guidance of my weekly WW meetings and the wisdom of the one leader whose meetings are worthwhile (for me, in my opinion, your mileage may vary). Without that regular check-in and the times when someone might say something that triggers a lightbulb for me, I know I've been off my (admittedly already weak) game. My last weigh-in? May 21st.

So if I recall right, that means when I walk in the next time, I'll basically be re-registering as a new member. Week one materials, the whole nine yards-- and you know what? GOOD.

I need to take control. I need to be the one in charge of my relationship with food. And I need to remember how and when to ask for help and to use every tool at my disposal-- other people included-- to make sure that it's my hands on the helm, and no one else's.

Back to the beginning, then.