Are You An Outlier?

out-li-er, noun
1: a person who lives away from his place of work
2: an extreme deviation from the norm

I went to the doctor today because I've been having some weird pain behind my left knee. While he was poking and prodding, we got talking about what I'm doing for my health. He noticed, bless his heart, that I am down 10 pounds from the last time I saw him, so he wanted to know how I did it.

I just love these kind of doctor visits, don't you?!

So, I told him I've been visiting different places, namely the gym, and dining with different folks lately ~ vegetables, protein, water and a lot less carbs, quickly adding in "usually, but not always cuz I'm not perfect." And, he said to me "That's great! Most people can't do that." He actually said it twice.

And, in that moment I felt like an outlier, someone who is doing something extraordinary, and living so counter-culture so as to actually be an extreme deviation from the norm. I felt proud to be among such an elite group of people, happy to have the opportunity to join them, and day after day earn my membership status.

It's true you know. Those of us setting out to lose more than 10 or 20 pounds have to have some kind of bent toward rising to remarkable challenges. It's not that it's so hard to eat vegetables, protein, water and a lot less carbs, but rather what we won't be eating that is plastered all over the television screen, magazines, our mail box, and the menu at the average American restaurant. (Just try to remember that the food almost never tastes as good as the pictures look!)

It's the stuff that gets brought to work and is left in the break room for your "enjoyment".

It's the parties we go to where a celery stick might be the only healthy thing around but it's stuck in a cocktail.

It's like an alcoholic being constantly offered a beer.

We're not having any of that, at least not usually.

So yeah, my doctor is right. Most don't make it.

I don't know about you, but I like that kind of challenge! I like the fact that I am doing something that most can't do, that I stand out from the crowd, and that as my body fat dwindles away and my muscles and bones emerge in all of their beauty and form, that I am doing something truly remarkable.

Cheers to all my fellow outliers!
Cheryl