The Saga of Tiger Woods

I've blogged about Tiger Woods in the past - how I watch golf just to see him lose. Unfortunately, this year he's been doing well and has won three times!

However, despite the fact that I dislike him, his story is an interesting one for folks working on a weight-loss program.

If you don't know the story of Tiger Woods, after a bit of a family scandal he took a year off from golf. At least - from playing at professional tournaments - he probably still practiced every day.

But in addition to not playing, he had some knee surgery, and he also switched his swing coach - and had to adopt an entirely new swing.

When he came back to playing in professional tournaments, he expected to win first crack out of the box. Didn't happen. And indeed in a couple of tournaments he dropped out - he said because he tweaked something - his detractors said it was because he was losing and didn't want to lose as bad as he was losing.

So at the beginning of this year, pundits were saying Tiger was done, would never win another major, etc.

But Tiger, who had spent his whole life playing golf, knew what was going on with his own body and his own skill set, and he kept working on his new swing (which apparently put less strain on his surgically operated on knee) and his puts and this and that.

Upshot, this year - 3 wins.

Now, you can take somewhat of the same lesson away from this.

Tiger didn't give up after his first year returning to the tournament scene, when he was doing so badly. He did not change what he was doing, he kept on with it. (Pace the two tournaments he dropped out of because he was "in pain.!") And in the end, because he had so much experience and knew what he was doing would pay dividends, he kept at it and ignored the critics.

The same philosophy can be used for weight loss - and later, weight maintenance. Pay no attention to the fads that come and go - the "eat only grape fruit" or "give up all carbs."  Common sense should tell you those don't work - and if you've tried them you know they don't work.

Tried and true and proven methods are the best. Eat less. Exercise more.

"Eat less" does not mean "cut out all your favorite foods completely."

"Eat less" does not mean "feel guilty" when you eat a whole brownie - or go to a restaurant and eat an entire plate of pasta loaded with tons of butter.  (I was reading one of those "Do Not Eat These 10 Foods" articles yesterday - I think it was on Yahoo.com).

Bushwa. Eat what you want. If you want to have a Blooming Onion at Chilis, have one. (Although, according to the article I read yesterday, you can't get a Blooming Onion at Chilis anymore. Bummer.)

Thing is...if you get a Blooming Onion - if you can find one - you eat one cluster complete with that delicious blooming onion sauce for an appetizer, and bring some of it home, and you have it once every two weeks or once a month as a treat. There's no reason not to ever have it again!

But the food police are determined to make sure that you will no longer have access to the foods you love. (Ever look in the cheese aisle? You used to have lots of real cheese, and the "low fat" and ""low calorie" crap occupied one row. Now it's the other way around!)

Everything in moderation - from food to exercise. The only thing that you need an excess of is patience. And you can cultivate that, just like a muscle.