A hare met a tortoise one day and made fun of him for the slow and clumsy way in which he walked.
The tortoise laughed and said, "I will run a race with you any time that you choose."
"Very well," replied the hare, "we will start at once."
The tortoise immediately set off in his slow and steady way without waiting a moment or looking back. The hare, on the other hand, treated the matter as a joke and decided to take a little nap before starting, for she thought that it would be an easy matter to overtake her rival.
The tortoise plodded on, and meanwhile the hare overslept herself, with the result that she arrived at the winning-post only to see that the tortoise had got in before her.
Moral: Slow and steady wins the race.
This comes from a book handed down from my grandmother to my mother to me. The book is so old it doesn't have a copyright date or an author/editor's credit.
That fable has been the motivation for us turtles for several years. Someone on the ancient WW forum mentioned the fable and I discovered it was very motivational for me. I talked about it in posts and other people said that the tortoise philosophy worked for them, too. So, I started a thread for us turtle types.
We've been reflecting on what the turtle philosophy means as we start our second hundred posts. The turtle philosophy was a difficult one for people to accept. People want the weight off--NOW!! But reality is that it took time to put it on and it will take time to take it off. People want it to be easy to take off the weight. But reality is that it's not easy. You can have a program that's easy to follow, but following it steadily--that's hard. People don't want to exercise much, if at all. But reality is that our bodies were designed to move. So, we're setting realistic goals that take the weight off at a healthy pace. We're setting goals that will keep us moving steadily toward the healthy weight we want to be. And we're just plain moving. We're setting realistic exercise goals that will move our bodies the way they were meant to be moved.
We've also noticed that our turtle philosophy has affected the rest of our lives. I've started writing fiction again. I realize that I can finish a novel, or two, or ten. All I have to do is to set realistic daily goals, work steadily toward achieving them, and they will build up into finished books. Turtle Power at work in my everyday life.
Anyone who wants to join us in steadily moving toward all of our goals is welcome. I've met some wonderful people on this thread. I hope to meet many more. I know the battle with our weight is a difficult one. Having such supportive people come and post regularly keeps it from getting overwhelming. I hope to see many more people join us as we move forward on our journey.
Everything's going pretty well right now. I'm doing a marathon, though, so I don't have time for a chatty post. Keep moving! Here's some to cheer up a cold winter day.
Personally, I'll take my time, win the race AND have rabbit stew for lunch. Hope you all don't mind me jumping in here. Regular lurker, rarely post, mostly PM. But feeling froggy today. The Mad Java Turtle (Mary in WV)
Hi Turtles,
Java,
I love your take on the tortoise and hare race. How funny!
Starting the weekend. Resolved how to handle dinner tonight when we get together with dd's and head into NYC to see 42nd. St. I expect to be tapping in time with the music! Should be lots of fun.
Everybody keep on moving and have a great weekend. Here's to doing what we need to do to get and keep a healthy lifestyle.
At times like this, when I'm up a couple of pounds for no reason, it's good for me to keep that tortoise/hare perspective. I've lost 81 pounds, and I've kept it off. That's what I need to keep remembering.
Italian food and scotch tonight. Gack! My plan is to eat small portions, and then to walk for an hour tomorrow in the mall and aim for my target points both weekend days.
Judy, have a blast tonight! Must be nice to live near such fun shows.
Lin, good luck with that marathon. Glad things are going OK.
Swan got her email address to me, so I'm going to forward the posts to her every so often and she'll reply to me; I'll post her replies here. Sure hope this gets fixed for her.
Eponin,
weigh to go on surviving the birthday cake on such a special occasion! Glad to hear you're back into yoga and that you're losing weight! and
Lin,
Another marathon! Wow! You are the best. Good luck with it and with you dh's work searches.
Java,
Thanks for the lowfat stew version. I'm big on lowfat right now.
Lauren,
how did you do with the Italian food and scotch? Man, I think either one would be hard to tackle.
Me,
Had a great time at the show. 42nd. St. was so uplifting and fun. The food before was fine. Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and ordered lobster. For the life of me, I couldn't find much lobster--couldn't have been more than 2 ounces. So I ate brown rice and called it dinner. The walking in the city helped as did all the stairs we had to climb for the subway, etc.
Today we're heading to friends for a long-postponed dinner. She's having pasta and meat sauce. She always has a salad and I'll go easy on appetizers and dessert. Sounds like a plan!
You all do well and chime in. If I can manage today, it looks like I'll be down again this week.
Love,
Judy
234/212.4/thinner
Java, we love to have you post. Post anytime you want. We're a friendly bunch here. Your rabbit stew thing is funny. Love the image.
Thanks for the good wishes on the marathon, Lauren. I hit my 5K goal. (For any lurkers who don't know, it's a writing marathon and the 5K is words. I could never do a running marathon because my knees couldn't handle even a mile on a regular basis back when I was younger and thinner. )
Judy, have a great time at dinner and the show. It sounds like a blast. Good luck with your weighin. You're doing really well.
Eponin, on the 2 pounds. And for staying within your points with the cake. That's one of those things that makes flex points work for me--I can have the occasional splurge and still stay OP.
My husband and I went for a walk yesterday. It was great. TOM will be past the hard part tomorrow, so things will be easier. I'm hanging in there, taking it that one day at a time you reminded me to do, Lauren.
I must have been hanging out with Mary in WV...although I'm not even much of a lurker these days. Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and losing. Our house is hectic as hub and teammates gather to finish their senior projects. My house is a FRAT HOUSE!!!! (Imagine the types of food...fried chicken, pizza, burgers, more fried chicken...) My workdays have been tiring, and I've been hurrying over to Beloved Curves for resuscitation. Good news there after two months...down 9 pounds,6.5 inches and 2.3% body fat.
Lin I see you are writing, congratulations! I've also gotten back on track, by moving to the library for a change of place (and quiet, away from the 40 year old students).
Hugs all around, rabbit stew for everyone! (for Judy, add 1 cup edamame, of course).
Choosewell, what's T Tapp? Hope the frat house (I almost typed "fat house"!) isn't making you too nuts.
5K and a walk -- good going, Lin.
Eponin, good for you with the yoga. I hear you about the ice on the driveway. Ours is horrid right now.
Judy, glad you had fun at the show. Your plan sounded good; how did it work out?
I had a fun weekend, but my eating wasn't what it should've been. The bright spots: I ate moderately during most of the Italian meal, only ate half my entree, etc. Also, I walked with friends on Saturday. The bad news ... the spumoni at the Italian restaurant (I really needed THAT like a hole in my head) and generally the way I ate, especially on Sunday for some reason.
So I'm up a pound this a.m.; we'll see what it looks like tomorrow. As usual, I'll take the lower number as my weekly weight. I also didn't get my exercise in this morning, although I got all dressed for it. I ended up spending way more time than usual at prayer, which I've decided is my top priority now. So I didn't have enough time to work out. I may attempt it toonight instead.
It's not easy getting everything done in a day ...
Well, it's a new week, and I'm recommitted to getting the weight off and getting healthy. We can do this.
Had a very busy weekend - daughter had party Fri so bf & I stayed out later than usual.
Friends of mine are having some problems, so the husband is staying at my other house for a couple of months - hopefully they will sort things out and get back together. But, for now I won't have to go there & shovel snow all the time.
Going to curves tonight then to WW. I have been pretty good with my food this past week.
Hi Turtles,
Lin, glad you're getting past the hard part of TOM and that you're hitting the 5K marathon. I honestly thought I'd get back to writing once I retired, but I'm still so busy I haven't even started making lists of what I want to do yet! Good to hear you sounding so good. You and dh are in my prayers.
Bandit2,
Glad you're doing well with food and Curves! How is the weight loss coming along?
Choosewell,
Congrats on losing so much weight and inches using healthy eating and Curves. weigh to go. How much longer are the Delta Eata Boys going to be around? That's gotta be tough, so aren't you smart to head to the library. And this is all for a good cause when your dh has his degree, etc. So good for all of you finding good solutions. Please tell us what T Tapp is. You've got my curiosity up.
Lauren,
I think it's great you ate 1/2 an entree portion. It's really important for us to remind ourselves of what we do right and to stay connected to the main idea--getting healthier and losing weight. Glad you got some walking in. I'm on the treadmill most days even when I don't want to start. Somehow the 1/2hour goes by and I feel better.
I'm doing fine, but I'm chicken to hop on the scale. Today was perfect and I got on the treadmill. Yesterday I was on the treadmill too, but after having two macaroons for dessert I checked the calorie count for each and they were 5, yes 5, points apiece!
So I had another one, why not? And counted them in. Appetizers were fine, dinner was fine, but desserts hit too many points, so I'm into flexpoints quite a bit this week.
I'm hoping since my other days were so good and I'm getting exercise that I'll show another loss this week. I finally hit 209# earlier this week, so am hoping to show 211#
on WW's official WI this week. That will finally be my 10% difference. Got my fingers crossed.
Hi Judy - my weight loss is slow. Last night at w/i I was down .6# - better than up.
For the last 3 w/i before that I was down 1# each time. I have been going to curves regularly but I find weekends are very hard. I know what I should do, but it is easy to get on the wrong track with so many treat things around. It is no excuse but bf buys all kinds of crap - I have put the stuff in the 2nd fridge but I still know it is there. Also, we have alot of functions & social outings. I plan ahead but sometimes I over-indulge. This Fri we are going out for valentine's dinner with friends, so my goal is to behave myself this week & save my flex points for the weekend.
Hi to everyone else & keep up the good work. Bye for now.
Bandit, those slow losses aren't slow at all for a turtle. Weigh to go.
Judy, I had NO idea macaroons could be 5 points apiece! That almost doesn't make sense, but then I have no idea what goes into them. That's like a piece of cake for each one.
And speaking of a piece of cake ... I just had one. And it wasn't even that good. Don't know what came over me. The office went out to lunch; I had a spinach salad, dressing on the side, and an appetizer of four scallops. Also a roll with butter. Not too bad. And then came the dessert tray. DARN.
Well, I'll count it all and move on, as you just did. I do so much better when I don't go out to eat.
Weight is still up. Same today as yesterday, so I'll record it as official.
On the bright side (thanks for reminding me to look at the successes, Judy), I did my workout this morning. I WILL get back into those 180s.
Turtle Club #120
to cheer up a cold winter day. 
Love the rabbit stew analogy, Java. 
and 
Your rabbit stew thing is funny. Love the image. 
)
on the 2 pounds. And 
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