BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE WHEN IT’S YOUR FAULT: WEIGHT GAIN

Blaming someone the right way takes special care.

It takes practice.

Conversely, accepting blame also takes practice.

One is easier than the other. Take the top pic for example.

Who would have the audacity of blaming someone for being a witch, then hang them with a short drop so they slowly strangled to death for the gathered crowd?

In the history of witches, someone conjured up a story of fear mongering that ended poorly for those accused.

Have I ever seen a witch in the flesh?

No, I haven’t. Neither have you.

 

Some three-fourths of those European witch hunts took place in western Germany, the Low Countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland.

The number of trials and executions varied according to time and place, but it is generally believed that some 110,000 persons in total were tried for witchcraft and between 40,000 to 60,000 were executed.

 

That’s a lot of witchery back in the day. We don’t have that to blame now.

Or do we?

 

Looking For Blame In All The Wrong Places 

I want to lose weight. Maybe you’d like to drop a few pounds, too?

I am endlessly amazed at how a pair of pants can fit when I bought them, and be too small a month later.

Did they shrink in a hot water wash, and dried at high temperature.

Noooo.

Were they too small from the start?

Nooo.

Did I pound beers, eat dinner, then a late dinner, with a later snack bigger than both dinners?

Well . . . maybe, but why not blame something else?

Why do brewers make such good beer that having one more after one more is a tasty idea.

Why do I cook such delicious food; why does my wife make even better food?

(She’s not a witch.)

I’ve heard it said that many main courses are better the next day, but not when you eat it all on the day it was served.

If losing weight is a goal there are many options to burn calories.

 

In the First Burning, Four people.

• The wife of Liebler.

• Old Ancker’s widow.

• The wife of Gutbrodt.

• The wife of Hooker.

In the Second Burning, Four people.

• The old wife of Beutler.

• Two strange women.

• The old woman who kept the pot-house.

In the Third Burning, Five people.

• Tungersleber, a minstrel.

• The wife of Kuler.

• The wife of Stier, a proctor.

• The brushmaker’s wife.

• The goldsmith’s wife.

 

Wait, those are German witch burnings, not weight loss recommendations.

They are easy to confuse, except for gender. Why are they mostly women? The men were blaming someone.

 

My weight loss journey, my current weight loss journey, is full of hope.

I could lose weight with drugs like Ozempic. It’s a sure thing with a few minor side-effects.

Nausea and vomiting are common side effects, affecting around 1 in 10 users and often occur when doses are increased.

Vomiting more than three times a day or violent vomiting accompanied by additional symptoms like abdominal pain may indicate that Mounjaro or Wegovy aren’t suitable for you, so please monitor your symptoms.

Constipation is a very common side effect of Mounjaro and Wegovy, affecting more than 1 in 10 users.

Diarrhea is a very common side effect, affecting more than 1 in 10 users of Mounjaro or Wegovy especially when you first start the injections. Diarrhea tends to be mostly mild and resolves after a few injections.

 

Yeah, maybe not. Instead:

 

Eat Less, Drink Less Beer, For Real Weight Loss

Blaming someone for getting fat is a loser’s game.

Be honest with yourself and count up the food and drinks for a day, then weigh yourself for a baseline.

Start by hogging down massive amounts of food and drink all day, then weigh in.

Doing it this way ensures dramatic results since your weight will be elevated.

My massive consumption day ended with 250 lbs showing on the scale. That’s a load.

Four days later after small meals of sautéed veggies and chicken, no beer, no late nights with my head in the fridge, I came down to:

 

Ten pounds with no side effects? Yes.

Keep on it through the week? Yes.

Eat and drink like a kook on the weekend?

I was blaming someone for weight gain, and the same someone for weight loss.

And it’s not my wife, so she’s safe from burning at the stake.

Who then? Me.

 

My Weight Loss Review Without Blaming Someone

I was a high school wrestler. The highlights:

Sophomore year, my first, I placed 6th in state for Greco-Roman at 180 lbs. I had found my sport.

Junior year I dropped to 165 lbs and got worked because I was starved and weak.

Senior year I won district at 191 lbs and the Oregon State Greco-Roman gold medal at the same weight.

I felt full and strong.

Freshman year in college I wrestled at 177 lbs and got beat up while feeling weak and listless.

The next year I joined the Army and tried out for team at 180 lbs. What happened? My worst losses.

I spent the next decade fuming, running, and maintaining that 180 lbs in case I needed to make weight.

There’s weight loss, and there’s drastic weight loss.

 

Then I got married, finished my dinner every night with a clean plate, and ate what was left on everyone else’s plate.

We had a family motto: Don’t Throw It Away.

I ballooned up to 280 lbs and stopped weighing myself because it was too depressing.

Over the years I worked it back down to 240 lbs.

Then I got cancer in my neck, of all places.

By the end of cancer treatment I weighed 199, fulfilling my goal of getting below 200 one last time.

It was a stupid goal; I was so wiped out I almost ended up in the hospital or a nursing home.

That was the threat unless I turned my shit around. So that’s what I did.

I’ll tell you what it felt like with that kind of weight loss: I felt like I was dying, which reminded me of how it felt years earlier after cutting weight to wrestle.

Now I’m back to 240 but it’s a good 240. It’s 240 on the way to 230, then 220.

I have high confidence of getting down the right way.

When that happens I’ll grow back the beard I’m shaving off today as a reward.

Or, I might keep it?  What do you think? I won’t blame you either way.