WHO I'M WILLING TO GIVE UP ON

I had a interesting e-mail exchange the other day with my old buddy Christoph, who was checking in with me to see what I'd done lately about my publicly announced plan to lose weight. (For those of you new to my site or who can't seem to recall what I wrote last Sunday, I publicly proclaimed that I needed to lose weight, and that by putting that simple fact out there for all to read, that I had hoped to put some accountabilities in place towards that goal.) In a sign of true friendship, Christoph was e-mailing to see how it was going. Here's a paraphrase of what I wrote back to him:

I connected with a co-worker who agreed to join the health club with me. Having a workout partner is going to be Swedish ["cool" in Beli-Blog speak] and perhaps a key to my success. The last thing I'll want to do is let someone else down (in terms of missing a workout by not showing up or not giving it my all). It's funny, don't ya think, how I'm willing to let myself down but not someone else?

Can you relate to that? Here I am, more than willing to give in to temptation -- to not exercise -- yet when someone else agrees to support me by being my workout partner, all of the sudden I sense that anything's possible. I don't really know what it means, but it's a darn interesting piece of insight towards what motivates me. Maybe what it means is that I'm motivated by fear... by the fear of letting someone else down. Or, maybe it just means that what I've really been craving is a workout partner.

Good for you! But . . . did you do anything besides get a workout partner? How about those lunchtime gym trips? Any success??

Anything is possible when you do it with a friend. :-)

Good luck. I just lost a lot of weight, and I couldn't have done it without committing to help someone else do the same. Check out the Monon Trail, too. Sometimes it's easier to get motivated to exercise if you're outside. If you're looking for a walking buddy, I might be enticed. My workout partner fell irretrievably off the wagon.

I don't believe it has anything to with fear. What motivates you is doing for others, so if you feel you are helping someone, you're willing to do anything!

...or perhaps Mikal, it means you are a very loyal person, as you always have been.

Side note: I think "Swedish" shouldn't be capitalized in this context. Capitalizing it makes it too monaco.

Aside from the references to group sex, in the old article in "Oui" about Arnold Schwarzenbutt he also talked about how he had workout partners who he relied on to push him when he didn't want. So at the very least you're no worse than Arnie. But please don't run for governor of California.

Great comments guys. Peter FDA