My Golden Dancers

Brain Thoughts-You Light Up My Life

By Elita Sohmer Clayman

Today on February 16th, I have lost a total of 35 pounds. This is my fourth time reaching goal. This is my last time for reaching goal. I have decided that it is time that I continue on and keep my goal weight forever, even maybe losing a few more pounds.

I come each week and weigh in. I have overcome for the first time a craving for sweets and ice cream and just anything that tastes extra good. I realize now at this age that extra good is really not extra good for you as you age and maybe even before that. I no longer after these last 11 weeks need to eat pie, cake, cookies, ice cream, buns or things that have lots of sugar in them. This is the Weight Watchers program I am talking about.

I do not wake up in the morning thinking about what I will eat. I wake up thinking about what I should and will eat. I plan out my points for the day and if I have plans to go out for dinner which we do now that we are retired, more often; I know exactly what the points will be for the restaurant food. I do not think about food other than keeping within my point allowance.

I do not need food to comfort me or to thrill me or to be by my side if there is an emergency happening. I do not need food to reward me if something pleasant happens. I do not need food to celebrate a delightful moment. I do not need food to be in my mind thinking of it all the time.

When something fantastic happens to me I reward myself with the thought that this is a blessed moment and I go to my computer and write down how I feel at this moment in time. I honor myself by going to the closet and pulling out something to wear that I have not worn for years because I could not fit into it. I put the dress or blouse on and then I know as Jackie Gleason used to say on his TV show “how sweet it is.”

Sweet it is and it is not sugar sweet. It is awesome sweet and gratifying and fulfilling sweet and proves that hard work in controlling one’s appetite is surely as happy an occasion as one can desire.

Donna Weitz our dear leader instills in us her wisdom about Weight Watchers and weight watching every week. Her anecdotes on Henry her beloved husband ( oh Henry if you could hear the things she says about you) and her down to earth recollections of her own controlling moments every day helps us to attain our goals. She is dynamic and fun and makes us laugh. Mainly, she applauds our accomplishments and helps us on those days when we may not have achieved this week losing some weight. She tells us wait till next week, you will see it then. This helps us to continue on. Donna is a treasure to us as we learn to adjust our eating habits.

As Shakespeare said in Sonnet 94-“Those who have self control truly own their own beauty” In my favorite all time movie called Love Is A Many Splendored Thing starring William Holden and Jennifer Jones, he says to her as he is going off to war and fears he may not return- You and I have not missed because we have HAD the many splendored thing-meaning their love for each other. You can interpret that into your Weight Watchers experience losing weight and becoming more of what you want to be. You can say that coming to WeightWatchers is also the many splendored thing because it gives you the desire, the will and the final happiness that you would have missed.

The Weight Watchers program, the leader like Donna Weitz and the final fruition of what you have realized with your weight loss and what it means to your health is surely a many splendored thing. You have self control and you now are the proprietor of your own soul. That feeling is priceless.

As I say in my columns written for ballroom dancers that I do many of, I say to them Keep on Dancing. To my fellow Weight Watchers classmates, I say Keep on Weight Watching and soon you will be free from watching your weight. You will be in a world where you will be happier, healthier, and hopeful and you will have honored yourself by your new happiness. Another new happiness you can realize is ballroom dancing.

This column was written for the Weight Watchers class. Looking it over, I decided it would be a good column for ballroom dancers. Why? It is a column that was intended to inspire heavy persons to get with it and to start to lose weight. It could also be an advocate to steer people who think they cannot dance to try dancing. As losing weight is a new adventure so is learning to ballroom dance.

In dancing you devote your time to learning as going to Weight Watchers you devote your hourly class that is weekly to learning about food and food consumption and food loss. You learn that you do not need all the food you have been gulping down to survive.

You learn to have discipline and in dancing you also learn to have discipline to have the spirit to try and the inclination to do well. You realize that when you try this new venture, it will become an adventure. Katherine Anne Porter said an adventure is a thing you will to occur. Will is the key word. The will to try something is one of the greatest things we as adults can endeavor.

Occur it will and soon it will be so much a part of your life that you will wonder how did you ever live without it? You will experience highs of excitement and when you master a new step, it will be as if you experienced a victory. When I was not walking too well from this automobile accident we had last June, the physical therapist told me that I had accomplished a true victory because I had gone to a department store and shopped for the first time in many months.

She said it was a victory with a capital V because even attempting it showed I had the spirit and the desire to even try. So it is with dancing especially if we start at an advanced age. By advanced I mean anything over forty years. Then you will experience in the next forty years the absolute joy of going on the dance floor and executing the moves you have learned in class. Even after forty years, you will be feeling exhilaration every time you go out on the dance floor.

When first learning something new, we think we will never comprehend it, but then all of a sudden it becomes like second nature to us and it flourishes and bears fruit. The fruit being the journey we have taken and we have reached our destination. The destination is the euphoria and high spirits that take over our mind and our thoughts when we excel in this thing called ballroom dancing.

Weight Watchers preach empowering beliefs. That means if you have self doubt you should assess your goals and see how worthwhile the effort will be to achieve them.
They tell you that you are capable of achieving them and you deserve to achieve them. They tell you to think back to a past success in any area of your life. They say check out what strengths you used then that you can use now. They call this a Winning Outcome (with a capital W and O).

Winning Outcomes are according to Weight Watcher

l. Be positive by knowing what you want, rather than what you do not want. 2.Be specific what you want to achieve
3. Things are in your control rather than changes you want others to make on your behalf
4. Things you can make which will be a good fit with your life.

All of the above can be useful in learning to ballroom dance. Being positive is a plus in attitude and being specific how much you want to absorb. Knowing you are in control in your ability to learn and knowing that it will be a good fit in this new life happening you are learning.

So weight control whether from Weight Watchers meetings or dance control through your dancing classes are almost the same.The goal of one is to look better, be healthier and to be happier with your new body look. The other one is to feel good about your accomplishments at any age and the ability you have to keep your mind active along with your feet and arms.

Empowerment of you is the ultimate key that will open the door of this new activity whether it is weight loss or dance knowledge.

When I had a recent colonoscopy and endoscopy, the attending nurse checking me in swiped my forehead with this new type of thermometer. At the moment, I did not know what she was doing, since I had never seen one before. She said I am checking your brain thoughts. I said what? She was kidding but it was a good saying or motto. Checking your brain thoughts is truly lovely. If you have lost weight through Weight Watchers or have taken dance lessons at Fred Astaire Dance Studios or any other dance location, then surely your brain thoughts will be quite a radiant glow. A glow so powerful that you will have to shut your eyes for a second because the illumination will be there even in any darkness you could perceive and the light will be guiding your being.

Ballroom dancing is as the old song made popular years ago said “you light up my life.” Dancing does that.

Keep on Dancing, Elita Sohmer Clayman

You can email me at elitajerrydancing@verizon.net