Ho Hum

The biggest problem with starting a new exercise-and-diet plan is the complete and utter lack of immediate results. I'm not long on patience (a fact which I'm sure will surprise absolutely noone) - that's part of why I wound up in a medical profession. It's a big, long series of problem solving and positive feedback. See the patient, run the tests, get the results, make the cure. Answers found relatively rapidly for the most part. Even my hobbies are the instant-gratification sort - working on a particular afghan or piece of stitchery may take months, but each day I can look and see visible progress. This has not left me well-prepared for situations in which changes are gradual and, for the most part, invisible.

I've been controlling my food intake and riding my bike and generally trying to increase my activity level for days now, and yet when I look in the mirror I still look like me. I want some kind of reward. I want the Magic Measurement Fairy to come flitting down in a halo of gold and tell me that I'm such a good girl that she's going to tap me on the head with her wand and give me an instant 17-inch waist and a great big non-fattening chocolate chip cookie. Instead, I get.... nothing.

I know, intellectually, that results take time. I know that I have months of this ahead of me, and that even when it's done the final change won't be visible to anyone but me. Realistically, I even know that it isn't the perfect cure to everything that's wrong with my world, and that when it's done I'll still be the same me with the same issues. But right now, this very minute, I want some kind of visible external proof.

Of course, I also want a million dollars and a castle in Wales. I'll live.