Alwyn Cosgrove's Paper Towel Analogy

Here's the paper towel analogy that I mentioned in a previous post. I think it's awesome!!!

Let’s assume you go out and buy two rolls of paper towels, each with 112 paper towels on it. You put one aside, and keep it for future reference (your “before” picture). The other one represents you (I’ll call your paper towel “Ed”). The core represents the lean Ed. The towels represent the fat that is covering the lean Ed.

For sake of argument, let’s say that Ed wants to lose 28 pounds of fat, so (112/28) each sheet represents a quarter-pound of fat lost.

Let’s also assume that Ed loses his fat equally during each day of the program.

Each day during the first week, you tear a sheet off of Ed, representing the fat he has lost for the day. Next, you put Ed next to the full roll (“Big Ed”) for comparison.

No noticeable difference! Even at the end of the week!

“This can’t be working for me! This program sucks! ”
But, you continue to follow your fat loss program. At the end of weeks two and three, you continue to compare Ed to Big Ed, and still notice very little difference.

But Ed is determined! He continues to work hard!

Three more weeks go by, the sheets peeling off day after day, before Ed gets up the courage to stand next to Big Ed again.

Now there’s a big difference!

By the end of the program (112 days), Ed is down to his lean dream, or somewhere near it. Big Ed is still – well, big.

The lesson to be learned is that fat, like paper towels, comes off in sheets. When you are heavy, you are big around. And when you are big around, that fat is spread over a MUCH larger area – just like that outside towel sheet. The closer you get to the lean you, the more each lost pound of fat shows, because it is spread over a smaller area.

While the outside sheet may only cover one layer of the roll, the inside sheet may go around 4 times. That last sheet looks like it gives you four times the results of the first sheet, but in reality, the results are the same – your perception is just different! And you’ll never see the inside, if you aren’t patient while the outside is coming off

Lyn's Week in Review

Last week started off fairly uneventful. I really don't remember anything stellar happening either on Monday or Tuesday. It usually takes me a few days to ease into the week and get my stride. This week was no different, but from Wednesday on, it was good.

On Wednesday I took the time to sit and compose a long letter regarding Amy Perez and the demise of what I thought was a very solid long term friendship between. My reasoning for doing this was because a few days prior, someone very close to Amy had some questions for me on some information that Amy had used as the excuse to walk away from all of her friends instead of just telling the truth (foreign concept for Amy), that she had gone to Canada to visit Erik. This information was regarding this other lady. I have no idea if what Amy said was an outright lie that she felt she could use since the chances of my and this other lady talking were fairly slim or if in fact the information was true and maybe Amy had sworn never to repeat it. Who knows? None of my business either way. Now mind you, I don't know this lady other than what Amy had said about her, so I answered her questions and forwarded her some emails where Amy had specifically mentioned the things that this lady was questioning. I did this because this lady wanted some answers to her questions. I totally understood the position this person was in, believing your "friend" vs, believing someone you just met 5 mins ago. I wasn't trying to convince her of anything. I figure with Amy, people will come to know the truth in their own time. Besides, my blog gives my the opportunity to say what I want to say. I don't need a bandwagon of folks to validate my thoughts and opinions. Anyway, I digress, the reason for composing the long letter and later sending it to Amy, Kevin, Erik and a few others was because I have no doubt that Amy did her crying/hurt routine and changed the content of the emails to fit her own needs. The big difference between me and Amy is that I will not sit silent when someone says something about me or accuses me of lying. Now I'm sure she calls it "taking the high road" which was always one of Erik's favorite lines, and that's her choice, but that doesn't work for me. If you imply that I am lying, you better be ready for a confrontation. I'm not saying that EVERY thing someone says deserves a response, but somethings do and many times a person's silence says way more about their character than a response would. I'll use my previous blog posts as an example...Now my blog is public, anyone and everyone can read it. Now if I were the topic of several blog entries where someone was posting my pictures and saying that I was giving blow jobs to someone other than my husband, you better believe I'm going to confront that person IF the postings weren't true..isn't that slander? So what does silence say in this situation? So anyway, wrapping up Wednesday, I sent the email to all parties involved and of course got no responses back saying that anything I said in the letter was a lie, so for me that speaks for itself.

Thursday was biweekly day!! I am down 4lbs. I was very very happy with that. That reminds me, I need to post the link to Noel Clark's blog on her site www.maximumfitnessconsulting.com Noel posts a great analogy about a roll of paper towels that I am now using to keep me on track and not get discouraged just because you can't "see" the differences just yet. I definitely think going back to using biweeklies is a good thing for me. I used to hate them when I was working for Erik because they were so detailed, so know I'm just using the weight, diet and inches part and it seems to work for me. I had a moment Thursday where I looked in the mirror and didn't hate what I saw. Now, I didn't look any different with 4lbs lost, but it was a shift in my mindset. My body is nowhere near where it needs to be and I have a long long way to go before I'm happy with it, but what I was happy about was the fact that I was doing something and moving forward, so in a sense, what I liked had nothing to do with my body, but it had everything to do with liking Lyn as a person.

Friday, I met Ileen to get my gym bag that was a gift from her and Cindy for my 40th birthday. The original bag arrived damaged and Ileen dealt with so many yahoos to get a replacement bag for me. I'm so happy with it. I'm so lucky too because the bag is now discontinued. I showed mine to my boss and she loved it; funny because her's was the one I'd been coveting before I got my own. I got a nice surprise when I opened it. I thought it was going to be plain black. It's actually back with lime green trimmed straps and cute daisy details. It's awesome!! Thanks again Ileen and Cindy.

Saturday morning I went to the NPC Coastal BB, Figure and Bikini competition with Noel. Prejudging was looooong, over 3 hrs. Noel was helping backstage so for most of the show I was by myself. It gave me an opportunity to people watch, which is something I love to do. Some of the physiques in the audience were amazing. I did find it funny some of the folks lugging around the gallon water jugs and the big ass coolers. Given the physiques of some of these "luggers" I'm still not convince that they just didn't buy them for the show. Hahahaha! Seriously though, I love shows. I love local shows all the way to national/pro shows. It's great to see so many like-minded and supportive people all in one place. I may giggle about some of the people and their gallon jugs but seriously it's one of the few places that you can lug your water and food around not be stared at like you have 3 heads so it's all good. I'd love,love, love it if I could go to a show once or twice a month, I don't think my motivation would ever wain because there is always someone new to see and be inspired by.