I really don’t want to lose weight. What I want to lose is this rubber tire thingy around my waist! Still, I get on the scale often to check the weight, like it matters, and like that is my goal. If I cut my foot off, I would probably be happy about the extra ten pounds I had taken off.

The goal of health simply cannot be weight loss, but needs to be health gained. I don’t know if a healthy body can have a few extra pounds or not (they will be arguing about this one until the end of time), but I do know that I feel better when my body is more muscle and leaner. Often, when I am in great shape, I will actually gain weight, as the muscle builds. I also find that the muscle will help burn the fat, and increase my metabolism. So, if I build up muscle first (which also burns some fate) and then start a cardio program in earnest only after the muscle tone is coming along, I find I do better.