Customers who are actually concerned. (Long)

[Boggles]

This is probably as good a place as any on the site for this.

We have plenty of customers who i chat/flirt/jopke with and am generally pleasant with but I wouldn't class any of them as friends per se. Until today i never thought of any of them as anything more than customers who buy something and sod off.

Bit of back story for you. Recently I have started a determined effort to lose weight. I've taken to doing a lot of walking over and above what i would do in a normal day. This is mainly walking home for lunch (1 mile round trip) and the like. I've also changed my diet. Not huge changes but things like taking cereal to work for brekkie rather than nipping to the cafe for a bacon butty. As i am a big bloke i am somewhat touhy about my weight so the only people i have specifically told have been my boss and my part-time co-worker. They know purely so they don;t bring in cakes on saturday for me or ask if i want a butty or whatever. Just a case of removing temptation really.

Things are starting reasonably well. i've lost 7lbs in the first fortnight without any huge changes. One thing i will hold my hands up to is being a junk food addict. I know full well that if i cut junk food out totally i will go so long and then fail in such an epic way that i will need to change my name to Tim Coshem! I know this because it has happened before and i am determined this time. Because of this i have said that i will only eat junk food 1 night per week on Tuesdays. (wednesday is my day off so Tuesday night is the one where I can have a drink and stop up late!)

Last night I left work, nipped round the village take-away and ordered some tea (a chicken burger) and then went into the village pub across the road to have a swift pint while i waited for it. I said hello to a few customers, the takeaway man came in with my burger and i left for my home.

I called in work this afternoon to collect some keys and my boss said that i was the talk of the village. Apparently several customers had been in to ask if i was OK and if my health kick was still on course. Apparently my behaviour has been noted lately but no-one said anything for fear of "poking their noses in" or upsetting me. Today, word got round the village that i had got junk food last night so people were concerned and have been asking if they could do anything to help me because they didn;t want to see me fail.

For some reason the fact that people are actually showing some genuine concern has really moved me and strengthened my resolve no end. I just thought it was really nice to realise occasionally that not all the customers see you as some faceless shop drone.

[ralerin]

Congratulations on losing weight and good luck with losign the rest of it.

And yay for awesome customers!

[persephone]

That's very cool that the customers care enough to worry about you! Now you know you have more help and support if you need it!

And I've always said that the best way to lose weight is not necessarily to go on a strict diet but to limit the portions you eat and just change the way you eat and excersize. I've always suggested to friends that I know are trying to lose weight to never cut out junk food and things they like that much completely because, like you said, that's just setting themselves up to fail. If you allow yourself to eat "bad" things but eat them in moderation (only one day a week or eat a very small serving along with other, healthy options) you are less likely to have a "break down" and fall off the wagon completely.

All this is meant to say that you are going about this the right way and that I'm sure you're proud of yourself for the progress you are making. The more change you *see*, the easier it will be to stick to your plan. So good for you for losing weight! (And I'm glad you have good coworkers too, who will listen when you say you don't need the temptation and try to keep you away from it!! )

[Hobbs]

Good on ya. I've been exercising for, oh...five months (?) give or take and lost 13 lbs, so it's definitely doable. Keep at it, huu-aah!!

[Balgram]

Those customers sound amazing. Holy cow. I wish people cared that much when I went on a diet, sheesh.

I've given up on dieting. I exercise several hours a day and just eat whatever. I don't like fatty foods very much so it works. No one hate me, it took me a long time to learn to like fruit more than chocolate. I admire people who are working out or eating right, so good luck!

I like your one night a week rule.

[iradney]

That is really awesome! makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Yep, the best thing to do is NOT say "I cannot have that!!"
The minute you make it a no-no, it becomes the only thing you want and think about...aaah, the allure of the forbidden..

Well done!

[trailerparkmedic]

Hearing about customers who care... you've restored some of my faith in humanity!

Good luck with losing weight. It sounds like you're doing it the right way, so hooray!