Determined To Succeed

Day eighty-two.

O.K. I totally call bullshit on Gretchen Jones winning this season of Project Runway. Are they nuts? I completely agree with Heidi Klum. The judges, Michael Kors and the other one from Marie Claire, Nina Garcia, spent most of the season (especially the late season) loving Mondo’s fashions (especially the ones where he was using colors, patterns and different fabrics) only to dis him in the finale for the exact same things, saying he was designing “too young.” That being said though, it was Mondo’s competition to lose and his line was not as good as Gretchen’s although Andy had the best clothes last night.

From the beginning of the season (I have recently become a fan of the show and absolutely NO CRACKS on me liking a show about fashion – everyone who knows me knows I love to look nice) each designer was given a set of incredible tools – an HP thingamajig that allows the designer to draw a design on a tablet-like screen before going to Mood to shop. Then, they go to Mood where they are given a budget to shop for seemingly the best fabrics around. next they go back to Parsons to work in a completely polished and professional workspace. In other words, each one is given the right and best tools for their jobs. The question then becomes what do people do with those tools.

When I was in first grade Mrs. Gans, a wonderful teacher at Murray Language Academy in Chicago, said something I will never forget. She said we all started out with the highest grade which, at that point, was an “E.” Our scale in the seventies and eighties went from “E”(excellent) to “G” (good) to “S” (satisfactory) to “U” (unsatisfactory). And starting out at that highest grade it was up to each and every one of us to keep and maintain that grade. In other words, it was our grade to lose.

The designers on Project Runway all start out with the exact same tools and resources and it is up to each one of them to outwit, outlast and outplay the others (oh, wait – that’s from the other reality show, Survivor). Anywho, it’s up to each designer to not only keep up with the other designers, from freshness of designs to the work in creating the clothes, but also to use the tools they are given to do so. The right tools level the playing field so that the only difference is the individual, her or his talents and, most of all, imagination. In my opinion, Mondo was the best designer. He was the most crative and talented overall and most consistently. Gretchen, who really was a bitch saying one thing to her castmates and then something different to the cameras, really designed clothes monochromatically and for such a niche audience (her) that they showed how two-dimensional she is. But that is just my opinion on the show.

It was Mondo’s to lose, and his line wasn’t as good as other stuff we’ve seen. So he lost. Meanwhile, Gretchen stepped up and won creating clothes that were more wearable. But in their case, and Andy’s, they all used the right tools to get to their goal of showing their line at fashion Week.

My friends, weight loss works the same way as Project Runway. We do not need fancy-schmancy gyms or equipment (or HP design and draw thinkpads). We do not need Jillian Michaels yelling at us and making us feel like shit on her latest DVD for we all start out with the right tools – our own bodies, energy and determination to get to the goal. None of us need a gym to do sit-ups or push-ups or jumping jacks or to go for a walk. We do not need DVDs telling us this and that to know we eat like shit sometimes. I know I do and when I do it shows on the scale. When I don’t, my weight comes down like it did yesterday.

All I am trying to say is that you are only limited by you in your quest to lose weight. You are the only one in your way. So don’t be, and don’t be intimidated by the amount you want to lose or by the atmosphere of a gym if that is where you want to go to workout. Just remember the tools you have are the right ones and the perfect ones with which to start because they come from you and those are the best tools of all. Have a great weekend.