Baby Steps to lose weight p. 1 What can we learn from Bob Wiley?

Bill Murray & Richard Dreyfuss  gave us an over the top comedy, "What about Bob?" Dreyfuss plays an uptight psychologist who has written a book he hopes becomes a  best seller and thus fulfilling all of his dreams. The book becomes his magic pill for happiness. What comes into his life is a tornado personality, Bob.

Murray the perfect obsessive-compulsive personality cannot leave his apartment without having a perfect meltdown. He wears psychologists out like bad underwear. He is happily referred Dr. Leo Marvin who himself just under the skin is a meltdown waiting to happen. He named his son, Sigmund and his daughter, Anna Freud's famous patient. 

The running gag in the film is the conflict of Bob needing 100% support and time of this soon to be famous psychologist. Dr. Leo runs his life on his own obsessive compulsive schedule. Patients are seen at the office and only in their time frame. He also has order beyond normal of people in his family. We like him because he likes his family despite himself.

Bob’s need to have 24/7 healthcare drives him to impossible situations. He has a way to have people like him, at the same time they can't wait to be released from his overwhelming energy.

Dr. Leo Marvin's contribution to psychiatry is his idea of “baby steps” small steps of a successful behavior repeated until the next step. Bob gives the impression that this is what he always needed. But it is a ruse because what he wants is around-the-clock attention. 

The only was the kids could get Bob to sail was to tie him up

Bob's personality has his fans. A couple who takes Bob to the psychologist's home and  sees Bob as the perfect weapon to make Dr. Leo Marvin miserable. Marvin bought the couples home which they did not want to sell but had to. Bob wins over Dr. Leo's family and they adopt him and Bob has all kinds of fun with the kids that Dr. Leo Marvin has a problem doing. In the long-awaited interview on TV, Bob dominates the interview and becomes an instant celebrity all the while praising “Baby Steps” in helping him enjoying a normal life with the doctor's family. Doctor Leo goes rapidly downhill from there. 

 Rent the movie and watch the gag develop.

In my next blog I hope to show because obesity is a chronic problem in which few ever return to a healthy BMI. The numbers are stacked against us. Losing weight happens about 20% of the time. Most of us regained weight. Can we lose weight as we get older? Is there way to move the weight scale in the right direction for the rest of our life. Added to this is the problem we have as we get older to lose muscle but again fat. All of a sudden, thin people with lack of muscle lose their independence and risk heart disease. 

For those who are are overweight liked myself we need to eat better. All of us as we age need to learn to exercise better to gain muscle to maintain our lives as independent people longer. Exercise can help weight loss, but what we eat is the main problem. Learning to rehab and recover; Learning strength training to slow down muscle loss and even be able to add muscle into our 90's is actually possible today. Keep walking