Small Sacrifices = Great Payoffs

My day started out busy, with an early morning Chamber of Commerce breakfast. After the breakfast meeting, my husband and I are spending the morning with our 2-1/2 year old twin grandchildren, which is always lots of fun!

Since I'm on 5&1 right now (Day 4 today!), I brought a crunch bar to the breakfast - it's really about networking more than the food, anyway :-). Lest you think it's easy for me to sit and munch on a crunch bar while watching other people eat traditional breakfast food (I'll spare all of us a description), please let me hasten to say that it's NOT easy. Like everyone else, I don't like missing out on the food that everyone else around me is eating. It's challenging to NOT eat the food that everyone else is eating when I'm smaller than most of the people sitting around the table - in fact, it feels almost odd. However, I cannot make decisions about my health based on the people around me, because a high percentage of the people around me are overweight.

So I have to take a deep breath and focus on what I REALLY want, and what I REALLY want is to remain at a healthy weight for the rest of my life. I also REALLY want my size 6's to continue to fit comfortably and not be snug. Because I did some less-than-mindful eating last week on vacation, this week is about reining in the eating and nipping the weight gain in the bud. It all comes back to my primary choice - staying at a healthy weight and in my size 6's - then making secondary choices that support that choice, secondary choices that include passing up the high-fat breakfast foods at this morning's breakfast.

For most of us, almost every day brings with it at least one situation when we have to make a choice between immediate gratification and staying on plan. It's not always easy making the choice to stay on plan, but staying on plan is the no-regrets choice. I knew that if I gave in and ate the breakfast this morning (the cost of which was included in my registration fee, by the way), I'd regret it later. In a few more days, I'll be back to where I want to be (the beauty of 5&1 is that it works and it works fast!). When I'm back to where I want to be, I'll look back on this morning's breakfast and be glad that I made the choice I did.

How about you today? Are you committed to making some hard choices today for a great payoff (healthy weight and a small size) a few months from now? Trust me when I tell you that it's worth the small sacrifice today - you'll never regret the choice to stay on plan today!