Happy Sunday! I can hardly believe this is the last day in February - the first two months of 2010 have really gone fast!
So how's 2010 going for you so far? If you do over the next ten months what you've done for the first two, where will you be on December 31 of this year? I'm asking because the reality is that the next ten months will fly by, just as these last two months have done.
Many of us started January by breathing a sigh of relief that we'd turned the page on a year that didn't quite get us where we hoped we'd be. We vowed that the good intentions we didn't follow through in 2009 were a thing of the past - 2010 was a new year, a new decade, and we squared our shoulders and made new resolutions. This time, for sure, we weren't kidding - we were going to do this . . . 2010 was our year!
So how's it going so far? I hope you've seen great progress in the last two months and continue to incorporate healthy habits that will not only bring you to your goal, but also maximize your chances of staying at your goal. I know that's true for many of you - keep up the great work!
For others, I know that those resolutions of January 2 are a bit wobbly right now. It's not that you don't have good intentions, and it's certainly not that you've decided you don't want to lose weight, because you do. The problem is that life keeps getting in the way. There's been stress, you've had to travel, your kids are driving you crazy, the dog developed a case of fleas in the middle of winter . . . Honest, I'm not diminishing the reality that many of you have already faced some pretty challenging things this year - sometimes life just happens and when it does it threatens to undo the best of our intentions. The problem is that life has a way of continuing to happen. Things come up, if not every day then at least every week, and there are always reasons to not stay on plan "today."
But what if life keeps happening in March, April, May . . . ? I'm guessing that you don't want to be right where you are twelve months from now, right?
For me, an important part of this program was learning to change how I related to food. During the almost 11 months it took me to lose 126 pounds, life definitely kept happening and there were any number of events, big and small, that could have sent me running to food for comfort. Thankfully, one of the things I learned was that food was incapable of comforting me; food couldn't relieve my stress or do anything other than provide nourishment when I was physically hungry. It was absolutely worthless when it came to meeting a single emotional need. The emotional eating I did in the past was throwing food down a bottomless pit - an emotional black hole. No amount of food could ever fix the problem and once the binge was over, it was replaced by frustration, anger at myself, disgust, self-recrimination, and a feeling of overwhelming defeat.
The reason I'm addressing emotional eating is because I'm guessing that if you are struggling to stay on plan, emotional eating is the reason. It may be emotional eating disguised as something else (it has a sneaky way of disguising itself), but when you peel back the layers, that's what you're most likely to find.
I write a lot about making choices, and that's true even for emotional eating. There is always a moment, however brief, when we make the decision to eat or not to eat. Sometimes it feels like eating is an automatic response, but it's always - always - ultimately our choice.
So if the past two months aren't representative of how you want the next ten to go, today is the perfect day to chart a new course. It won't be easy, but very few things worth having come easily. It certainly will be worth it, and I can promise you that a year from now you'll have no regrets.
It's a new day, with new challenges and new opportunities. Choose wisely :-)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
It's Crazy Out There
It's amazing the way we kid ourselves sometimes, absolutely amazing. That point was brought home a couple of days ago when I was watching a cooking program on TV while I got ready for my day. The program, and the cook, will remain nameless to protect the innocent, or guilty, as the case may be :-).
< Warning: I'm going to talk about food, so if this could be a problem for you, you might want to skip the rest of this blog! >
The theme of the program was bananas and the cook took a minute to explain how healthy bananas were, full of potassium and very heart-healthy. Immediately after telling the audience how heart-healthy bananas were, the next words out of the cook's mouth were, "Now add 6 tablespoons of butter . . . " and the cook went on to roll the bananas in the butter and then in a mixture of other definitely not-healthy things. After baking the concoction for a few minutes, the cook concluded this segment by telling the audience that they could feel good about feeding their families something "so healthy."
It's no wonder that the obesity rate continues to escalate! For those of us on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, our commitment to lose weight and pursue a healthy lifestyle gets more counter-cultural all the time. There is a lot of lip service in this country about healthier eating, but when we look around, it's hard to find. Restaurant portions are out of control, TV cooks promote high calorie, high fat dishes, and I read about a Denver eatery that challenges patrons to devour an entire 28-inch, 11-pound combo pizza in under two hours and win $1,000. There seems to be a new level of insanity when it comes to eating, and there is a real disconnect between the growing concern about the health of our citizens and the habits that are driving obesity. For so many people, knowing what to do just doesn't translate into doing it.
That's why what we're doing now is so important. This is a time of not only losing weight, but also creating new, healthy food habits that will enable us to KEEP it off. Getting those healthy habits in place now, and also changing how we think - and feel - about food is key to successful maintenance. The popular culture is going in a direction we don't want to go, and there are no signs that things will turn around any time soon.
Learning to make healthy choices now, one day at a time, will help us make healthy choices later. It may not be easy now, and I can promise you that it won't be easier later, but it IS possible. Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-).
< Warning: I'm going to talk about food, so if this could be a problem for you, you might want to skip the rest of this blog! >
The theme of the program was bananas and the cook took a minute to explain how healthy bananas were, full of potassium and very heart-healthy. Immediately after telling the audience how heart-healthy bananas were, the next words out of the cook's mouth were, "Now add 6 tablespoons of butter . . . " and the cook went on to roll the bananas in the butter and then in a mixture of other definitely not-healthy things. After baking the concoction for a few minutes, the cook concluded this segment by telling the audience that they could feel good about feeding their families something "so healthy."
It's no wonder that the obesity rate continues to escalate! For those of us on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, our commitment to lose weight and pursue a healthy lifestyle gets more counter-cultural all the time. There is a lot of lip service in this country about healthier eating, but when we look around, it's hard to find. Restaurant portions are out of control, TV cooks promote high calorie, high fat dishes, and I read about a Denver eatery that challenges patrons to devour an entire 28-inch, 11-pound combo pizza in under two hours and win $1,000. There seems to be a new level of insanity when it comes to eating, and there is a real disconnect between the growing concern about the health of our citizens and the habits that are driving obesity. For so many people, knowing what to do just doesn't translate into doing it.
That's why what we're doing now is so important. This is a time of not only losing weight, but also creating new, healthy food habits that will enable us to KEEP it off. Getting those healthy habits in place now, and also changing how we think - and feel - about food is key to successful maintenance. The popular culture is going in a direction we don't want to go, and there are no signs that things will turn around any time soon.
Learning to make healthy choices now, one day at a time, will help us make healthy choices later. It may not be easy now, and I can promise you that it won't be easier later, but it IS possible. Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-).
Friday, February 26, 2010
A Different Kind of Wealth
Dave Ramsey has a weekly column in our local newspaper and I enjoy reading his advice (and I'm trying to follow it, too!). In a recent column, he wrote about the difference between wealthy individuals and others.
He noted, to my surprise, that 90% of America's millionaires are first generation rich - they started with nothing. He said that these individuals were mature enough and responsible enough to "delay bits and pieces of fleeting pleasure for a quality life in the future", trading "impulsive, immature decisions and purchases for the reward of a better life later." He contrasts this with others who delay none of the pleasures and live only in the moment. He ended by staying that in most cases, "it's not that they don't have the money. It's more a case that they don't have a vision for the future."
This is not only great financial advice, but great advice for life. And, of course, this is great advice with so much application for us who are on our journey to health.
Sometimes we think that if we aren't born with a killer metabolism, we're just destined to be overweight. Some of us have been heavy all of our lives and may think that we just can't be thin - perhaps we think that we're starting with nothing (like the 90% of American millionaires!). It doesn't matter what our past has been - we CAN change our health destiny. Doing so requires "delaying bits and pieces of fleeting pleasure for a quality life in the future."
I like the word "delay", because the reality is that there is so much MORE pleasure in the end, if we're willing to stay the course in the short term. Unlike individuals who delay gratification for years - perhaps decades - to achieve financial wealth, our delayed gratification is SO short-lived in the grand scheme of things. I was on plan for almost a year - 11 months, but that is just a blip on the radar screen of my life. I have been in my goal range almost twice that long now and life is MUCH better on this side of goal :-).
Lastly, Dave said that those without money, in most cases, don't have a vision for the future. Having a vision for the future is the key to long-term success when it comes to our health. Do you have a vision of yourself at goal? Do you have a vision of what you want your life to look like?
I encourage you to take some time to create a clear vision for yourself. Write it down! What size will you wear? What kind of clothes will you be able to wear? How will you feel? What will you be able to do? When you have a clear vision of what goal will look like for you, write it down at the top of a sheet of paper. At the bottom of the paper, write down where you are right now - your weight, your clothing size, your measurements, any medications you're on, how you feel about where you're at - get it all down. The bottom of the page is your current reality; the top of the page is your vision for your future. The space in between is what is called structural tension, as tension is created when there is a gap between where we are and where we want to be, and tension seeks resolution.
In the space between where you are and where you want to be, list the steps you are taking to move towards your goal. As you continue to lose weight and improve your health, mark your progress on this sheet, to help you visualize moving closer to your goal.
Delayed gratification and a vision for the future. When you understand both of those things, it then comes down to making the choices you need to make on a daily basis. As always, choose wisely :-)
He noted, to my surprise, that 90% of America's millionaires are first generation rich - they started with nothing. He said that these individuals were mature enough and responsible enough to "delay bits and pieces of fleeting pleasure for a quality life in the future", trading "impulsive, immature decisions and purchases for the reward of a better life later." He contrasts this with others who delay none of the pleasures and live only in the moment. He ended by staying that in most cases, "it's not that they don't have the money. It's more a case that they don't have a vision for the future."
This is not only great financial advice, but great advice for life. And, of course, this is great advice with so much application for us who are on our journey to health.
Sometimes we think that if we aren't born with a killer metabolism, we're just destined to be overweight. Some of us have been heavy all of our lives and may think that we just can't be thin - perhaps we think that we're starting with nothing (like the 90% of American millionaires!). It doesn't matter what our past has been - we CAN change our health destiny. Doing so requires "delaying bits and pieces of fleeting pleasure for a quality life in the future."
I like the word "delay", because the reality is that there is so much MORE pleasure in the end, if we're willing to stay the course in the short term. Unlike individuals who delay gratification for years - perhaps decades - to achieve financial wealth, our delayed gratification is SO short-lived in the grand scheme of things. I was on plan for almost a year - 11 months, but that is just a blip on the radar screen of my life. I have been in my goal range almost twice that long now and life is MUCH better on this side of goal :-).
Lastly, Dave said that those without money, in most cases, don't have a vision for the future. Having a vision for the future is the key to long-term success when it comes to our health. Do you have a vision of yourself at goal? Do you have a vision of what you want your life to look like?
I encourage you to take some time to create a clear vision for yourself. Write it down! What size will you wear? What kind of clothes will you be able to wear? How will you feel? What will you be able to do? When you have a clear vision of what goal will look like for you, write it down at the top of a sheet of paper. At the bottom of the paper, write down where you are right now - your weight, your clothing size, your measurements, any medications you're on, how you feel about where you're at - get it all down. The bottom of the page is your current reality; the top of the page is your vision for your future. The space in between is what is called structural tension, as tension is created when there is a gap between where we are and where we want to be, and tension seeks resolution.
In the space between where you are and where you want to be, list the steps you are taking to move towards your goal. As you continue to lose weight and improve your health, mark your progress on this sheet, to help you visualize moving closer to your goal.
Delayed gratification and a vision for the future. When you understand both of those things, it then comes down to making the choices you need to make on a daily basis. As always, choose wisely :-)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Rethinking Freedom
Freedom is something we all want, something we are willing to fight for, something that many brave men and women have died to protect. I am so thankful for the freedom that we have in America to live our lives and pursue our dreams.
We all want to live free, so it's ironic that sometimes the wrong use of freedom leads to restriction and bondage instead. That point was brought home last night as I watched a program on TLC about an individual whose morbid obesity eventually left him bed-bound as his weight soared to over 1,000 pounds. His freedom to eat whatever he wanted in whatever quantity he wanted (consuming as much as 35,000 calories a day!) resulted in him not leaving his bed for four years, totally dependent on others for everything, even the most basic of his care.
That's an extreme example, of course, but the truth of "freedom gone wrong" certainly played out in my own life. I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it, in whatever quantity I wanted. The problem was that the more I did that, the less free I was. I not only became a slave to food due to emotional eating, but the more I weighed, the more restrictive my life became. My shopping choices were limited (and not much fun), there were chairs I didn't fit in, I avoided stairs or had to take them one painful step at a time, I didn't go swimming, and I felt self-conscious around others. The misuse of the freedom I had led to a level of bondage that I never could have envisioned.
The irony is that going on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, an admittedly restrictive program with no "wiggle room", gave me my life back. While I was on 5&1, there were a lot of things I didn't eat, but every day on plan brought me one day closer to a level of freedom I never could have envisioned.
The freedom to make choices is a freedom that we don't always pay a lot of attention to. We make our choices, but we can't choose the consequences. The choices we make will ultimately either lead to greater freedom or more restrictions. Choose wisely :-)
We all want to live free, so it's ironic that sometimes the wrong use of freedom leads to restriction and bondage instead. That point was brought home last night as I watched a program on TLC about an individual whose morbid obesity eventually left him bed-bound as his weight soared to over 1,000 pounds. His freedom to eat whatever he wanted in whatever quantity he wanted (consuming as much as 35,000 calories a day!) resulted in him not leaving his bed for four years, totally dependent on others for everything, even the most basic of his care.
That's an extreme example, of course, but the truth of "freedom gone wrong" certainly played out in my own life. I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it, in whatever quantity I wanted. The problem was that the more I did that, the less free I was. I not only became a slave to food due to emotional eating, but the more I weighed, the more restrictive my life became. My shopping choices were limited (and not much fun), there were chairs I didn't fit in, I avoided stairs or had to take them one painful step at a time, I didn't go swimming, and I felt self-conscious around others. The misuse of the freedom I had led to a level of bondage that I never could have envisioned.
The irony is that going on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, an admittedly restrictive program with no "wiggle room", gave me my life back. While I was on 5&1, there were a lot of things I didn't eat, but every day on plan brought me one day closer to a level of freedom I never could have envisioned.
The freedom to make choices is a freedom that we don't always pay a lot of attention to. We make our choices, but we can't choose the consequences. The choices we make will ultimately either lead to greater freedom or more restrictions. Choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Hanging In There
Happy Wednesday! Are you excited to be on plan today, or are you wishing you could eat something - anything - other than five Medifast meals?
I called a friend yesterday who has struggled to stay on plan. She does well for a while, then things come up and she gives herself permission to go off plan. Once she does that, it can be a challenge to get back on plan and stay there. I asked her how she was doing and she told me that she was "hanging in there." She said that she really didn't feel like being on plan but was doing it anyway. I think I surprised her a bit when I responded, VERY enthusiastically, "That's FANTASTIC!" She was clearly puzzled by response, because she certainly didn't view "hanging in there" as fantastic, but it is.
She's made the decision to go for it, and even though she really doesn't feel like staying on plan, she's doing it anyway. That's huge! For those of us who are die-hard emotional eaters, for those of us who allow our emotions to lead, it's a big deal to acknowledge how we feel and then set those emotions aside. It's a big deal to look at a tangle of emotions square in the eye and say, "so what!"
My friend told me something else that was even more significant. She told me that even if she didn't want to be on plan, she really didn't have a choice because she had cleared every off-plan thing out of her house. That's significant because that means she has structured her environment for success. If she had some of her trigger foods in the house, it would be more difficult to stay on plan, but she cleaned her cabinets and emptied her refrigerator.
I'm excited for my friend because she's taken a couple of important steps that are going to move her towards what she's decided she really wants - getting to a healthy weight. Even after I talked to her, I could tell that she wasn't necessarily "feeling it", but she's simply decided that it's what she wants so she's doing what she needs to do anyway.
Once we make the decision that we are going to get to our goal, the facts really don't matter. Our emotions are facts, and the fact is that you may NOT want to do this today. But if you've made the decision to get to your weight loss goal, what your feelings are about being on plan are irrelevant. If you've taken an additional step and structured your environment for success, you've increased the probability of success. My friend is single, so stripping her house of all things off-plan was easy. I know that some of you have families and can't rid your house of everything, but you CAN put it together in a cabinet that will be off-limits to you - a cabinet that you just don't open.
This isn't easy, but when you're at your goal weight and in your goal size, when you're looking and feeling better than you have in years - maybe better than you've ever looked and felt - you'll have NO regrets. It starts with making the decision to go for it, then making the choices necessary, one day at a time, to get there. Choose wisely :-)
I called a friend yesterday who has struggled to stay on plan. She does well for a while, then things come up and she gives herself permission to go off plan. Once she does that, it can be a challenge to get back on plan and stay there. I asked her how she was doing and she told me that she was "hanging in there." She said that she really didn't feel like being on plan but was doing it anyway. I think I surprised her a bit when I responded, VERY enthusiastically, "That's FANTASTIC!" She was clearly puzzled by response, because she certainly didn't view "hanging in there" as fantastic, but it is.
She's made the decision to go for it, and even though she really doesn't feel like staying on plan, she's doing it anyway. That's huge! For those of us who are die-hard emotional eaters, for those of us who allow our emotions to lead, it's a big deal to acknowledge how we feel and then set those emotions aside. It's a big deal to look at a tangle of emotions square in the eye and say, "so what!"
My friend told me something else that was even more significant. She told me that even if she didn't want to be on plan, she really didn't have a choice because she had cleared every off-plan thing out of her house. That's significant because that means she has structured her environment for success. If she had some of her trigger foods in the house, it would be more difficult to stay on plan, but she cleaned her cabinets and emptied her refrigerator.
I'm excited for my friend because she's taken a couple of important steps that are going to move her towards what she's decided she really wants - getting to a healthy weight. Even after I talked to her, I could tell that she wasn't necessarily "feeling it", but she's simply decided that it's what she wants so she's doing what she needs to do anyway.
Once we make the decision that we are going to get to our goal, the facts really don't matter. Our emotions are facts, and the fact is that you may NOT want to do this today. But if you've made the decision to get to your weight loss goal, what your feelings are about being on plan are irrelevant. If you've taken an additional step and structured your environment for success, you've increased the probability of success. My friend is single, so stripping her house of all things off-plan was easy. I know that some of you have families and can't rid your house of everything, but you CAN put it together in a cabinet that will be off-limits to you - a cabinet that you just don't open.
This isn't easy, but when you're at your goal weight and in your goal size, when you're looking and feeling better than you have in years - maybe better than you've ever looked and felt - you'll have NO regrets. It starts with making the decision to go for it, then making the choices necessary, one day at a time, to get there. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Walking Away From the Chain
I had a couple of conversations yesterday with friends that got me thinking about a blog I wrote shortly after starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. I did a little digging and found it, written back on September 1, 2007. I was just a little over two months on plan and the blog chronicled a real turning point in my thinking. I hope it will be helpful to you today!
****
I read an interesting story not too long ago, and it's been rambling around in my brain until today, when I decided to blog about it![Smile [:)]](http://blogs.mymedifast.com/CS/emoticons/emotion-1.gif)
Have you ever seen an elephant at the circus? I don't know if they still do this, but years ago circus elephants could be seen standing next to a small wooden stake in the ground with a chain around one ankle. In the story I read, the writer became rather curious as to how one small wooden stake could hold a large elephant captive, so he did some investigating. As it turns out, the trainer begins using the chain and stake when the elephant is just a baby. The baby elephant is unable to pull free and, over time, gradually accepts the chain and the restriction it provides. What the elephant never realizes is that as it grows stronger, it could easily pull the stake out of the ground and be free. You see, the elephant adapts itself so completely to the chain that it loses sight of the fact that it could free itself in a moment, if it only realized that the chain no longer had any power over it.
This is a powerful illustration for me! I feel like I have been chained to unhealthy food choices for a long time, a prisoner of stress eating and unending cycles of yo-yo dieting. I felt like I was trapped and would never be set free. What I didn't realize, until recently, is that all I have ever had to do was gently but firmly pull and the chain would fall away. I stood next to a weak wooden stake called "food addiction" and allowed myself to think that it held me captive - I gave it power it never had on its own.
As God continues to work in my life through Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I have finally walked away from this chain and it no longer has the power to hold me captive. I am learning to put food into its proper place and not run to it to deal with stress, smooth a hurt, or celebrate a victory. This is so freeing!
One of my new favorite songs is called "Finally Free" by Nichole Nordeman. Here are the lyrics:
No chain is strong enough, no choice is wrong enough
No mountain high enough that He can't climb
No shadow dark enough, no night is black enough
No road is lost enough that He can't find
*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free
v.2
No pain is deep enough, no heart could bleed enough
Nothing but Jesus' love can make a way
*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free
****
That day, almost two and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom. Today, over 21 months since reaching my goal, I'm still celebrating that freedom! I tell people all the time that when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was just hoping to lose a little bit of weight - I had NO idea that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth in the process.
The freedom from my long-standing food addition didn't happen in an instant, but each day as I made the choice to stay on plan and chose to find healthier ways to deal with stress and emotional issues (and for me, that healthier way was turning to my Heavenly Father), I took another step away from my food addiction and another step towards a healthier rest of my life.
I write this knowing that some of you are dealing with a lot of emotional eating issues. I've been there, I've walked a similar path, and I understand probably more than you could ever know. I also know that we can be set free, completely free, starting today. Those chains will begin to fall, one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
****
I read an interesting story not too long ago, and it's been rambling around in my brain until today, when I decided to blog about it
Have you ever seen an elephant at the circus? I don't know if they still do this, but years ago circus elephants could be seen standing next to a small wooden stake in the ground with a chain around one ankle. In the story I read, the writer became rather curious as to how one small wooden stake could hold a large elephant captive, so he did some investigating. As it turns out, the trainer begins using the chain and stake when the elephant is just a baby. The baby elephant is unable to pull free and, over time, gradually accepts the chain and the restriction it provides. What the elephant never realizes is that as it grows stronger, it could easily pull the stake out of the ground and be free. You see, the elephant adapts itself so completely to the chain that it loses sight of the fact that it could free itself in a moment, if it only realized that the chain no longer had any power over it.
This is a powerful illustration for me! I feel like I have been chained to unhealthy food choices for a long time, a prisoner of stress eating and unending cycles of yo-yo dieting. I felt like I was trapped and would never be set free. What I didn't realize, until recently, is that all I have ever had to do was gently but firmly pull and the chain would fall away. I stood next to a weak wooden stake called "food addiction" and allowed myself to think that it held me captive - I gave it power it never had on its own.
As God continues to work in my life through Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I have finally walked away from this chain and it no longer has the power to hold me captive. I am learning to put food into its proper place and not run to it to deal with stress, smooth a hurt, or celebrate a victory. This is so freeing!
One of my new favorite songs is called "Finally Free" by Nichole Nordeman. Here are the lyrics:
No chain is strong enough, no choice is wrong enough
No mountain high enough that He can't climb
No shadow dark enough, no night is black enough
No road is lost enough that He can't find
*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free
v.2
No pain is deep enough, no heart could bleed enough
Nothing but Jesus' love can make a way
*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free
****
That day, almost two and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom. Today, over 21 months since reaching my goal, I'm still celebrating that freedom! I tell people all the time that when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was just hoping to lose a little bit of weight - I had NO idea that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth in the process.
The freedom from my long-standing food addition didn't happen in an instant, but each day as I made the choice to stay on plan and chose to find healthier ways to deal with stress and emotional issues (and for me, that healthier way was turning to my Heavenly Father), I took another step away from my food addiction and another step towards a healthier rest of my life.
I write this knowing that some of you are dealing with a lot of emotional eating issues. I've been there, I've walked a similar path, and I understand probably more than you could ever know. I also know that we can be set free, completely free, starting today. Those chains will begin to fall, one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Monday, February 22, 2010
Twenty-One Months!
Twenty-one months . . . I'm shaking my head as I write this, humbled and amazed. Thinking about where I was three years ago right now, 260 pounds, diabetic and feeling pretty hopeless, it's hard to believe that it was twenty-one months ago today that I reached my weight loss goal. Losing 120 pounds in just under 11 months was amazing, dropping 6 more pounds in Transition was wonderful, but the best part of all is knowing that I'm still in my goal range and in my goal size 6's.
I certainly have not done Maintenance perfectly and am still fine-tuning things. While staying in my goal range and in my goal size, there have been times when I've been at the very top of my range and found my 6's getting pretty snug. I still have what I wryly call my "fully developed set of fat girl taste buds" and can't really identify with individuals who tell me that certain things no longer sound or taste good to them now that they've lost weight. Sigh . . . everything still sounds and tastes as good to me as it ever did and I know that it would be all too easy to start down a food path that could bring me right back to 260 or even higher.
However, knowing that most people gain all of their weight back - and often add additional pounds - within two years, I am thrilled to mark off yet one more month at a healthy BMI. While my long-term goal is to get to the point where I never need to go back to a strict 5&1 again, I don't apologize for using the resources available on occasion to make sure that things don't spiral out of control. In the meantime, the fact that my "fat girl tastebuds" are still alive and kicking really forces to make the same choices every day that all of you have to make.
Every day I have to choose between immediate gratification and long-term goals. My long-term goal isn't getting to my goal weight, but it IS all about continuing to move towards optimal health. Every day I face food choices and have to ask myself, "will this or won't this move me in the direction I want to go?" To be sure, I try to keep stuff out of my house, but with a 23 year old son living at home, I'm not always successful. Sometimes I open my freezer and find a couple cartons of ice cream staring at me, or I find other old trigger foods lurking in a cabinet. It would be easy to rationalize that since I'm at a healthy weight, I can have a little bit of whatever, and that's true. My problem is that it's hard for me to have just a "little bit" of that kind of food - my brain tends to disengage when I start eating it. Having tried and failed a couple of times of having the stuff in the house and eating it within reason, I've made the decision that it can't be a regular part of my life any more.
Instead of having a dozen cookies in the house, if I want a chocolate chip cookie, I'd rather pick up one at the bakery. That way, it's only one - I can't rationalize a second, third, fourth . . . My husband and I will occasionally split a dessert at a restaurant, allowing each of us to have a little bit of something without having half a pie sitting on the counter. Sweets are definitely my downfall, so I'm finding a nightly Medifast brownie a wonderful and healthy alternative.
Writing a daily blog helps me to refocus every day, reminding me to make my own good choices. I can't encourage everyone else to make wise choices unless I'm doing the same thing! It's not always easy, and it's not always what I want to do, but the more I do it, the more new and healthier habits are becoming a part of my life.
So today I'm committed to making choices that will keep me moving in the direction I want to go, and I hope you'll make the same decision. Let's ALL choose wisely :-)
I certainly have not done Maintenance perfectly and am still fine-tuning things. While staying in my goal range and in my goal size, there have been times when I've been at the very top of my range and found my 6's getting pretty snug. I still have what I wryly call my "fully developed set of fat girl taste buds" and can't really identify with individuals who tell me that certain things no longer sound or taste good to them now that they've lost weight. Sigh . . . everything still sounds and tastes as good to me as it ever did and I know that it would be all too easy to start down a food path that could bring me right back to 260 or even higher.
However, knowing that most people gain all of their weight back - and often add additional pounds - within two years, I am thrilled to mark off yet one more month at a healthy BMI. While my long-term goal is to get to the point where I never need to go back to a strict 5&1 again, I don't apologize for using the resources available on occasion to make sure that things don't spiral out of control. In the meantime, the fact that my "fat girl tastebuds" are still alive and kicking really forces to make the same choices every day that all of you have to make.
Every day I have to choose between immediate gratification and long-term goals. My long-term goal isn't getting to my goal weight, but it IS all about continuing to move towards optimal health. Every day I face food choices and have to ask myself, "will this or won't this move me in the direction I want to go?" To be sure, I try to keep stuff out of my house, but with a 23 year old son living at home, I'm not always successful. Sometimes I open my freezer and find a couple cartons of ice cream staring at me, or I find other old trigger foods lurking in a cabinet. It would be easy to rationalize that since I'm at a healthy weight, I can have a little bit of whatever, and that's true. My problem is that it's hard for me to have just a "little bit" of that kind of food - my brain tends to disengage when I start eating it. Having tried and failed a couple of times of having the stuff in the house and eating it within reason, I've made the decision that it can't be a regular part of my life any more.
Instead of having a dozen cookies in the house, if I want a chocolate chip cookie, I'd rather pick up one at the bakery. That way, it's only one - I can't rationalize a second, third, fourth . . . My husband and I will occasionally split a dessert at a restaurant, allowing each of us to have a little bit of something without having half a pie sitting on the counter. Sweets are definitely my downfall, so I'm finding a nightly Medifast brownie a wonderful and healthy alternative.
Writing a daily blog helps me to refocus every day, reminding me to make my own good choices. I can't encourage everyone else to make wise choices unless I'm doing the same thing! It's not always easy, and it's not always what I want to do, but the more I do it, the more new and healthier habits are becoming a part of my life.
So today I'm committed to making choices that will keep me moving in the direction I want to go, and I hope you'll make the same decision. Let's ALL choose wisely :-)
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Good Morning!
I'm heading out to church in just a little while, so I'll make this morning's post short, sweet, and to the point :-).
Today you have the opportunity to make choices that will either move you in the direction you want to go or take you back a step. It may or may not be easy, but the truth is that nothing can "make" us step off plan - it will always be our choice.
Take just a moment at the start of this day and think about what it is you really want. Once you've done that, decide to make the choices that will support it.
Have a wonderful Sunday, and choose wisely :-)
Today you have the opportunity to make choices that will either move you in the direction you want to go or take you back a step. It may or may not be easy, but the truth is that nothing can "make" us step off plan - it will always be our choice.
Take just a moment at the start of this day and think about what it is you really want. Once you've done that, decide to make the choices that will support it.
Have a wonderful Sunday, and choose wisely :-)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Guaranteed Gold
I was really touched as I watched Lindsey Vonn win her gold medal in the women's downhill a couple of days ago. She had been battling a painful shin bruise and at one point it wasn't clear that she'd be able to compete at all. Despite the pain, she skied to gold. Following her gold medal run,she was asked what the gold medal meant to her. She sobbed as she said "This means everything to me. I've given up everything for this."
What focus - what dedication! Years of of training, practice and determination culminated in this one brief, glorious moment for Lindsey. She worked through the pain and made so many other difficult choices along the way because she knew what she wanted.
Knowing what we want - what we REALLY want - and keeping our eyes fixed on our own prize will ultimately determine our success or failure. If we know what we want, then our determination can become as steely and unshakable as Lindsey's. When we know what we want, we are much less likely to shift our focus on what we're temporarily giving up because our eyes are straight ahead and focused on where we're going.
I remember reaching a point on my own Take Shape for Life/Medifast weight loss journey when the reality of reaching my goal became crystal clear. Once I focused on reaching my goal, I viewed all off-plan foods as obstacles that would do nothing more than keep me from where I wanted to me. It's not that those foods didn't look or smell good, because they did, but they no longer tempted me in the same, old way. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted something more - something better - than the temporary satisfaction I would have gotten from eating those things.
It all comes down, again, to determining what it is that we really want and then making the choices necessary to get it. Lindsey made all of those choices, but winning the gold medal was never a given for her, as other athletes have made those same choices and fallen short of winning a gold medal. However, when WE make OUR choice to get to goal, it IS a given! This program works and there are countless success stories to prove it. The outcome of our journey is guaranteed, providing we make the necessary choices along the way.
Have a great Saturday, and choose wisely :-)
What focus - what dedication! Years of of training, practice and determination culminated in this one brief, glorious moment for Lindsey. She worked through the pain and made so many other difficult choices along the way because she knew what she wanted.
Knowing what we want - what we REALLY want - and keeping our eyes fixed on our own prize will ultimately determine our success or failure. If we know what we want, then our determination can become as steely and unshakable as Lindsey's. When we know what we want, we are much less likely to shift our focus on what we're temporarily giving up because our eyes are straight ahead and focused on where we're going.
I remember reaching a point on my own Take Shape for Life/Medifast weight loss journey when the reality of reaching my goal became crystal clear. Once I focused on reaching my goal, I viewed all off-plan foods as obstacles that would do nothing more than keep me from where I wanted to me. It's not that those foods didn't look or smell good, because they did, but they no longer tempted me in the same, old way. For the first time in a very long time, I wanted something more - something better - than the temporary satisfaction I would have gotten from eating those things.
It all comes down, again, to determining what it is that we really want and then making the choices necessary to get it. Lindsey made all of those choices, but winning the gold medal was never a given for her, as other athletes have made those same choices and fallen short of winning a gold medal. However, when WE make OUR choice to get to goal, it IS a given! This program works and there are countless success stories to prove it. The outcome of our journey is guaranteed, providing we make the necessary choices along the way.
Have a great Saturday, and choose wisely :-)
Friday, February 19, 2010
It's in the Air
There's something in the air - can you feel it? Sometimes it's so strong that I can almost reach my hand out and grasp it with my hands. What is this "something" that I'm feeling? It's hope, and it's all around.
I hear it in the voices of individuals I'm talking to on the phone, sense it in the e-mails I receive on a daily basis, and I see it in the eyes of so many of my friends. People who pretty much gave up hope years ago of ever getting to a healthy weight are now reaching their long-elusive goals, and others who are just starting their journey know - really know - that reaching goal is just a matter of time for them.
I wrote about this kind of hope, which I call confident hope, back in November of 2007 and I reprinted that blog last September. Because I know that many of you reading today's blog weren't around in November of 2007 or perhaps even last September, I decided to share my thoughts once again. I hope you don't mind, and I hope it will be an encouragement to you! When I first blogged this in November of 2007, I had been on plan for five months, had lost sixty pounds (and just gotten through Thanksgiving on plan!), and was just a day away from leaving the 200's behind forever. Here's what I wrote that day:
There is something powerful about the moment when the reality washes over someone that they really WILL reach their goal. So many of us have struggled for years and had all but lost hope of ever reaching a healthy weight. Then we found Take Shape for Life/Medifast, decided to give it a try, and wonderful things began to happen. As the scale begins to move down and we start to drop sizes, our skepticism finally gives way, first to a tentative hope, and then to confident hope.
Are you there yet? If not, just keep doing what you're doing and stay on plan, because it WILL come. One of the powerful things that comes along with that confident hope is that once you know you're going to reach goal, once that is clearly fixed in your sight, you won't let anything stand in your way. Once I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I WOULD reach my goal, I wanted to get there as fast as I safely could. At that point, I viewed off-plan food as obstacles that would only get in the way of where I wanted to go, and eating off plan no longer even tempted me.
It's all about focusing on where you're going and knowing exactly what you want. You may not yet believe that the program will really work, but keep working it anyway :-). There WILL be a morning when you wake up and it will hit you that this really is "it", and it's a moment to savor and celebrate.
You'll reach that moment, just like you'll reach your goal, one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
I hear it in the voices of individuals I'm talking to on the phone, sense it in the e-mails I receive on a daily basis, and I see it in the eyes of so many of my friends. People who pretty much gave up hope years ago of ever getting to a healthy weight are now reaching their long-elusive goals, and others who are just starting their journey know - really know - that reaching goal is just a matter of time for them.
I wrote about this kind of hope, which I call confident hope, back in November of 2007 and I reprinted that blog last September. Because I know that many of you reading today's blog weren't around in November of 2007 or perhaps even last September, I decided to share my thoughts once again. I hope you don't mind, and I hope it will be an encouragement to you! When I first blogged this in November of 2007, I had been on plan for five months, had lost sixty pounds (and just gotten through Thanksgiving on plan!), and was just a day away from leaving the 200's behind forever. Here's what I wrote that day:
One of the things I have gained over these past five months on Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a confident hope. I say "confident hope" because we all hope for things, some of which are unlikely to ever actually happen. I usually send in my Publisher's Clearing House entry and I always hope that I'll win the grand prize, but I'm realistic enough to know that it probably won't happen. I hope that I can travel to Europe sometime before I die, and that may or may not happen.
But then there is confident hope, and that's an entirely different kind of hope. In terms of my weight loss, I have replaced the long-held "I hope I can someday get down to a normal weight again" kind of hope with a new, confident hope because I know that it is finally within my reach. I am almost half-way there! This isn't the "probably won't happen, but wouldn't it be nice?" hope. This is hope that is firmly planted in reality - it is tangible. And as I wait for the scale to drop that all-important pound that will put me below 200 for the first time in over 18 years, I wait in hope because I know it will happen, and I know that I will see the scale continue to drop.
So, the cost of a month of Medifast products is approximately $300. But the added benefit of confident hope? Priceless!!
There is something powerful about the moment when the reality washes over someone that they really WILL reach their goal. So many of us have struggled for years and had all but lost hope of ever reaching a healthy weight. Then we found Take Shape for Life/Medifast, decided to give it a try, and wonderful things began to happen. As the scale begins to move down and we start to drop sizes, our skepticism finally gives way, first to a tentative hope, and then to confident hope.
Are you there yet? If not, just keep doing what you're doing and stay on plan, because it WILL come. One of the powerful things that comes along with that confident hope is that once you know you're going to reach goal, once that is clearly fixed in your sight, you won't let anything stand in your way. Once I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I WOULD reach my goal, I wanted to get there as fast as I safely could. At that point, I viewed off-plan food as obstacles that would only get in the way of where I wanted to go, and eating off plan no longer even tempted me.
It's all about focusing on where you're going and knowing exactly what you want. You may not yet believe that the program will really work, but keep working it anyway :-). There WILL be a morning when you wake up and it will hit you that this really is "it", and it's a moment to savor and celebrate.
You'll reach that moment, just like you'll reach your goal, one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Little Reflection
Today is my son's 23rd birthday. Joel is our "baby" - the third and last of our children and I can hardly believe he's all grown up! Happy birthday, Joel!!!
My pregnancy with him was really the beginning of what ended up being a 20+ year struggle with morbid obesity. Like my pregnancies with the other two, I gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy. With my girls, I started my pregnancies at a healthy weight, gained 50-60 pounds (I felt ill much of the time and ate constantly to keep the nausea at bay), and was back to my normal weight within nine months of delivery - I joked that it was nine months to put it on and nine months to take it off. I'd lose about 20 pounds in delivery and drop another 10 pounds over the next month without even trying, then cutting back a bit on my eating and kicking exercise into high gear peeled off the last 20-30 pounds over the next few months.
My pregnancy with Joel started a bit different, as I'd put on about 20 pounds in the year prior to my pregnancy. A knee injury put a stop to my aerobics and even walking was painful, so I became very sedentary. Sitting a lot wasn't something I was used to, so I filled the activity void with food. After months of waiting and hoping the knee would get better on its own, I finally conceded and had surgery, with the goal of getting through the surgery and physical therapy so I could return to my aerobics class and get the weight off. I was still in PT when I found out I was pregnant with Joel, and that was the end of any thought of resuming aerobics. I once again repeated the weight gain pattern of my previous pregnancies, only this time I gained close to 80 pounds. When I went in to deliver him 23 years ago today, I weighed in at 229. I was mortified - this was 100 pounds over what had been my normal, healthy weight.
I lost almost 30 pounds without trying over the next month, but was pretty much stuck hovering just under 200 pounds and was at a weight I never imagined. It was pretty depressing, and with three children to care for, it was hard to find time to do the exercise I thought I had to do to lose the weight. When Joel was 18 months old, I ended up going back to work after being a stay-home mom for 12 years. Sitting in front of a computer for the better part of 8 hours a day, often grabbing fast food because I wasn't home to fix a "from scratch" meal, and being too tired to exercise resulted in my weight climbing to new highs. Throw in a clinical depression along the way and things spun out of control.
For a long time, my concept was that I needed to exercise the weight off. That's how I'd maintained my weight in my 20's and early 30's (although admittedly I ate a very healthy diet and avoided all processed foods - I was a "from scratch" cook, including baking all of our bread and canning or freezing most of our fruits and vegetables). After giving birth to Joel, it was incredibly frustrating for me to realize that exercise wasn't really having any impact on my weight. What I didn't understand then, and what I fully understand now, is that it's almost impossible to lose weight through exercise alone.
It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound, and we have to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound through exercise. Unfortunately, you'd need to run almost 34 miles to burn off 3,500 calories. Someone who needs to lose 30 pounds would have to run 1,040 miles - the equivalent of 40 marathons - to burn off the weight through exercise alone. Oh yeah, one more thing: you'd have to run those 40 marathons and not increase your calories.
No wonder it felt impossible for me to lose the weight! After realizing that exercise wasn't doing it for me, I then turned to a variety of fad diets. My focus was always on trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I wasn't focused on trying to develop new, healthy habits - I figured I'd work on those AFTER I reached my goal. All I wanted was to get the weight off as fast as possible. Obviously, none of those fat diets ever worked for very long because they just weren't sustainable. I was hungry, bored and didn't feel all that great. Then came several attempts with more proven programs that had me counting calories, carb grams, fat grams, or points. The work involved and the slow progress combined with feeling hungry most of the time resulted in failure after failure, always ending in additional weight gain.
At the point of desperation and considering weight loss surgery, I found Take Shape for Life/Medifast and the rest, as they say, is history! I learned how to eat, I learned to incorporate exercise into my life but not depend on it alone to lose weight, and I finally embraced the healthy habits I need to keep the weight off the rest of my life. It continues to be an amazing and life-changing journey!
As we celebrate our son's birthday today, it's also a time for me to reflect and celebrate my own "rebirth" as it pertains to my health. It happened one day and one choice at a time. That's how it will happen for you, too! Choose wisely :-)
My pregnancy with him was really the beginning of what ended up being a 20+ year struggle with morbid obesity. Like my pregnancies with the other two, I gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy. With my girls, I started my pregnancies at a healthy weight, gained 50-60 pounds (I felt ill much of the time and ate constantly to keep the nausea at bay), and was back to my normal weight within nine months of delivery - I joked that it was nine months to put it on and nine months to take it off. I'd lose about 20 pounds in delivery and drop another 10 pounds over the next month without even trying, then cutting back a bit on my eating and kicking exercise into high gear peeled off the last 20-30 pounds over the next few months.
My pregnancy with Joel started a bit different, as I'd put on about 20 pounds in the year prior to my pregnancy. A knee injury put a stop to my aerobics and even walking was painful, so I became very sedentary. Sitting a lot wasn't something I was used to, so I filled the activity void with food. After months of waiting and hoping the knee would get better on its own, I finally conceded and had surgery, with the goal of getting through the surgery and physical therapy so I could return to my aerobics class and get the weight off. I was still in PT when I found out I was pregnant with Joel, and that was the end of any thought of resuming aerobics. I once again repeated the weight gain pattern of my previous pregnancies, only this time I gained close to 80 pounds. When I went in to deliver him 23 years ago today, I weighed in at 229. I was mortified - this was 100 pounds over what had been my normal, healthy weight.
I lost almost 30 pounds without trying over the next month, but was pretty much stuck hovering just under 200 pounds and was at a weight I never imagined. It was pretty depressing, and with three children to care for, it was hard to find time to do the exercise I thought I had to do to lose the weight. When Joel was 18 months old, I ended up going back to work after being a stay-home mom for 12 years. Sitting in front of a computer for the better part of 8 hours a day, often grabbing fast food because I wasn't home to fix a "from scratch" meal, and being too tired to exercise resulted in my weight climbing to new highs. Throw in a clinical depression along the way and things spun out of control.
For a long time, my concept was that I needed to exercise the weight off. That's how I'd maintained my weight in my 20's and early 30's (although admittedly I ate a very healthy diet and avoided all processed foods - I was a "from scratch" cook, including baking all of our bread and canning or freezing most of our fruits and vegetables). After giving birth to Joel, it was incredibly frustrating for me to realize that exercise wasn't really having any impact on my weight. What I didn't understand then, and what I fully understand now, is that it's almost impossible to lose weight through exercise alone.
It takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound, and we have to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound through exercise. Unfortunately, you'd need to run almost 34 miles to burn off 3,500 calories. Someone who needs to lose 30 pounds would have to run 1,040 miles - the equivalent of 40 marathons - to burn off the weight through exercise alone. Oh yeah, one more thing: you'd have to run those 40 marathons and not increase your calories.
No wonder it felt impossible for me to lose the weight! After realizing that exercise wasn't doing it for me, I then turned to a variety of fad diets. My focus was always on trying to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible. I wasn't focused on trying to develop new, healthy habits - I figured I'd work on those AFTER I reached my goal. All I wanted was to get the weight off as fast as possible. Obviously, none of those fat diets ever worked for very long because they just weren't sustainable. I was hungry, bored and didn't feel all that great. Then came several attempts with more proven programs that had me counting calories, carb grams, fat grams, or points. The work involved and the slow progress combined with feeling hungry most of the time resulted in failure after failure, always ending in additional weight gain.
At the point of desperation and considering weight loss surgery, I found Take Shape for Life/Medifast and the rest, as they say, is history! I learned how to eat, I learned to incorporate exercise into my life but not depend on it alone to lose weight, and I finally embraced the healthy habits I need to keep the weight off the rest of my life. It continues to be an amazing and life-changing journey!
As we celebrate our son's birthday today, it's also a time for me to reflect and celebrate my own "rebirth" as it pertains to my health. It happened one day and one choice at a time. That's how it will happen for you, too! Choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Choices . . . Always Choices :-)
Happy Wednesday! We're half-way through the work week . . . is that cheering I hear? :-)
I heard a comedian once lament, "Oh no! I'm a donut!" in response to hearing that "you are what you eat." More recently, my pastor made the statement "Who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made." I remember looking in the mirror at my 260 pound body and thinking "I did this to myself."
Coming to grips with the reality of past choices can be pretty sobering, but the good news is that those past choices don't have to continue to define us. While it's true that who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made, it's also true that who we will be tomorrow will also be the sum total of the choices we're making today. In a very real way, we have the ability to change our health destiny beginning today, if we're willing to make different choices.
It's hard work learning to make new and better choices, but the more we make those choices, the easier they get. When I first started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was really focused on staying on plan for 21 days in a row. I had heard for years that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old one, and since I'd never stayed on ANY plan for 21 days straight, I thought it was a worthy goal to shoot for. I marked each day off on the calendar and as I got closer and closer to that 21st day, it was amazing to realize that I was going to actually do it. When I hit the 21st day, I began to believe that maybe I could truly change some long-time bad habits, habits that had taken me further and further away from the healthy person I wanted to be.
The choices I made for over two decades resulted in a morbidly obese, diabetic woman who looked back at me in the mirror. The choices I've made over the past two years and twenty months changed all of that, reversing my diabetes and bringing me to a healthy weight (and keeping me there!). I know that I have to continue to make healthy choices every day, because who I will be tomorrow will reflect the choices I'm making today.
It always comes back to the choices we make today, doesn't it? Choose wisely :-)
I heard a comedian once lament, "Oh no! I'm a donut!" in response to hearing that "you are what you eat." More recently, my pastor made the statement "Who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made." I remember looking in the mirror at my 260 pound body and thinking "I did this to myself."
Coming to grips with the reality of past choices can be pretty sobering, but the good news is that those past choices don't have to continue to define us. While it's true that who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made, it's also true that who we will be tomorrow will also be the sum total of the choices we're making today. In a very real way, we have the ability to change our health destiny beginning today, if we're willing to make different choices.
It's hard work learning to make new and better choices, but the more we make those choices, the easier they get. When I first started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was really focused on staying on plan for 21 days in a row. I had heard for years that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old one, and since I'd never stayed on ANY plan for 21 days straight, I thought it was a worthy goal to shoot for. I marked each day off on the calendar and as I got closer and closer to that 21st day, it was amazing to realize that I was going to actually do it. When I hit the 21st day, I began to believe that maybe I could truly change some long-time bad habits, habits that had taken me further and further away from the healthy person I wanted to be.
The choices I made for over two decades resulted in a morbidly obese, diabetic woman who looked back at me in the mirror. The choices I've made over the past two years and twenty months changed all of that, reversing my diabetes and bringing me to a healthy weight (and keeping me there!). I know that I have to continue to make healthy choices every day, because who I will be tomorrow will reflect the choices I'm making today.
It always comes back to the choices we make today, doesn't it? Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tenacity and Perseverance
While I promise that every blog between now and the Closing Ceremony won't be about the Olympics, I do have a couple more Olympic-related thoughts that I want to share today :-).
My husband and I were discussing the Olympics yesterday and he wryly commented, "Nobody gets a medal by quitting." It's unthinkable that any alpine skier would get 3/4 of the way down the mountain and then quit because the course was more bumpy than anticipated; they certainly wouldn't be a medal contender based on their strong start or good effort for as long as they raced. Watching the pairs ice skating long program last night, it was hard to watch several skaters miss their jumps and fall, but they got right up and kept going - nobody fell and then walked off the ice. Last night, one skier skied with a broken thumb and the sports commentator noted the way the skier's glove had been modified to allow him to grasp his ski poles despite his broken thumb. Tenacity is a word that keeps coming to mind as athlete after athlete deals with injury or a mistake and just keeps going.
Tenacity is one of the things that makes the difference on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, too. While on this program, there will be any number of reasons to go off plan, or even to quit. Staying on plan and getting to goal certainly isn't easy, and sometimes it seems to be next to impossible. Holidays, celebrations, stress, travel, vacations, company . . . those are just some of the situations that result in decisions to go off plan. These situations aren't the reasons we may choose to go off plan, but they are the rationale we use.
I draw a distinction between reason and rationale, because the truth is that none of those occasions are truly reasons to go off plan. Individuals who are focused on reaching their goal deal with all of these situations and figure out how to stay on plan. However, if we aren't focused on where we want to go, if we don't keep our eyes fixed on what we REALLY want, these situations may provide the rationale we use to go off plan.
Of course, going off plan certainly doesn't mean ultimate failure - not at all! However, just like the ice skater who falls in competition, it's important to get right back up, pick up where you left off, and keep on going. Keep on going even when it's hard, keep on going even when you want to quit, because if you keep going, you WILL reach your goal.
The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)
My husband and I were discussing the Olympics yesterday and he wryly commented, "Nobody gets a medal by quitting." It's unthinkable that any alpine skier would get 3/4 of the way down the mountain and then quit because the course was more bumpy than anticipated; they certainly wouldn't be a medal contender based on their strong start or good effort for as long as they raced. Watching the pairs ice skating long program last night, it was hard to watch several skaters miss their jumps and fall, but they got right up and kept going - nobody fell and then walked off the ice. Last night, one skier skied with a broken thumb and the sports commentator noted the way the skier's glove had been modified to allow him to grasp his ski poles despite his broken thumb. Tenacity is a word that keeps coming to mind as athlete after athlete deals with injury or a mistake and just keeps going.
Tenacity is one of the things that makes the difference on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, too. While on this program, there will be any number of reasons to go off plan, or even to quit. Staying on plan and getting to goal certainly isn't easy, and sometimes it seems to be next to impossible. Holidays, celebrations, stress, travel, vacations, company . . . those are just some of the situations that result in decisions to go off plan. These situations aren't the reasons we may choose to go off plan, but they are the rationale we use.
I draw a distinction between reason and rationale, because the truth is that none of those occasions are truly reasons to go off plan. Individuals who are focused on reaching their goal deal with all of these situations and figure out how to stay on plan. However, if we aren't focused on where we want to go, if we don't keep our eyes fixed on what we REALLY want, these situations may provide the rationale we use to go off plan.
Of course, going off plan certainly doesn't mean ultimate failure - not at all! However, just like the ice skater who falls in competition, it's important to get right back up, pick up where you left off, and keep on going. Keep on going even when it's hard, keep on going even when you want to quit, because if you keep going, you WILL reach your goal.
The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)
Monday, February 15, 2010
Go for the Gold
I admit it . . . I'm an Olympics fan from start to finish. Every time the Olympics are on, I try to watch as much of the competition as I can - I absolutely love it. One of my favorite parts of the Olympics' coverage is when we are told a little about the background story of one of the competitors. It's always inspiring for me to hear about the competitors and the journey they took to represent their country in the Olympics.
To a person, the background story of every competitor boils down to someone who made a primary choice to excel in their chosen sport and then made a multitude of secondary choices in support of their primary choice. Once the decision was made to become the best they could possibly be in their sport, each competitor's story is one of sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and unwavering focus. All of the sacrifices were done because they had their eyes on a prize - the possibility of representing their country and bringing home a gold medal. Getting up early to practice, enduring injuries, keeping their bodies in top form, financial sacrifice to pay for top training - each competitor knows that winning a gold medal would be worth it all. Some of the skills finely honed through countless hours of training have little or no application outside of the Olympics (I'm thinking about curling, for instance . . . ), so the sacrifice involved is all in preparation for a single event.
We're in training for our own gold medal today, but our performance isn't subject to the scrutiny of a panel of judges and our gold medal isn't elusive. We also aren't competing against anyone else. For each of us on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, this is our own personal Olympic journey and reaching our goal is akin to winning a gold medal.
On second thought, reaching our goal is even better than winning a gold medal. A gold medal, important as it is, represents a moment in time. All of the training and sacrifice culminates in one shining moment, then it's over. For those of us who reach our goal, it's not the end, but the beginning of the rest of our long and healthy life.
No Olympic athlete standing on the medals platform thinks "the sacrifice wasn't worth it - I should have slept in instead of getting up early every morning." As I watch the tears in their eyes and see their pride as they watch their country's flag raised in their honor, I believe each one thinks that everything they did to get there was absolutely worth it.
Having reached my weight loss goal (almost two years ago!), I can assure you that it was worth every sacrifice - EVERY sacrifice! When you reach your own goal, you'll think the same thing - I promise.
Go for the gold today! It's within your reach by making one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
To a person, the background story of every competitor boils down to someone who made a primary choice to excel in their chosen sport and then made a multitude of secondary choices in support of their primary choice. Once the decision was made to become the best they could possibly be in their sport, each competitor's story is one of sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and unwavering focus. All of the sacrifices were done because they had their eyes on a prize - the possibility of representing their country and bringing home a gold medal. Getting up early to practice, enduring injuries, keeping their bodies in top form, financial sacrifice to pay for top training - each competitor knows that winning a gold medal would be worth it all. Some of the skills finely honed through countless hours of training have little or no application outside of the Olympics (I'm thinking about curling, for instance . . . ), so the sacrifice involved is all in preparation for a single event.
We're in training for our own gold medal today, but our performance isn't subject to the scrutiny of a panel of judges and our gold medal isn't elusive. We also aren't competing against anyone else. For each of us on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, this is our own personal Olympic journey and reaching our goal is akin to winning a gold medal.
On second thought, reaching our goal is even better than winning a gold medal. A gold medal, important as it is, represents a moment in time. All of the training and sacrifice culminates in one shining moment, then it's over. For those of us who reach our goal, it's not the end, but the beginning of the rest of our long and healthy life.
No Olympic athlete standing on the medals platform thinks "the sacrifice wasn't worth it - I should have slept in instead of getting up early every morning." As I watch the tears in their eyes and see their pride as they watch their country's flag raised in their honor, I believe each one thinks that everything they did to get there was absolutely worth it.
Having reached my weight loss goal (almost two years ago!), I can assure you that it was worth every sacrifice - EVERY sacrifice! When you reach your own goal, you'll think the same thing - I promise.
Go for the gold today! It's within your reach by making one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day (and Chinese New Year)!
Happy Valentine's Day! And Happy Chinese New Year! Both of these holidays are celebrated by giving gifts as a way of showing love for others. For Valentine's Day, people give cards, flowers, and often chocolates or other sweets, and Chinese New Year is celebrated by giving hong bao (red packets with money) to family members and friends.
In yesterday's blog I wrote about how to graciously deal with gifts that could potentially throw you off course. Today I want to shift our focus to the gift we can give.
I'm guessing that most of us started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast because we reached a point where we decided we wanted something different for our lives. We were tired of weighing what we did, tired of being in the size we were in, and perhaps we had health concerns that were our wake-up call. Whatever our reasons, our motivation was ourselves - looking and feeling better. I'm not suggesting for a minute that doing this for us is the wrong motivation - quite the contrary. We HAVE to do this because WE want it; it's important to get focused and stay focused on what we really want.
But since this is a day for giving gifts to those we love, how about making today's choice to stay on plan your Valentine to others? The cards that are given today will soon be thrown away (or tucked away to be all but forgotten), the flowers will fade and be tossed, and the chocolate . . . we won't go there :-). These traditional expressions of love have a pretty short shelf life, and while they are nice sentiments (and I'm looking forward to giving and receiving a Valentine card), they don't have lasting value.
Choosing to stay on plan today, and ultimately getting to and staying at a health weight, is a Valentine that will keep on giving. I have a friend who was very resistant to starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast until her sister, who had gone on the program and lost weight, asked her "Why are you willing to cut your time short with us?" My friend is a nurse and was fully aware of the health risks of her obesity, but it was her sister's question that finally got her to agree to give the program a try. Long story short, she lost 135 pounds and has maintained her loss for over two years. I believe her family will enjoy time with her for many, many years to come!
Yesterday I shared some suggestions from Dr. Phil on how to graciously turn down off-plan food gifts. Here's another possible response you can use today: "Thank you so much for caring enough about me to give this to me/make this for me. My gift to you is to get healthy so that we can enjoy many more years together." What do you think?
When we give gifts, we always try to give our very best. Giving our loved ones the gift of our own health may be the very best gift we give today. As I think about giving our best to show our love for others, I am reminded that God loved us enough to give HIS very best gift, Jesus Christ. That's His Valentine to us!
Have a great Sunday! Choose wisely :-)
In yesterday's blog I wrote about how to graciously deal with gifts that could potentially throw you off course. Today I want to shift our focus to the gift we can give.
I'm guessing that most of us started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast because we reached a point where we decided we wanted something different for our lives. We were tired of weighing what we did, tired of being in the size we were in, and perhaps we had health concerns that were our wake-up call. Whatever our reasons, our motivation was ourselves - looking and feeling better. I'm not suggesting for a minute that doing this for us is the wrong motivation - quite the contrary. We HAVE to do this because WE want it; it's important to get focused and stay focused on what we really want.
But since this is a day for giving gifts to those we love, how about making today's choice to stay on plan your Valentine to others? The cards that are given today will soon be thrown away (or tucked away to be all but forgotten), the flowers will fade and be tossed, and the chocolate . . . we won't go there :-). These traditional expressions of love have a pretty short shelf life, and while they are nice sentiments (and I'm looking forward to giving and receiving a Valentine card), they don't have lasting value.
Choosing to stay on plan today, and ultimately getting to and staying at a health weight, is a Valentine that will keep on giving. I have a friend who was very resistant to starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast until her sister, who had gone on the program and lost weight, asked her "Why are you willing to cut your time short with us?" My friend is a nurse and was fully aware of the health risks of her obesity, but it was her sister's question that finally got her to agree to give the program a try. Long story short, she lost 135 pounds and has maintained her loss for over two years. I believe her family will enjoy time with her for many, many years to come!
Yesterday I shared some suggestions from Dr. Phil on how to graciously turn down off-plan food gifts. Here's another possible response you can use today: "Thank you so much for caring enough about me to give this to me/make this for me. My gift to you is to get healthy so that we can enjoy many more years together." What do you think?
When we give gifts, we always try to give our very best. Giving our loved ones the gift of our own health may be the very best gift we give today. As I think about giving our best to show our love for others, I am reminded that God loved us enough to give HIS very best gift, Jesus Christ. That's His Valentine to us!
Have a great Sunday! Choose wisely :-)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Preparing for Valentine's Day
Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is off to a great start!
Even though most of us do pretty well staying on plan most of the time, we are often challenged to stay committed to our healthy goals when holidays and special events arrive. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a day that often includes a multitude of food temptations. If your Valentine's celebration usually centers around food, how will you graciously deal with those who want to buy you candy, or make a decadent meal or dessert?
A friend of mine sent me an article from Dr. Phil that addresses just such a scenario. Here's what Dr. Phil suggests:
This is your journey to a healthier you, so don't be afraid to make the choices you need to make this weekend to keep you moving in the direction you want to go. Reaching your healthy weight will enable you to celebrate many Valentine's Days with the people you love for years to come. That's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give to them, and it's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give yourself.
As always, it's your choice. Choose wisely :-)
Even though most of us do pretty well staying on plan most of the time, we are often challenged to stay committed to our healthy goals when holidays and special events arrive. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a day that often includes a multitude of food temptations. If your Valentine's celebration usually centers around food, how will you graciously deal with those who want to buy you candy, or make a decadent meal or dessert?
A friend of mine sent me an article from Dr. Phil that addresses just such a scenario. Here's what Dr. Phil suggests:
I think this is a GREAT way to let people know that while you appreciate their thoughts and efforts, their best gift to you this year is their support. If you may be facing such a scenario, I really suggest that you practice saying this until you're comfortable. If you look someone in the eye, smile and tell them how much you appreciate what they want to do (or have done), it really will be OK :-).You have been very good about sticking to your healthy eating plan and don’t want to find yourself sliding backward. How can you resist the pressure from family and/or friends to eat a big, decadent meal? You might say: “I have a lot invested in what I’m doing, so please don’t take offense if I either bring my own food or turn down something you’ve worked hard to make. This is really important to me, and I appreciate your support.”
This is your journey to a healthier you, so don't be afraid to make the choices you need to make this weekend to keep you moving in the direction you want to go. Reaching your healthy weight will enable you to celebrate many Valentine's Days with the people you love for years to come. That's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give to them, and it's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give yourself.
As always, it's your choice. Choose wisely :-)
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Small but Critical Difference - All Versus Some
Happy Friday! Inspiration for my daily blogs comes from a variety of places, and today it came from a friend's Facebook page :-). Instead of giving an update about her own status, she posted an inspirational quote, which I thought was perfect for today.
Here's the quote:
That's a good reminder as we head into another weekend, as weekends are when good intentions often evaporate in the face of social situations. I know individuals who do great staying on plan all week and then go off-plan on weekends, and that pattern is a recipe for ultimately falling short of goal. It's not that individuals can't get to goal - eventually - spending weekends off plan, but it's not likely. The reason I say that is because that mindset reflects a "diet" mindset, and it indicates an unwillingness to make short-term sacrifices for a long-term gain. Both reaching goal and establishing the healthy habits we need to stay there requires a fundamental shift in our thinking, and if weekends are repeatedly a food fest, it's a pretty good indication that we're not really embracing new, healthy habits.
Moving from making right choices some of the time to making right choices all of the time can well be the difference between failure and success on this program. Choose wisely :-)
Here's the quote:
Successful people do ALL the time what unsuccessful people do SOME of the time!
I like this quote because it speaks to the fact that success often isn't so much in what we do or don't do, but whether we stick with it over time. Consistency really makes the difference between success and falling short of our goal.That's a good reminder as we head into another weekend, as weekends are when good intentions often evaporate in the face of social situations. I know individuals who do great staying on plan all week and then go off-plan on weekends, and that pattern is a recipe for ultimately falling short of goal. It's not that individuals can't get to goal - eventually - spending weekends off plan, but it's not likely. The reason I say that is because that mindset reflects a "diet" mindset, and it indicates an unwillingness to make short-term sacrifices for a long-term gain. Both reaching goal and establishing the healthy habits we need to stay there requires a fundamental shift in our thinking, and if weekends are repeatedly a food fest, it's a pretty good indication that we're not really embracing new, healthy habits.
Moving from making right choices some of the time to making right choices all of the time can well be the difference between failure and success on this program. Choose wisely :-)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
An Apology and a Correction
I gave out some incorrect information yesterday, so I'm back today to both apologize AND set the record straight. I know a lot of individuals read my blog and I appreciated the comments that were left, so it's important that I correct my error.
Yesterday I shared with you a conversation I had with a friend, and I wrote that I told that she could not return to her former eating habits when she reached her goal. To tell the truth, that's not true.
My friend can absolutely return to all of her current eating habits after she reaches her goal - her fried foods, her Bloomin' Onion, and even her beloved 500 calorie Starbucks concoctions. And so can you.
In my zeal to try and help her - and you - I forgot one thing: there IS no "can" and "can't" when it comes to what we eat after we reach our goal. No "must eat this" and "can't eat that." Nope, I was wrong. We're all adults and we can eat absolutely anything we want, in any quantity we want, as often as we want. Do you feel better now? :-) Yep, we can have whatever we want whenever we want - the choice will always be ours. The full smorgasbord of food will once again be at our disposal once we reach our goal.
We just need to make our choice with an understanding that there will be ramifications to the choices we make - we won't make them in a vacuum. Ultimately, our choice of foods to include or exclude from our maintenance eating plan will be based on other choices we've made. If we've made the fundamental choice to be healthy and stay in our goal range, we'll make food selections that support that choice. If we approach maintenance with a "back to regular programming" mindset, viewing Take Shape for Life/Medifast as a short-term "fix", then we'll probably start to see the scale go up again.
Right now is a great time to start thinking about how you plan to approach maintenance. Right now is also a great time to perhaps decide to redefine how you relate to food. Identify what it is that you want, and make sure it's what you REALLY want, because if you really want it, you'll do what you need to get it (or keep it!).
For me, life in maintenance means that there are a lot of things that I don't eat. My husband and I recently ate dinner at an Outback Restaurant, and while we certainly could have ordered a Bloomin' Onion, we didn't. We didn't look at this on the menu and think "wow, that looks good, but we can't have it." Instead, we CHOSE to not eat it, knowing that the 2,400 calories and 134 fat grams in that menu item (that's not a misprint!) just didn't support our fundamental choice to be thin and healthy. Trust me, that feels a LOT more positive and empowering than longingly looking at something and begrudgingly thinking that we wanted it but "couldn't" have it.
Sure, there are times when I enjoy a bit of something from my "former life", but those times are planned and I adjust my calories accordingly. For instance, if I know a restaurant has great dessert and I decide that I'm going to enjoy something, I'll skip the rolls and the potato and just have my lean meat and veggie or salad. What I don't do is think, "well, since I'm going to have dessert, I might as well have everything else, too." I could - it's always my choice - but I want something else even more.
So please forgive me for telling anybody that you can't have what you want in maintenance, because you can. What you want will determine the choices you make, so choose wisely :-)
Yesterday I shared with you a conversation I had with a friend, and I wrote that I told that she could not return to her former eating habits when she reached her goal. To tell the truth, that's not true.
My friend can absolutely return to all of her current eating habits after she reaches her goal - her fried foods, her Bloomin' Onion, and even her beloved 500 calorie Starbucks concoctions. And so can you.
In my zeal to try and help her - and you - I forgot one thing: there IS no "can" and "can't" when it comes to what we eat after we reach our goal. No "must eat this" and "can't eat that." Nope, I was wrong. We're all adults and we can eat absolutely anything we want, in any quantity we want, as often as we want. Do you feel better now? :-) Yep, we can have whatever we want whenever we want - the choice will always be ours. The full smorgasbord of food will once again be at our disposal once we reach our goal.
We just need to make our choice with an understanding that there will be ramifications to the choices we make - we won't make them in a vacuum. Ultimately, our choice of foods to include or exclude from our maintenance eating plan will be based on other choices we've made. If we've made the fundamental choice to be healthy and stay in our goal range, we'll make food selections that support that choice. If we approach maintenance with a "back to regular programming" mindset, viewing Take Shape for Life/Medifast as a short-term "fix", then we'll probably start to see the scale go up again.
Right now is a great time to start thinking about how you plan to approach maintenance. Right now is also a great time to perhaps decide to redefine how you relate to food. Identify what it is that you want, and make sure it's what you REALLY want, because if you really want it, you'll do what you need to get it (or keep it!).
For me, life in maintenance means that there are a lot of things that I don't eat. My husband and I recently ate dinner at an Outback Restaurant, and while we certainly could have ordered a Bloomin' Onion, we didn't. We didn't look at this on the menu and think "wow, that looks good, but we can't have it." Instead, we CHOSE to not eat it, knowing that the 2,400 calories and 134 fat grams in that menu item (that's not a misprint!) just didn't support our fundamental choice to be thin and healthy. Trust me, that feels a LOT more positive and empowering than longingly looking at something and begrudgingly thinking that we wanted it but "couldn't" have it.
Sure, there are times when I enjoy a bit of something from my "former life", but those times are planned and I adjust my calories accordingly. For instance, if I know a restaurant has great dessert and I decide that I'm going to enjoy something, I'll skip the rolls and the potato and just have my lean meat and veggie or salad. What I don't do is think, "well, since I'm going to have dessert, I might as well have everything else, too." I could - it's always my choice - but I want something else even more.
So please forgive me for telling anybody that you can't have what you want in maintenance, because you can. What you want will determine the choices you make, so choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Bad News
It's never easy to give bad news, but I found myself in the position of having to do so again last night. A friend of mine called, someone I haven't talked to in a long time, and we had a good time catching up. Then she started asking questions about how I'd lost weight. She is in her mid-50's and is one of those individuals who's been blessed with a killer metabolism. Up until now, she's never really had to lose weight - ever. She has spent her entire life pretty much eating whatever she wanted and if the scale went up a couple of pounds, she just kicked up her exercise a notch and the weight came right off. She's had the metabolism that many of us can only dream about.
The operative word here is "had", because she now finds herself heavier than she's ever been in her entire life and in need of losing 20-25 pounds. She still looks pretty good, and I don't think most people would look at her and think that she needs to lose weight. But her BMI is definitely in the "overweight" category and she's motivated to get back to her ideal weight.
Her question for me last night, and what prompted the need for me to deliver bad news, was "Am I going to be able to go back to all of my favorite foods once the weight is off?" Her favorite foods include all things fried, including Outback's infamous "Bloomin' Onion", Starbucks' 500 calorie beverages, and sweets. She does not naturally gravitate to healthy options, so the thought of temporarily changing her food choices is one thing, but changing those choices permanently is a different matter.
So I gave her the bad news. The reality is that she cannot return to those old eating habits, at least not if she wants to keep the weight off. She sighed deeply as the reality set in. I told her that it was time to not only get back to a healthy weight, but to develop healthy habits that would better serve her as she moves forward.
Being thin and being healthy aren't always synonymous. I don't know her medical history and don't know if she's on any medications, but I do know that the foods she's been eating contribute to inflammation in the body. In Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen devotes an entire chapter to inflammation in our bodies and discusses not only the risks but also the things that contribute to inflammation. High on the list are processed foods, and Dr. Andersen wrote that "the high level of chemicals in processed foods stimulates the immune system, which senses those chemicals as foreign intruders and attacks."
Take Shape for Life/Medifast is not a diet. We simply can't reach our goal and return to our old habits, at least not if we want to keep the weight off. More importantly, we can't return to those old habits if we want to live a long and healthy life. That's the bad news, and it's also the truth. That doesn't mean that we can't ever eat any of those old favorites again, but if we choose to do so, we'll eat them on rare occasions and in small quantities. The good news is that we can embrace new, healthy habits that will not only enable us to keep the weight off, but also add years to our lives.
The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-)
The operative word here is "had", because she now finds herself heavier than she's ever been in her entire life and in need of losing 20-25 pounds. She still looks pretty good, and I don't think most people would look at her and think that she needs to lose weight. But her BMI is definitely in the "overweight" category and she's motivated to get back to her ideal weight.
Her question for me last night, and what prompted the need for me to deliver bad news, was "Am I going to be able to go back to all of my favorite foods once the weight is off?" Her favorite foods include all things fried, including Outback's infamous "Bloomin' Onion", Starbucks' 500 calorie beverages, and sweets. She does not naturally gravitate to healthy options, so the thought of temporarily changing her food choices is one thing, but changing those choices permanently is a different matter.
So I gave her the bad news. The reality is that she cannot return to those old eating habits, at least not if she wants to keep the weight off. She sighed deeply as the reality set in. I told her that it was time to not only get back to a healthy weight, but to develop healthy habits that would better serve her as she moves forward.
Being thin and being healthy aren't always synonymous. I don't know her medical history and don't know if she's on any medications, but I do know that the foods she's been eating contribute to inflammation in the body. In Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen devotes an entire chapter to inflammation in our bodies and discusses not only the risks but also the things that contribute to inflammation. High on the list are processed foods, and Dr. Andersen wrote that "the high level of chemicals in processed foods stimulates the immune system, which senses those chemicals as foreign intruders and attacks."
Take Shape for Life/Medifast is not a diet. We simply can't reach our goal and return to our old habits, at least not if we want to keep the weight off. More importantly, we can't return to those old habits if we want to live a long and healthy life. That's the bad news, and it's also the truth. That doesn't mean that we can't ever eat any of those old favorites again, but if we choose to do so, we'll eat them on rare occasions and in small quantities. The good news is that we can embrace new, healthy habits that will not only enable us to keep the weight off, but also add years to our lives.
The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
That Miserable Yo-Yo
It happened again. Even though I've seen it happen before, I'm always saddened when it happens, and this morning was no exception.
I picked up an e-mail from a friend of mine who lives out of state. It's been a while since we'd talked or e-mailed, so I was really happy to hear from her again. What made me sad was reading that she had gained almost all of her weight back. She'd lost about 30 pounds on the program and was less than 10 pounds from her goal the last time I saw her and she looked and felt great. I didn't have to wonder what happened, because she told me that "when you lose all the weight & look good, you tend to cheat, never thinking you will gain it all back." She's back to a place she never thought she'd be, and I could almost hear the sadness and frustration in her voice.
Why does this happen? Everyone on plan today wants to reach their goal, and I imagine that the vast majority of you are vowing that you will never, EVER gain the weight back. Have I guessed right?
The challenge is to keep looking ahead to what we want to create in our lives. In the book, Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen addresses the issue in Chapter 3, "Motivation for Change." In this chapter, he described in detail the sequence of events that my friend has experienced. When we approach weight loss from a problem-solving perspective (which is honestly how most of us approach it, and that was my perspective as well), Dr. Andersen says that this type of motivation almost never leads to lasting change. He says that when we feel emotional conflict:
1. We're motivated to act.
2. Once we've taken action, we begin to feel better, even if the situation hasn't changed much.
3. When we feel better, we feel less pressure to change, which lessens the emotional conflict.
4. When we feel less emotional conflict, there's less reason to continue making the changes.
5. When we feel better, we don't feel the pressing need to follow through with our actions.
6. We return to our old habits.
This is the miserable yo-yo pattern that many of us have been stuck in for years.
Not ever gaining the weight back was both my vow and my fear. I had never successfully lost all of the weight I needed to lose before, and any weight that I lost quickly came back. I hadn't had any success whatsoever is losing weight and keeping it off, so my vow was filled with faith and hope and my fear was well-justified.
What made the difference for me this time is what Dr. Andersen spends most of his book discussing: shifting from solving a problem (obesity) to creating health in our lives. Changing our focus from what we're against (obesity) to what we're for (health and vitality) is the key. When we shift our focus to creating health in our lives, reaching our goal weight isn't the end of the journey. Instead, it's the first important step on what will be a life-long journey towards optimal health.
I don't have the time or space to fully explain all of this, and since Dr. Andersen has already done it much better than I ever could, I really encourage you to get a copy of his book and read it for yourself. I'm not saying this because I'll make any money from this, because I won't. I just know that if you want to successfully lose your weight and keep it off, and if you want reaching your goal to be the first step of the rest of your healthy life, you owe it to yourself to get a tool that will help you create the life you want.
In the meantime, I really encourage you to stay focused on taking the steps that you need to take today. If you're just starting your weight loss journey, keep up the great work! Don't allow the length of the journey ahead to discourage you because you WILL get there, one day and one Medifast meal at a time. If you're nearing your goal, stay focused on reaching your goal and moving beyond it. Don't settle for anything less than the healthiest you that you can be.
Today will come down, once again, to the choices that we make. Choose wisely :-)
I picked up an e-mail from a friend of mine who lives out of state. It's been a while since we'd talked or e-mailed, so I was really happy to hear from her again. What made me sad was reading that she had gained almost all of her weight back. She'd lost about 30 pounds on the program and was less than 10 pounds from her goal the last time I saw her and she looked and felt great. I didn't have to wonder what happened, because she told me that "when you lose all the weight & look good, you tend to cheat, never thinking you will gain it all back." She's back to a place she never thought she'd be, and I could almost hear the sadness and frustration in her voice.
Why does this happen? Everyone on plan today wants to reach their goal, and I imagine that the vast majority of you are vowing that you will never, EVER gain the weight back. Have I guessed right?
The challenge is to keep looking ahead to what we want to create in our lives. In the book, Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen addresses the issue in Chapter 3, "Motivation for Change." In this chapter, he described in detail the sequence of events that my friend has experienced. When we approach weight loss from a problem-solving perspective (which is honestly how most of us approach it, and that was my perspective as well), Dr. Andersen says that this type of motivation almost never leads to lasting change. He says that when we feel emotional conflict:
1. We're motivated to act.
2. Once we've taken action, we begin to feel better, even if the situation hasn't changed much.
3. When we feel better, we feel less pressure to change, which lessens the emotional conflict.
4. When we feel less emotional conflict, there's less reason to continue making the changes.
5. When we feel better, we don't feel the pressing need to follow through with our actions.
6. We return to our old habits.
This is the miserable yo-yo pattern that many of us have been stuck in for years.
Not ever gaining the weight back was both my vow and my fear. I had never successfully lost all of the weight I needed to lose before, and any weight that I lost quickly came back. I hadn't had any success whatsoever is losing weight and keeping it off, so my vow was filled with faith and hope and my fear was well-justified.
What made the difference for me this time is what Dr. Andersen spends most of his book discussing: shifting from solving a problem (obesity) to creating health in our lives. Changing our focus from what we're against (obesity) to what we're for (health and vitality) is the key. When we shift our focus to creating health in our lives, reaching our goal weight isn't the end of the journey. Instead, it's the first important step on what will be a life-long journey towards optimal health.
I don't have the time or space to fully explain all of this, and since Dr. Andersen has already done it much better than I ever could, I really encourage you to get a copy of his book and read it for yourself. I'm not saying this because I'll make any money from this, because I won't. I just know that if you want to successfully lose your weight and keep it off, and if you want reaching your goal to be the first step of the rest of your healthy life, you owe it to yourself to get a tool that will help you create the life you want.
In the meantime, I really encourage you to stay focused on taking the steps that you need to take today. If you're just starting your weight loss journey, keep up the great work! Don't allow the length of the journey ahead to discourage you because you WILL get there, one day and one Medifast meal at a time. If you're nearing your goal, stay focused on reaching your goal and moving beyond it. Don't settle for anything less than the healthiest you that you can be.
Today will come down, once again, to the choices that we make. Choose wisely :-)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Happy 100th Birthday!
Happy Monday! The title of the February issue of U.S. News and World Report caught my eye - "How to Live to 100", and it's been an interesting read. I am one of those people who would love to have Willard Scott's successor on the "Today Show" someday wish me a happy 100th birthday, so I'm always interested to read article on how to live long - and well. I have also been re-reading "Dr. A's Habits of Health" and the last section of the book addresses what Dr. Andersen calls "ultra health" to potentially extend our lifespan by a couple of decades.
Living long is only appealing to me if I have a decent measure of health, and as long as I have my wits about me :-). I used to think that whether or not I live long and lived healthy (body and mind) was pretty much determined by my genetics, but I don't think that any longer. The U.S. News and World Report issue and Dr. Andersen's book both make the point that while genetics factor in, they take a back seat to the choices we make.
One of the biggest factors in determining how long - and how healthy - we live is our weight. Excess weight puts us at a higher risk for a host of diseases, including heart disease and diabetes, which can rob us of both quality of life and years of living. Excess fat and an unhealthy diet creates inflammation in our bodies that not only contributes to the aging process, but it damages blood vessels, joints, and even our brain (researchers are exploring the relationship between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease).
Perhaps you're in your 20's or 30's (or even 40's) and think that aging is something you don't have to think about for decades, and your motivation for losing weight right now is just to look good. Please consider that your health is also an issue, both your current health and most certainly your future health. Perhaps you're in your 50's, 60's or beyond and think it's too late to make changes in your health, believing that the die has been cast. The reality is that it's never too late to make changes that will improve your health for both today and tomorrow! I've shared before, but my own mom (age 80) lost 40 pounds on this program a little over a year ago and has seen a significant improvement in her own diabetes and energy level. On page 283 of "Dr. A's Habits of Health," he tells the story of a woman approaching her 90th birthday who lost 67 pounds, got off most of her medications, and is now able to do volunteer work and enjoy time with her family and friends.
My pastor has been preaching a series of sermons on "Wising Up." Yesterday morning's sermon was entitled "Wise Up About Aging." One of the things he said was that someday we're going to meet an old person, and it will be us. We determine who that person will be by the choices we make today. Choose wisely :-)
Living long is only appealing to me if I have a decent measure of health, and as long as I have my wits about me :-). I used to think that whether or not I live long and lived healthy (body and mind) was pretty much determined by my genetics, but I don't think that any longer. The U.S. News and World Report issue and Dr. Andersen's book both make the point that while genetics factor in, they take a back seat to the choices we make.
One of the biggest factors in determining how long - and how healthy - we live is our weight. Excess weight puts us at a higher risk for a host of diseases, including heart disease and diabetes, which can rob us of both quality of life and years of living. Excess fat and an unhealthy diet creates inflammation in our bodies that not only contributes to the aging process, but it damages blood vessels, joints, and even our brain (researchers are exploring the relationship between inflammation and Alzheimer's disease).
Perhaps you're in your 20's or 30's (or even 40's) and think that aging is something you don't have to think about for decades, and your motivation for losing weight right now is just to look good. Please consider that your health is also an issue, both your current health and most certainly your future health. Perhaps you're in your 50's, 60's or beyond and think it's too late to make changes in your health, believing that the die has been cast. The reality is that it's never too late to make changes that will improve your health for both today and tomorrow! I've shared before, but my own mom (age 80) lost 40 pounds on this program a little over a year ago and has seen a significant improvement in her own diabetes and energy level. On page 283 of "Dr. A's Habits of Health," he tells the story of a woman approaching her 90th birthday who lost 67 pounds, got off most of her medications, and is now able to do volunteer work and enjoy time with her family and friends.
My pastor has been preaching a series of sermons on "Wising Up." Yesterday morning's sermon was entitled "Wise Up About Aging." One of the things he said was that someday we're going to meet an old person, and it will be us. We determine who that person will be by the choices we make today. Choose wisely :-)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Grab Your Shovel
Happy Sunday! With most of the Northeast buried under a blizzard today, I thought I'd repost a blog I wrote almost a year ago - it seemed appropriate for a snowy Sunday :-)
***
I recently read a story about a little boy with a small shovel, which he was using to try and clear a pathway through deep, new-fallen snow in front of his house. A man stopped to watch the little boy for a couple of minutes and then asked the boy how on earth he expected to finish such a big task with such a small shovel. "Little by little, that's how!" was the response, and the boy kept shoveling.
The story didn't reveal whether or not the boy finished shoveling the pathway, but I'd like to believe he did :-).
Some of us may feel like we have tackled an enormous task with the smallest of shovels, and it can feel overwhelming sometimes. I know that the prospect of losing 120 pounds seemed impossible to me, which is one of the reasons I was researching weight loss surgery options when I found an on-line ad about Medifast. I mistakenly thought that having surgery would be the "easy way" to lose weight, and also the only way. It was only because the surgery wasn't a covered benefit under my insurance plan that I even decided to give Medifast a try.
I approached my first day much like the boy with the small shovel. I faced an enormous challenge and my resources were puny at best. I couldn't tackle the entire pile in a single shovel, but every Medifast meal that I ate was taking one more small shovelful and tossing it aside. Each meal on its own seemed pretty insignificant, and each day seemed pretty inconsequential as well, but those meals and those days added up, until that enormous pile was finally gone.
There are days when it gets tiring, and there are days when staying on plan isn't much fun. I tell people all the time that I did NOT wake up every single morning joyful that I faced another on-plan day :-). But the thought of not reaching my goal, and my desire to put over two decades of morbid obesity behind me once and for all kept me at it, one Medifast meal at a time.
The other part of the story that interested me was the man who stopped to question the boy and tried to raise doubts in the child's mind. We all have those people in our lives, and some of us even live with them - people who raise questions, who have their doubts about whether or not we will really do it this time, people who have seen us try and fail over the years and fully expect us to fail once again. There are naysayers everywhere and they can quickly discourage us - if we allow them to. I think the little boy's attitude is exactly what ours needs to be - he just kept on shoveling!
When it all boils down, we have to do this for ourselves. Different people will have different opinions about what we're doing and I can promise you that not everyone will be supportive. It can be hard to ignore the naysayers and keep on keeping on, but that's exactly how we'll reach our goal!
***
Choose wisely :-)
***
I recently read a story about a little boy with a small shovel, which he was using to try and clear a pathway through deep, new-fallen snow in front of his house. A man stopped to watch the little boy for a couple of minutes and then asked the boy how on earth he expected to finish such a big task with such a small shovel. "Little by little, that's how!" was the response, and the boy kept shoveling.
The story didn't reveal whether or not the boy finished shoveling the pathway, but I'd like to believe he did :-).
Some of us may feel like we have tackled an enormous task with the smallest of shovels, and it can feel overwhelming sometimes. I know that the prospect of losing 120 pounds seemed impossible to me, which is one of the reasons I was researching weight loss surgery options when I found an on-line ad about Medifast. I mistakenly thought that having surgery would be the "easy way" to lose weight, and also the only way. It was only because the surgery wasn't a covered benefit under my insurance plan that I even decided to give Medifast a try.
I approached my first day much like the boy with the small shovel. I faced an enormous challenge and my resources were puny at best. I couldn't tackle the entire pile in a single shovel, but every Medifast meal that I ate was taking one more small shovelful and tossing it aside. Each meal on its own seemed pretty insignificant, and each day seemed pretty inconsequential as well, but those meals and those days added up, until that enormous pile was finally gone.
There are days when it gets tiring, and there are days when staying on plan isn't much fun. I tell people all the time that I did NOT wake up every single morning joyful that I faced another on-plan day :-). But the thought of not reaching my goal, and my desire to put over two decades of morbid obesity behind me once and for all kept me at it, one Medifast meal at a time.
The other part of the story that interested me was the man who stopped to question the boy and tried to raise doubts in the child's mind. We all have those people in our lives, and some of us even live with them - people who raise questions, who have their doubts about whether or not we will really do it this time, people who have seen us try and fail over the years and fully expect us to fail once again. There are naysayers everywhere and they can quickly discourage us - if we allow them to. I think the little boy's attitude is exactly what ours needs to be - he just kept on shoveling!
When it all boils down, we have to do this for ourselves. Different people will have different opinions about what we're doing and I can promise you that not everyone will be supportive. It can be hard to ignore the naysayers and keep on keeping on, but that's exactly how we'll reach our goal!
***
Choose wisely :-)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Weekend Game Plan
Happy Saturday! Do you have your game plan in place for this weekend?
For me, careful planning made all of the difference for me when it came to weekends. I'm a fairly social person (in case you haven't figured that out yet!), so weekends usually include spending time with family, friends, or both. For better or worse, almost all get-togethers involve food. Getting together for Saturday brunch or dinner out on Saturday night, out for dinner after church on Sunday, our small group Bible study on Sunday night - regardless of the occasion or who we're with, sooner or later we eat.
I made two decisions when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. First, I made the decision to stay on plan. Second, I decided to live my life while I stayed on plan. Staying on plan and maintaining an active social life are NOT mutually exclusive :-), but successfully doing both requires planning.
For one thing, I didn't go out to eat twice in day. If I met a friend for brunch on Saturday, we didn't go out for dinner that night because I would have had my lean (Eggbeater veggie omelet) for brunch. Sundays were less problematic because the food served at our small group was (and still is) dessert. While everyone else enjoyed their dessert, I'd have a bar - simple! What was a pleasant surprise was that people really didn't care what I ate or didn't eat. Any concern I had that a hostess might be offended if I didn't eat her dessert was quickly dissipated. For me, the key was to assure her that it looked delicious, but then say (with a smile!) that I was trying to make healthier choices. Sometimes we'd have our own lean & green just prior to our get-together, so I could easily, and honestly, say that I'd just eaten and wasn't hungry. Because I stayed positive and didn't make a big deal about not eating something, everybody quickly forgot about what I was or wasn't eating - they honestly didn't care :-).
If you're getting together with friends tomorrow to watch the Super Bowl, offer to bring some raw veggies to share and have some MF pretzels, puffs or a crunch bar with you. Everyone will be so busy watching the game (or the commercials) to care about what you're eating.
All too often we allow our concerns about what we THINK other people will think to sway us, and we end up not sticking with our plan. Today I'm encouraging you to plan your eating for this weekend and then stick with your plan. Plan carefully, then choose wisely :-)
For me, careful planning made all of the difference for me when it came to weekends. I'm a fairly social person (in case you haven't figured that out yet!), so weekends usually include spending time with family, friends, or both. For better or worse, almost all get-togethers involve food. Getting together for Saturday brunch or dinner out on Saturday night, out for dinner after church on Sunday, our small group Bible study on Sunday night - regardless of the occasion or who we're with, sooner or later we eat.
I made two decisions when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. First, I made the decision to stay on plan. Second, I decided to live my life while I stayed on plan. Staying on plan and maintaining an active social life are NOT mutually exclusive :-), but successfully doing both requires planning.
For one thing, I didn't go out to eat twice in day. If I met a friend for brunch on Saturday, we didn't go out for dinner that night because I would have had my lean (Eggbeater veggie omelet) for brunch. Sundays were less problematic because the food served at our small group was (and still is) dessert. While everyone else enjoyed their dessert, I'd have a bar - simple! What was a pleasant surprise was that people really didn't care what I ate or didn't eat. Any concern I had that a hostess might be offended if I didn't eat her dessert was quickly dissipated. For me, the key was to assure her that it looked delicious, but then say (with a smile!) that I was trying to make healthier choices. Sometimes we'd have our own lean & green just prior to our get-together, so I could easily, and honestly, say that I'd just eaten and wasn't hungry. Because I stayed positive and didn't make a big deal about not eating something, everybody quickly forgot about what I was or wasn't eating - they honestly didn't care :-).
If you're getting together with friends tomorrow to watch the Super Bowl, offer to bring some raw veggies to share and have some MF pretzels, puffs or a crunch bar with you. Everyone will be so busy watching the game (or the commercials) to care about what you're eating.
All too often we allow our concerns about what we THINK other people will think to sway us, and we end up not sticking with our plan. Today I'm encouraging you to plan your eating for this weekend and then stick with your plan. Plan carefully, then choose wisely :-)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Making Adjustments
Happy Friday! I hope this has been a good week for you and that you're ready for a great, and on-plan, weekend!
Making permanent changes is hard work and it's not always easy or fun. Most of us ended up here because we had well-established unhealthy habits, and unlearning those habits and creating a host of new, healthy ones doesn't come easily. However, our long-term success is dependent on developing a healthier set of habits. I'm not talking about success in losing the weight, because as long as we stay on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, reaching our goal is a given. I'm talking about long-term success in not only keeping the weight off, but also being able to continue our own journey towards optimal health.
In my work with individuals on their own weight loss journey, I often hear comments like "I don't like (or worse, don't eat) vegetables;" "I don't like/don't drink water," and other comments that don't mesh well with developing new, healthy habits. Others tell me that they don't eat fruit and will just "skip that week" when it's time to transition off the weight loss portion of this program.
When I hear these types of statements, I am challenged to find a way to be empathetic while, at the same time, gently suggesting that it might be time to change. If we really, truly embrace the vision of a healthier lifestyle that will keep us moving in the direction of optimal health, then a palate adjustment may be in order.
The good news is that this program does a great job of readjusting our palates. Once we detox from the sugar, salt, and high-fat foods that got many of us in the mess we found ourselves, it's amazing to find that our taste buds get refined. It's even scary to find that some of the Medifast food that was definitely NOT my favorite my first month now, 2-1/2 years later, actually tastes GOOD to me :-). As our palates readjust, it can be a good time to revisit some of the veggies we turned our noses up to when we were kids.
For me, I have come to love cooked spinach. I hadn't touched it in years, but decided to give it a try again. Sauteed in a tiny amount of olive oil with fresh garlic, sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, it's delicious - who knew? As I continue my own healthy lifestyle journey, I decided it was important to expand my list of veggies (which was already fairly extensive) and gave my childhood nemesis, beets, another try. Guess what? I like roasted beets! Kohlrabi, spaghetti squash and a variety of other vegetables have been added to my veggie repertoire, and I only wish I'd been a bit more adventurous years ago!
As you continue on 5&1, look at the list of "green" options and try something different, maybe even something you haven't tried since you were a kid. You might be pleasantly surprised!
And if you don't like water? Well, time to refashion those taste buds, too :-)
Being willing to make these kind of changes begins with making the fundamental choice to be as healthy as you can possibly be. Once you make that choice, other choices become easier (not easy, but easier!). Have you made the fundamental choice to be as healthy as you can possibly be? If so, you're half-way there. Then choose wisely :-)
Making permanent changes is hard work and it's not always easy or fun. Most of us ended up here because we had well-established unhealthy habits, and unlearning those habits and creating a host of new, healthy ones doesn't come easily. However, our long-term success is dependent on developing a healthier set of habits. I'm not talking about success in losing the weight, because as long as we stay on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, reaching our goal is a given. I'm talking about long-term success in not only keeping the weight off, but also being able to continue our own journey towards optimal health.
In my work with individuals on their own weight loss journey, I often hear comments like "I don't like (or worse, don't eat) vegetables;" "I don't like/don't drink water," and other comments that don't mesh well with developing new, healthy habits. Others tell me that they don't eat fruit and will just "skip that week" when it's time to transition off the weight loss portion of this program.
When I hear these types of statements, I am challenged to find a way to be empathetic while, at the same time, gently suggesting that it might be time to change. If we really, truly embrace the vision of a healthier lifestyle that will keep us moving in the direction of optimal health, then a palate adjustment may be in order.
The good news is that this program does a great job of readjusting our palates. Once we detox from the sugar, salt, and high-fat foods that got many of us in the mess we found ourselves, it's amazing to find that our taste buds get refined. It's even scary to find that some of the Medifast food that was definitely NOT my favorite my first month now, 2-1/2 years later, actually tastes GOOD to me :-). As our palates readjust, it can be a good time to revisit some of the veggies we turned our noses up to when we were kids.
For me, I have come to love cooked spinach. I hadn't touched it in years, but decided to give it a try again. Sauteed in a tiny amount of olive oil with fresh garlic, sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, it's delicious - who knew? As I continue my own healthy lifestyle journey, I decided it was important to expand my list of veggies (which was already fairly extensive) and gave my childhood nemesis, beets, another try. Guess what? I like roasted beets! Kohlrabi, spaghetti squash and a variety of other vegetables have been added to my veggie repertoire, and I only wish I'd been a bit more adventurous years ago!
As you continue on 5&1, look at the list of "green" options and try something different, maybe even something you haven't tried since you were a kid. You might be pleasantly surprised!
And if you don't like water? Well, time to refashion those taste buds, too :-)
Being willing to make these kind of changes begins with making the fundamental choice to be as healthy as you can possibly be. Once you make that choice, other choices become easier (not easy, but easier!). Have you made the fundamental choice to be as healthy as you can possibly be? If so, you're half-way there. Then choose wisely :-)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
How Fast Do You Want To Get There?
I'm back home and unpacked after a great 5-day Florida get-away. We had a good time and tried to soak up as much sun and warm weather as we could before returning to our Michigan winter. As we always do when we travel, we packed a lot of Medifast meals (sure do love the crunch bars, pretzels & puffs for traveling!), which saved us a lot of time and money. Flying is a breeze with meals in my carry-on, and having our meals with us for our day trip to the Everglades meant we could focus on having fun instead of figuring out what and where to eat. We ate four Medifast meals every day and enjoyed a great dinner each evening. Between carefully managing our calories and doing a lot of walking every day, our vacation away from the winter cold wasn't a vacation away from healthy habits.
While we were in Florida, we had an opportunity to meet up with a group of people who are on the program right now. It was fun meeting them and hearing some great weight loss stories! One story that particularly interested me was the story of a couple who both went on the program at the same time. The wife made the decision to stay on plan 100% of the time and she lost 50 pounds. Her husband also made the decision to follow the program, with one exception: he did the 5&1 plan plus had a glass of wine every evening with dinner. In the same amount of time that his wife lost 50 pounds, he lost 20. Yep - his wife lost over twice as much weight in the same amount of time!
So often we may think that it's OK to modify the plan just a little . . . after all, we reason, it's only a LITTLE bit off plan, so how much could it hurt? I guess the question each person has to ask is, "how quickly do I want to reach my goal?" If you aren't in a hurry, then perhaps having a glass of wine or eating something off plan might be OK for you.
When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and began to realize that I had finally found a program that actually worked, something that really WOULD help me to reach my goal, I wanted to get there as quickly as I possibly could. I fought obesity for over twenty years and I didn't want to be obese for one day longer than I had to. I knew I didn't have any control over how fast my body released the weight, but I COULD control whether or not I stayed on plan. I knew that staying on plan would get me to my goal the fastest. It's not that I didn't miss a lot of things while I was on plan, but I figured that nothing was worth keeping me obese a day longer than necessary. As I approach the two-year anniversary of reaching my goal, I certainly don't regret the decision I made to stay on plan :-).
Almost every day presents a challenge to stay on plan. If it's not stress, it's an occasion of one kind or another (Super Bowl this week, Valentine's Day next week, for instance). If it's not an occasion, perhaps it's a friend or loved one who's less than supportive. Regardless of the challenge, the choice is ultimately ours. As we consider the choices we face, it might help to ask ourselves how fast we want to reach our goal. After we honestly ask - and answer - that question, we'll make the choices that support what we want. Think carefully about what you really want, then choose wisely :-)
While we were in Florida, we had an opportunity to meet up with a group of people who are on the program right now. It was fun meeting them and hearing some great weight loss stories! One story that particularly interested me was the story of a couple who both went on the program at the same time. The wife made the decision to stay on plan 100% of the time and she lost 50 pounds. Her husband also made the decision to follow the program, with one exception: he did the 5&1 plan plus had a glass of wine every evening with dinner. In the same amount of time that his wife lost 50 pounds, he lost 20. Yep - his wife lost over twice as much weight in the same amount of time!
So often we may think that it's OK to modify the plan just a little . . . after all, we reason, it's only a LITTLE bit off plan, so how much could it hurt? I guess the question each person has to ask is, "how quickly do I want to reach my goal?" If you aren't in a hurry, then perhaps having a glass of wine or eating something off plan might be OK for you.
When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and began to realize that I had finally found a program that actually worked, something that really WOULD help me to reach my goal, I wanted to get there as quickly as I possibly could. I fought obesity for over twenty years and I didn't want to be obese for one day longer than I had to. I knew I didn't have any control over how fast my body released the weight, but I COULD control whether or not I stayed on plan. I knew that staying on plan would get me to my goal the fastest. It's not that I didn't miss a lot of things while I was on plan, but I figured that nothing was worth keeping me obese a day longer than necessary. As I approach the two-year anniversary of reaching my goal, I certainly don't regret the decision I made to stay on plan :-).
Almost every day presents a challenge to stay on plan. If it's not stress, it's an occasion of one kind or another (Super Bowl this week, Valentine's Day next week, for instance). If it's not an occasion, perhaps it's a friend or loved one who's less than supportive. Regardless of the challenge, the choice is ultimately ours. As we consider the choices we face, it might help to ask ourselves how fast we want to reach our goal. After we honestly ask - and answer - that question, we'll make the choices that support what we want. Think carefully about what you really want, then choose wisely :-)
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