Gaining by Losing

There is a new commercial on TV for a weight loss product that asks the question, "What will you gain by losing?"  Obviously I'm not promoting the product, but I love the question!

Too often losing weight is focused on the deprivation - what we're giving up.  We start on this program or that program to lose weight and what we see is a long list of all of the things we can't eat.  I don't know about you, but I don't handle deprivation very well for very long.  When the focus is on what we're giving up, there will be a real tendency to want to cheat so we can "reward" ourselves with some of our favorite foods.  We may do fine on whatever diet we're on for a week or two, but then the deprivation thing kicks in and we may be headed down the path of failure once again.

Today is the 10th of January which means that some of you are on the 9th or 10th day of your Take Shape for Life/Medifast program, having started on or just after the first of the year.  If you've stayed on plan so far, you're in fat-burning and noticing less hunger and more energy, plus you've seen the scale go down.  So far, so good (in fact, that's more than good - it's fantastic!).  Some of you may also be starting to realize that the way you've been eating for the past 9-10 days is how you'll be eating for the next several weeks or months, or perhaps even longer, until you reach your goal.  How you feel about this is dependent, in part, on what you're focusing on.  If you're starting to bemoan the fact that it will be FOREVER before you can eat your favorite foods again (it's not really forever, of course, but it can feel like it!); if you find yourself spending time thinking about all of the things you can't have right now, it's time to refocus!

Instead of focusing on what you can't have right now, focus on what you're gaining.  What is it that you want?  Why do you want to lose weight?  How will life be different for you when you're at your goal?  How will you feel?  What will you be able to do?  The truth is that in the process of losing weight you will gain SO much more!  This isn't about deprivation, it's about gaining the life that you want to live.

One more quick thought:  When I was on 5&1, I didn't think in terms of not being able to have this or that.  I told myself - and others - that I could have anything I wanted, but I was choosing to eat a Medifast meal or a lean and green instead of the other options.  That is a MUCH more empowering position and that is the reality.  We CAN have whatever we want at any given moment - no one made us go on this program and no one can make us stay on the program - it is our choice.  Just as we chose to go on the program, we can choose to go off.  The only "can't" in the mix is that we can't go off plan and expect to keep losing weight.  Our choices are just that, our choices, and they have consequences.  Choose wisely :-)