No Shortcuts

We all want change in our lives, to some degree or another.  Everyone on this program wants to change their weight and many want to improve their health - I know I wanted both. 

I've often wished that I had either a magic wand or a fairy godmother so that any and all changes could happen in an instant - one wave of the wand and poof!  it's done.  I'd have the result I wanted without going through the process I needed to get there.  Honestly, sometimes that sounds SO good to me!

I watched a program on TV a while back about a man who was obsessed with plastic surgery.  He went so far as to get implants that gave the look of bulging arm muscles, because he said he wanted the look but didn't have the time or desire to work out at the gym.   So he got the look alright, but didn't have the true muscle mass he needed and he also didn't have the satisfaction that would have come had he built up real muscles over time.

I often hate the process.  I'm not a particularly patient person by nature (God is continuing to grow me in this area), so when results aren't almost immediately forthcoming, it's tempting for me to grow weary of the process.  That was certainly the case with every other weight loss program I ever went on.  They were a lot of work and the progress was agonizingly slow and I lost interest before I ever got very far.

Even on 5&1, though there isn't a safer way to lose weight quickly, it's still a process that happens over time.  For me, it was almost 11 months of eating 5 Medifast meals every day and one lean & green, and those 11 months sometimes seemed eternal.  Honestly, some DAYS on 5&1 felt like an eternity :-). 

What I didn't fully understand at the time, but I see more clearly now, is that those 11 months were a time of sowing seeds of new actions and responses.  I was seeing results right along, which kept me motivated, but the process of learning to eat a different way planted seeds that are now bearing fruit.  Those seeds planted while I was on 5&1 are now becoming a crop of lifestyle changes and healthy habits that have enabled me to stay healthy for almost 4-1/2 years.  Had I had the magic wand and reached my goal in an instant, I would not have done the work I needed to do to maintain my weight loss and ensure a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life.

Planting seeds of new, healthy habits happens one day and one choice at a time, so choose wisely :-)