Getting Healthy, One Day at at Time

Find a Way, or Find an Excuse

2012-02-08T08:12:00.000-05:00

When it comes to success on this program, the outcome is always determined by what we want. I've seen individuals who embrace this program from Day 1, follow the protocols and get to goal quickly, and I've seen others who struggle for a while and hit one bump after another, but who finally make the decision to get to goal - then they do. Sadly, I've also seen my fair share of individuals who get started, do well for a while, but eventually fall off and regain their weight.

So what's the difference between those who succeed, sooner or later, and those who don't? The individuals who embrace the program and reach their goal don't have more willpower or less temptations than anyone else. They've just figured out what they want and have made a decision to get there.

The bottom line is that if you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.

I'm speaking from my own experience. I tried to lose weight on a myriad of other programs for over two decades, only to fail miserably time and time again. Some of the failure was undoubtedly due to the programs I tried - crazy, fad diets that weren't sustainable over time and threw my body so off-kilter that I didn't even feel well. However, there were other programs that had a decent track record and were relatively well-balanced, but I couldn't stick to those programs either. My bottom-line issue was that while I was interested in losing weight, I didn't want to lose it enough to do whatever I had to do to reach my goal. I wanted something that would somehow get me to a healthy weight without having to sacrifice anything. I wanted the results without the effort. For that reason, I eagerly followed news reports on FDA trials of new diet drugs, hoping that the next one out would be "it" and magically get me to goal while allowing me to continue my clearly unhealthy habits.
Because I was far more interested in losing weight than actually committed to doing so, it didn't take much for me to go off plan. Any social event, regardless of how small, was a reason. A stressful day at work? Well, that certainly made for a "no diet" day for me. Coming down with a cold? Poor baby - eat some chocolate and feel better. I could be perfectly on plan on a perfect day, but life is life and I was hard-pressed to ever have very many "perfect days" in a row. I kept kidding myself and telling myself that I wanted to lose weight - really I did - but my actions didn't support what I said I wanted. I always had an excuse - a good excuse - why I just couldn't stay on the diet "today."

By the time I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was really desperate. I had regained almost all of the 36 pounds I'd lost on my last diet attempt (took me almost 9 months to lose those 36 pounds and I managed to regain the weight in less than 6 months). My blood sugar was also going up and I knew my efforts to stay off of oral diabetic medications were coming to an end and that I'd soon be adding those to the other prescription medications I was on.

I didn't place my first order with a firm commitment to losing weight - it was more like grasping at straws. I didn't expect the program to work and, in fact, carefully researched the return policy because I thought I'd probably hate the food, feel hungry, and return everything. The only thing that initially kept me on plan was the cost, because I couldn't justify spending the money unless I was actually following the program.

The switch was flipped in my brain - finally - when I started to see the weight come off and realized that I actually felt great! I liked some of the food, wasn't so crazy about a few things, but realized that this was a program that could actually work - if I let it. It was at that moment that I made the decision to go for it and get to a healthy weight, and everything changed. I still had some of the same struggles as I'd always had - work was stressful, we had a lot of social events, I still got colds - but this time I figured out what I needed to do. Those things were no longer excuses.

So, the question today is: do you really want to get to a healthy weight? If so, if you've really made the decision to do that, if that is what you REALLY want, you'll find a way to do it, one day and one choice at a time. Make the decision, then choose wisely :-)

Mud Puddles or Pristine Ponds?

2012-02-07T08:22:00.001-05:00

In her devotional book "Believing God Day by Day," author Beth Moore wrote about one morning walk when she came across four ducks splashing in a mud puddle in the sidewalk while a large, pristine pond was just over a small hill.

That simple story made me wonder how many times I've been content to splash in a mud puddle that was conveniently located, rather than make the effort to go a bit farther and enjoy the pristine pond just over the hill. Almost every time I choose immediate gratification, what I'm choosing is the mud puddle instead of the pond, because I settle for what's close instead of what I really want.

I have to keep going back to the principle of identifying my priorities, then making secondary choices that support those priorities. I may not always LIKE or WANT the secondary choice, but I make those choices because they support what I REALLY want. Dr. Andersen talks at length about this in his book, Dr. A's Habits of Health. Getting to what I really want always takes more effort than settling for what's at hand (the mud puddle), but the effort is absolutely worth it.

At this point in my life, my primary choice in terms of my health is to maintain a healthy weight and continue my pursuit of optimal health. That means that I have to ignore the mud puddle within my reach (my puddle looks a lot like chocolate . . . ) and keep on moving!

There are mud puddles along our path every day, so it takes a renewed commitment every day to keep on walking and not settle. Don't stop, because the pond is just over the hill :-)

Who wants an on-plan, mud puddle-free day today? You can have it, if you want it! Staying out of the mud puddles happens by making the decision to choose wisely :-)

What I've Learned

2012-02-06T08:58:00.001-05:00

I just came through the most stressful couple of days that I've had in a very long time. To my surprise, some old feelings that I thought were pretty much gone roared back as I found myself almost overwhelmed with wanting to eat a lot of comfort food - and I do mean a lot of comfort food.

That feeling really shocked me, because I thought that I had gotten past the whole emotional eating thing a long time ago. When things get stressful, running to food just isn't something I normally even think of. Until the past couple of days. That long-buried monster roared to life and the battle was on.

What was different this time was that I remembered what I learned when I was on 5&1, and that made all the difference. Even as the battle inside me raged, I kept telling myself two important things:

1. Food won't fix this. It never had and it never will. I learned a long time ago that food only temporarily masks the emotions, but it never fixes the issue. In the past, once the emotional eating was over, I always - always - regretted it. The remorse and shame was then piled on top of all of the other emotions I had been trying to mask, making me feel even worse than before.

2. The second thing I had to keep reminding myself was what was I really wanted and keep my eyes fixed straight ahead. What I want is to be as healthy as I can possibly be, living at a healthy weight and comfortably zipping up my size 6 jeans. Diving fork-first into a pile of comfort food doesn't support what I really want.

I reminded myself of these two important things, but I also had to make some choices.

While on 5&1, I learned to run to the true Source of my comfort, my Heavenly Father, and that's what I kept doing over these past couple of days. Every time I felt overwhelmed by things out of my control, I prayed, choosing to leave them at the feet of Jesus. That was something I had to choose to do over and over again.

I also chose to eat Medifast meals and have a simple lean and green. We keep a very clean kitchen, so even if I had decided to stuff my face, I would have had to go to the grocery store and buy the junk food. We went out for dinner, but I opted for lean protein, a small salad and some steamed veggies and asked that the waitress not bring rolls. I made a conscious decision to avoid any potential trigger foods and to eat small meals every 2.5-3 hours to keep my blood sugar stable. This wasn't what I particularly FELT like doing, but I did it anyway because I knew that keeping my blood sugar stable would help me better fight off the cravings and keep me in control of my eating.

This time on 5&1 may seem long for some of you, but this is a time when you are learning important lessons and incorporating new, healthier habits that will help you be successful for the long term. This is about so much more than eating Medifast meals. It's about so much more than weighing out a proper portion of a lean meat and fixing a salad.

You are making lots of choices right now that will impact your long-term success. Choose wisely :-)

Redefining Our Future

2012-02-03T08:35:00.000-05:00

In response to the statement that "you are what you eat," I once heard a comedian lament, "Oh no! I'm a doughnut!" That may be funny, but, like it or not, 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 since June 24, 2007, the day I started on this plan, changed all of that, returning my blood sugar to normal levels 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 :-)

Just a Little Cheating - Part 2

2012-02-02T08:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I blogged about how just a little cheating could result in a much longer journey to goal. While taking a little - or a lot - longer to reach goal may be reason enough to not cheat, there is an even more important reason to stay on plan.

My friend, Freida, is a nurse and also a health coach. After she read yesterday's blog, she made the following comment, "making "wiggle room" on this plan can actually be very harmful. Eating "off plan" foods, such as wine, can keep your body out of fat burning. This means your body will not burn the fat needed for energy to get through the day. Without fat burning, we ask our bodies to function on 800 to 1000 calories we ingest each day. This could mean no weight loss and may lead to metabolism slow down or worse yet, muscle wasting as the body begins to starve. Choosing to just cheat "a little," can actually cause you great harm!"

In addition to being a nurse and a health coach, Freida is also one of the nurses who hosts the weekly Take Shape for Life nurses's call - she knows what she's talking about!

Her comment really puts "a little cheating" on an entirely new level. I've known individuals who insist that they will follow 5&1 plus have a glass of wine or a piece of fruit every day, reasoning that their calories are still low and they're still losing weight, even if the weight loss is slower. But fat burning protects our bodies, including our muscles. This isn't an extremely low-calorie diet, as some reason. 5&1 is carefully designed to provide all of the nutrition we need while we safely drop our calories, and we can safely drop our calories to under 1,000 because our bodies are in fat burning.

Thanks, Freida, for providing another - and critically important - perspective on this issue! Staying on plan is not only the fastest way to reach goal, it is also the safest and healthiest way to get there. As always, the choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Just a Little Cheating

2012-02-01T08:44:00.000-05:00

Take Shape for Life's 5&1 is a very rigid and restrictive plan, and for a lot of people, the restrictions are challenging to live with. Having been on other plans that allow for "wiggle room", some individuals keep looking for a way to somehow incorporate some of their favorite foods into this program and still make it work. They want to be have the kind of success they see others have, in the same amount of time, while being able to cheat on the weekends.

The truth is that you CAN cheat if you choose to do so, and you can do this and still reach your goal . . . it will just take you a lot longer. Here's a real-life example from 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 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 four-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 weekend, Valentine's Day in two weeks, 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 :-)

A Penny for Your Choice

2012-01-31T08:33:00.002-05:00

Happy Tuesday! It's hard to believe this is the last day of January already!

I write a lot about making wise choices, so here's an interesting choice to contemplate: I'll write you a check today for a million dollars or I'll give you a penny today and double it every day for thirty-one days. Two choices - a million dollars today or the sum of a penny doubled for one month.

Would it surprise you to know that if you chose to receive a penny a day for 31 days, you would end up with $10,737,418? (This example is from page 17 of "Dr. A's Habits of Health".)

If we didn't pull out a calculator and figure out the difference, I think most of us would be inclined to take the million dollar check and run. Waiting for something, even if it will be a lot better in the long run, isn't something we like to do. Instant gratification is almost hard-wired into us. I remember as a kid hearing my dad say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and I took that saying to heart. The problem with that saying (and my dad is a wise person who didn't really live by that saying) is that we end up settling for the immediate gratification, and that often means we settle for less than the best.

Dr. Andersen uses this example in his book to illustrate the art of compounding. One penny on day one doesn't seem like a big deal after all - how many of us will even stoop down to pick up a penny on the sidewalk? But one penny doubled day after day eventually becomes something that's valuable indeed.

Those new, healthy habits that we're working to incorporate into our lives take time. One day of eating right or exercising doesn't really make any difference one way or the other, like a lone penny lying on the sidewalk. But when those healthy choices are repeated day after day, the compounded effect is profound - and it's life changing. The challenge is to not expect instant results, because when it comes to making permanent changes, the results don't show up overnight. But they will show up, I promise you, as you make one wise choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Happy Birthday to My Husband!

2012-01-30T07:24:00.002-05:00

Today is my husband's 61st birthday and I am taking this opportunity to wish him a VERY happy birthday! John and I met my freshman year in college - I was 18 and he was 19 - started dating a year later and married two years after that. It is hard for me to believe that he is celebrating his 61st birthday . . . I am shaking my head in disbelief. I told him that while our commitment was to grow old together, I just didn't expect to get here so fast :-).

Even though he is starting his second year in his 60's, my husband is healthier than he's been for most of his adult life. When we got married in 1973, he was overweight - pudgy probably best described him at that time. I cooked up a storm that first year of marriage and managed to pack another 20 pounds on him (and a few pounds on myself, too). We did a couple of crazy diets together and while I dropped the weight and was fairly successful in keeping it off until my mid-30's, other than a brief period of time when he adopted a rigid diet and took up running to lose weight, John was overweight his entire adult life.

That all changed four years ago. He watched me lose weight beginning in June of 2007 and by January of 2008, he was ready to try this program for himself. In three months' time he lost 50 pounds and has maintained his weight loss. By losing weight, he was also able to get off his blood pressure medication. Heart disease runs in his family and both his father and his older brother had heart attacks in their early 60's. Had John not gotten healthy, he may well have been facing heart disease himself by this point in his life.

Four years ago he made the choice to get healthy, and I'm so thankful he did. Because of that choice and all of the choices he's made since that time, Lord willing, I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him!

Have a great Monday, and remember to choose wisely :-)

Walking Away

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000-05:00

Today I thought I'd share a blog that I wrote back on September 1, 2007, just a little over two months after starting on plan. 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.

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 Medifast and so many of the people here, 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 four and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom. Today, over 3-1/2 years 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 :-)

What's It Worth?

2012-01-27T08:42:00.000-05:00

How much money would it take to convince you to go back to your starting weight and remain there for the rest of your life?

I think about where I was five years ago, just before starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast and where I am now and how much my life has changed. I asked myself, would a million dollars be worth going back (and staying at) 260 pounds? Would two million? How about a billion dollars? Would I be willing to regain the weight and never take it off for that kind of money?

As I thought about this (and I didn't have to think very long), I realized that NO amount of money would ever entice me to gain back 126 pounds! Regaining the weight would be undoubtedly put me back into a diabetic state, I'd be back on meds for cholesterol and GERD (and probably an anti-depressant as well). My self-esteem would be back in toilet, and my back and knee would hurt all the time. I would be back to facing the myriad of health risks associated with diabetes and obesity and I would surely have a shorter life span. Since I'll be 60 in July, I know how fast these years go and that we have no guarantee for the future. There is NO WAY I'd be willing to spend another minute, let along the rest of my life, morbidly obese!!

While most of us wouldn't take money to deliberately regain the weight, the risk is there for all of us to do that IF we don't really, permanently change our thinking about food, our emotional issues with food, and our lifestyle. We might not take the money to regain the weight, but we could end up doing that very thing for "free" if we aren't diligent. That is a very sobering thought for me!

Take Shape for Life has a wonderful plan for not only losing the weight, but helping us to slowly transition back to "regular foods" when we've completed the weight loss portion of this journey, and there is ongoing help for us when we're in maintenance. Most of us are focused on the weight loss part right now, but that is only the first half of the journey. The other, and more difficult part, will be to successfully transition and then maintain our weight loss.

As I thought about all of the reasons that I NEVER want to regain the weight, I realized all over again that I will need to be alert and thinking about what I eat and why I eat for the rest of my life. Almost four years since reaching goal, there are days when being alert and mindful is pretty easy, and other days when it's not. Maintenance isn't easy, but the alternative is unthinkable to me.

I wouldn't take a billion dollars to regain the weight, so I sure don't want to do it for free, one mindless forkful at a time!

Getting to a healthy weight and incorporating the healthy habits needed to stay there is a series of daily choices. Choose wisely :-)

The Butterfly Effect

2012-01-26T08:46:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we wonder if the simple choices we make today really matter. When faced with temptation, it may be easy to think that going off plan won't hurt "just this once." We may tend to think of our choices as disjointed, not really having much of an impact on the overall picture. An article I read about a so-called "Butterfly Effect" made me realize that nothing is truly inconsequential.

In 1960, an MIT meteorologist made an accidental discovery while he was trying to develop a computer program that could simulate and forecast weather conditions. One day he was in a hurry, and instead of entering .506127, the number he had used in an earlier trial, he rounded to the nearest thousandth, or .506, figuring that rounding the number to the nearest thousandth would be inconsequential, then left his lab. When he returned, he found a radical change in the weather conditions. He estimated that the numerical difference between the original number and the rounded number was the equivalent of a puff of wind created by a butterfly's wing, concluding that an event as minor as the flapping of a butterfly's wing could conceivable alter wind currents sufficiently to eventually change weather conditions thousands of miles away. "Tiny differences in input can quickly become overwhelming differences in output."

After describing the "butterfly effect," the author went on to write that "small changes and small choices become magnified over time, and have major consequences . . . Too often we fail to connect the dots between choices and consequences. Every choice has a domino effect that can alter our destiny."

It may seem like such a small and inconsequential thing today to choose to stay on plan, and you may have a dozen different really good reasons to step off. What you decide today matters - it really does - and not just today. If you choose to stay on plan, you are reinforcing your decision to get healthy, to delay immediate gratification for something far more important. Your decision to stay on plan today will increase the likelihood that you'll stay on plan tomorrow as well. For me, every time I successfully faced and conquered a temptation, it strengthened my resolve and my ability to withstand the next.

If you choose to step off plan today, it certainly doesn't mean that you won't ultimately be successful - please know that I'm not implying that at all! What I am saying, however, is that it will be more challenging to stay the course tomorrow. Once you take your eyes off of your goal and choose the instant gratification, it can be hard to get refocused. The next time you face a similar choice to the one you face today, you won't have the successful outcome from today to boost your resolve tomorrow. Again, you may well get to your goal (and I hope you do!), but you've increased the incline on the treadmill by a degree or two, making the climb from here to goal a bit more challenging.

As I've shared on numerous occasions in past blogs, I don't take any credit - none - for the fact that I stayed on plan and didn't step off from the time I started until I reached my goal. I know better than anyone how prone to failure I was and how utterly weak I felt in my own strength. For me, the only way I was able to do this program successfully was because I admitted my need for help and turned to the Source of my strength, my Heavenly Father. I'm eternally thankful!

The "butterfly effect" of the choices I made beginning with that first choice in June of 2007 to begin this program continues to spread. I had no idea that anything would come of that first choice - I didn't even believe that it would work for me. However, because I lost 126 pounds and got healthy, I have directly or indirectly helped literally hundreds and hundreds of others lose thousands of pounds over the past four years, and those individuals are inspiring still others to do the same. It amazes and humbles me every day.

The choices you make today matter far more than you may even realize. Choose wisely :-)

Warning Lights

2012-01-25T08:22:00.000-05:00

I know almost nothing about cars. Most of my ignorance is frankly by choice, because I don't WANT to know how to change the oil or change a tire. Our mechanic changes the oil every 3,000 miles and I keep my auto club card handy in case of an emergency on the road. Despite my chosen ignorance when it comes to cars, I know that the warning lights are not to be ignored. When the "check engine" light or another warning light comes on, I get it checked out immediately because I know that ignoring it will lead to bigger, more expensive problems. The warning light tells me that something is interfering with the car's ability to run at peak performance, and ignoring the light won't make the problem go away.

I'm guessing you're probably the same way when it comes to warning lights on your car. Whether you're a mechanic, just like to tinker under the hood or are as clueless as I am about the whole thing, you know that warning lights are nothing to ignore.

It's ironic that while we pay close attention and spring into action the minute a warning light comes on in our car, we will go years (or in my case decades) ignoring the warning lights in our bodies. We see a few (or many) extra pounds reflected on the scale, our clothes get tight so we go out and buy a bigger size, our cholesterol and blood pressure go up and we start taking medication, and perhaps our blood sugar rises and we find ourselves on oral medications or even insulin.

Instead of seeing each and every one of these things are warning lights flashing in front of us, some of us may have just assumed that these things were part of getting older. After all, doesn't just about every person over 40 take medication for something or another? By the time people are in their 60's or 70's, we marvel at those rare individuals who "only take an aspirin for a headache," because we assume that taking prescription medication is just part of the aging process. Instead of springing into action when the scale goes up or our clothes get tight, we've acquiesced to the inevitable and reluctantly purchased a larger size.

As we've ignored our warning lights, we've continued to function, just as a car will continue to run for a while (most of the time). However, over time we find that our own "engines" are running less and less effectively - we lack the energy and stamina we need so we take the escalator instead of the stairs and we look for the closest parking spot. We come home at the end of the day completely depleted of energy and spend our evenings eating in front of the TV. Our lab work sends another warning light that things aren't running internally as designed and we begin taking medication. And all the while the warning light keeps flashing faster and faster.

That description may or may not have described where you've been, and those warning lights may have been the catalyst for you starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. The good news is that you are now taking definite, positive steps to address and potentially reverse many of the things that triggered your own warning lights. It's amazing to see how quickly blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar readings often stabilize and even normalize once people get started on this program. Even before significant weight is lost, many of these readings improve dramatically. Eating six small, nutritious meals evenly spaced throughout the day has a profound impact on our health. Take Shape for Life 's medical director and co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, refers to these six small meals as "fuelings." Think of each meal as putting the highest quality fuel into your own tank, because that's exactly what you're doing!

So congratulations on choosing to respond to your warning lights! Each time you make the choice to fuel your body appropriately, you are doing what you can to ensure that your "engine" will run at peak efficiency for years to come. The choices you make today really do count, so choose wisely :-).

Holding On and Letting Go

2012-01-24T08:25:00.001-05:00

What are you holding on to today? I'm asking this question because I've realized that sometimes we desperately hold on to things that are no longer serving our best interest - sometimes they never did.

When it comes to losing weight and getting healthy, many of us struggle to release old patterns of eating. We struggle and want to hold on to our favorite foods, even when those foods and our relationship to them landed us in an unhealthy BMI range, perhaps even contributing to illness and disease. When we struggle to let go of what is no longer working for us, we may end up going off plan repeatedly. We hang on to those old things and look at them as forbidden fruit; we feel deprived because we can't have the very things that got us here in the first place.

In Beth Moore's Bible study, "Breaking Free," one of the things she said that really resonated with me is that "whatever we give up is only to free our hands so we can receive all God has for us." We can't receive something new if our hands are full of old stuff.

I have a picture in mind right now of hands that are tightly gripped around something old and rotting, fingertips white because the grip is so tight. Within reach is something new and beautiful, but to take that new thing into the hand, the old will first have to be released. The problem is that the old, while rotting, is familiar - it fits in the hand and the hand is warm from holding it for so long. Letting go of the old thing means that, for a split second, the hand will be empty and cold. It's uncertain how the new thing will fit and feel in the hand, so even though it looks beautiful and most desirable, the idea of actually having that in hand is pretty scary.

Some of us have struggled with being overweight or obese for a long time. We hate how we look and feel, and part of us really wants to reach out and claim the healthy body and new life that is within our reach. Before we can do that, we have to let go of the old, rotting habits. Letting go of them isn't deprivation - it's freedom. It doesn't feel like that at first because those habits have become so comfortable and warm in our hands. But once we're willing to recognize them for what they are, things that are keeping us in a place we don't want to be, and once we're willing to loosen our grip and let them go, we are able to receive something far better.

It's not easy! I wish it was, but it's not. But it's worth it. Shift your eyes from what you're hanging on to and really focus on what is is that you want. Shift your focus, then choose wisely :-)

Sustainable Motivation

2012-01-23T08:34:00.001-05:00

Motivation is one of those things that's elusive at best. Most of us started this program with at least a small burst of motivation, but that motivation was often based in negativity. We didn't like the number on the scale or our clothes were getting tight or our doctor had a stern talk with us. Most of us didn't decide to lose weight because we wanted to create something wonderful (even though we do!); the catalyst for change is more about fixing a problem rather than creating something.

Therein lies the dilemma . . . when we start to feel better (and on this program, we start to feel better pretty quickly), when our jeans aren't so tight anymore (and they loosen up fast!), motivation can be difficult to sustain. It's ironic because at the same time we're making progress, we can lose motivation. So how do we sustain motivation over time?

First and foremost, we sustain motivation by staying focused on what we want - what we're moving toward. Be very clear about what it is that you want. Write it down, in detail. What will life look like for you when you are at a healthy weight? Write it down in present tense, as if you are already living at a healthy weight. Describe how you will look, how you will feel about yourself, what kinds of things you'll enjoy doing. What will be better? Post this where you will see it so it is an ongoing reminder of what you're moving towards. Put together a "dream board" of pictures of clothes you want to wear, things you want to do, places you want to visit when you're at a healthy weight and post that where you'll see it, too (get the pictures from magazines, Google images, etc.).

Secondly, sustainable motivation comes through accomplishment. Even if you don't feel motivated today, make the choices you need to make anyway. As you do that, there is empowerment that comes from pushing through inertia and taking action, and that will help you to take the next step and make the next choice. Make a list of what you've accomplished so far and keep adding to the list as you keep moving forward. I set a lot of mini-goals on my journey to lose 126 pounds and I celebrated each and every one. On those days when I wasn't feeling particularly motivated, I'd look at the list of things I'd already accomplished and seeing how far I'd come helped me to refocus on the next mini-goal. I also took a lot of progress photos and would review them when my motivation began to wane. Seeing the change from month to month was a visual reminder of where I'd been and how far I'd come.

So, whether you are brimming with motivation today or wondering where on earth the motivation went, you can choose today to keep moving toward your goal. Don't wait to feel motivated to choose wisely :-)

There, or Nearly There!

2012-01-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

Conventional wisdom says it takes 21 days to break a habit or create a new habit. For those of you who started (or restarted) on this program on January 1, congratulations! You have now established a new habit!

When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program on June 24, 2007, my first focus was just doing this for 21 days in a row. I had never stayed on ANY weight loss program for 21 days (which explains, in part, how I ended up at my all-time high weight of 268 pounds), so doing this for 21 days was my first challenge. I honestly didn't know if was even possible for me to do that, but I made the decision to take it one day and one meal at a time.

As each day passed, I checked it off and counted down the days to 21, believing that if I could stay on plan for 21 days, I might just succeed in establishing a new habit. The closer I got to the 21st day, the more excited I got as I realized that I really WAS doing this! When I reached Day 21, I had not only lost weight (around 15 pounds), I was feeling great. I also realized that if I could stay on plan for 21 days, I could stay on plan as long as it took to reach my goal.

Habits don't happen in an instant, and they certainly aren't firmly established after 21 days, but the foundation is there for a lifetime of new, healthier habits - if we choose. Each day, with every meal, with every choice, we are reinforcing habits - either the old habits that got us where we started, or new, healthier habits that will bring us where we want to go. Breaking old habits and establishing new habits isn't easy, but if you are 21 days into this program, you're well on your way! If you are just now getting started, focus on getting through the first three weeks and you'll soon find new habits taking root in your life, too.

One day, one meal, one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim!

2012-01-20T08:55:00.000-05:00

For as long as I've been on this program (I started on 5&1 in June of 2007 and have been in the Maintenance phase since May of 2008), there has been ongoing debate about staying 100% on plan 100% of the time and going off plan. While I did stay on plan the entire time it took me to lose 126 pounds, I know my experience isn't the norm. I still encourage people to stay on plan because I know it's the fastest and surest way to get to goal, but that doesn't mean for a second that those who step off plan again and again can't or won't reach their goal. The truth is that they will - IF they keep refocusing.

I read a fascinating article a while ago which stated:

"The Apollo moon rockets were off course 97% of the time. Yet they still reached their chosen destinations – and returned to earth – with pin-point precision and timing.

Why?

Because they knew their starting points, their destinations, and they knew their exact positions as they traveled. So they could correct their courses as they went. It’s the same with commercial jets… they’re off course 95% of the time they’re in the air. Yet how often do they ever land on the wrong runway, let along the wrong city or country?

“Ready… Fire… Aim!”

Apollo rockets off course 97% of the time? Commercial jets off course 95% of the time? Wow! The critical factor in both examples is that both the Apollo rockets and commercial jets continued to correct their course all the way until they reached their destination.

I'm certainly not recommending that anyone on this program be off course 95% or 97% of the time, of course! These examples are shared today to encourage those of you who struggle and who, for whatever reason, find yourselves off course time and time again. The only thing that matters is that you continue to correct your course and keep moving forward towards your goal. No matter how many times you may feel like you've failed, you haven't failed until you quit.

Correcting your course includes many things, including identifying what caused you to go off plan and strategizing how to avoid the same pitfall in the future. Having done that, focus again - and again - on your goal and continue where you left off. Keep aiming at your goal and you WILL get there! And as you correct your course and continue to move forward, don't forget to choose wisely :-)

Stress Eating

2012-01-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

Are you a recovering stress eater? When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was a long-established stress eater. My eating went way beyond stress eating, however. I was also a bored eater, a celebration eater, a "stuff my anger" eater and even a tired eater (I would eat when I was tired to try and stay awake, joking that I couldn't chew and fall asleep at the same time). In short, I ate a lot of food for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with hunger. In fact, there was a point in my life when I couldn't remember the last time I was hungry. That was obviously NOT a good thing!

When I made the decision to go on the program, I couldn't justify spending the money unless I was actually following the program as written. When I made the commitment to stay on plan for four weeks (I ordered a 4-week variety pack), I didn't realize that my commitment to stay on plan would essentially eliminate my ability to do emotional eating. The first time a situation came up that would have normally had me rushing to the refrigerator, it was sobering to realize that I couldn't do that and still stay on plan (and I certainly wasn't interested in eating a Medifast meal to relieve the stress!). For a moment, I felt stuck, as I hadn't looked for other ways to deal with stress in a very long time.

Emotional eating is the undoing of many (or most) attempts at losing weight. Good intentions quickly evaporate when those old, familiar emotional triggers rear their ugly heads. Anticipating those triggers and strategizing ahead of time how we're going to deal with them can make the difference between success and failure.

We each have our own set of emotional eating triggers and we each need to figure out a different - and healthier - way to deal with those triggers. One thing I know for sure is that emotional eating doesn't work. The comfort we seek evaporates the second we swallow our last bite of our "comfort food," and that elusive comfort is immediately replaced by frustration, disgust, and self-recrimination as we say things to ourselves like, "How can I be so stupid . . . I'm so weak . . . etc." - all that negative self-talk comes rushing back. Before starting on this program, that negative self-talk would sometimes result in another round of emotional eating . . . talk about a toxic cycle!

For me, making the decision to not turn to food to meet my emotional needs forced me to really "walk the talk" in terms of my faith. I "knew" that God was able to provide comfort, strength and peace, but turning to Him for those things was an afterthought at best - it sadly was not my first response. When I hit the stuff of life and couldn't reach for comfort food, it forced me to turn to the Lord in an entirely new way, and I daily asked Him for the strength I needed, and He was faithful to provide what I needed for that moment. The more I turned to Him, the less I was tempted to turn to food. I learned that food was truly incapable of comforting me and once I really, truly realized that, that cycle of emotional eating was broken forever. I can't tell you how freeing that is!

I tell people that when I started on Take Shape for Life , I just hoped I'd lose a little bit of weight. I certainly didn't dream that I'd actually reach my goal! I also didn't realize that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth. It's been, and continues to be, an amazing and life-changing journey.

As you face your own "stuff of life" today, I hope you'll realize that off-plan eating won't help. Once you realize that, you'll make a huge step forward in moving towards your goal, as well as beginning the process of establishing new, healthier habits. The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

Raise Your Hand If This Isn't Fun Anymore

2012-01-18T08:35:00.000-05:00

I've received several positive comments from individuals who enjoy reading some of the blogs I posted four years ago while I was on 5&1. Since it's good for me to remember and since it's helpful to at least a few of you, here's what I wrote four years ago, in January of 2008.

*****
I'm still 100% on plan and have been since starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast last June 24, but wow, am I getting a bit weary of the whole thing! I'm two pounds away from my BMI dropping below 30 (I will officially be "overweight" - woo hoo!!) and I'm looking pretty darn good for a grandmother of 4 closing in on my 56th birthday. However, I recognize this as VERY dangerous thinking for me. I don't want to settle for "good enough" or certainly for "good enough for someone MY age." I want (and need) the satisfaction of seeing this through all the way to my goal. And since my doctor agreed with my goal of 130, I can't exactly rationalize quitting early. I know myself well enough to know that if I stop now, even though I've come a long way and am wearing sizes I haven't been able to wear in over 20 years, I will feel, in my heart of hearts, that I failed. I'm afraid that thinking could be the first step towards regaining all of the weight that I've lost so far, and I can't go there.

Because I'm one pound away from having lost 80 pounds, I had my husband take a couple pictures of me so I could get them ready for my (hopefully soon!) "80 Pounds Gone Progress Photos" post (I figure I won't look any different one pound from now). I put the progress photos together with a few "before" photos and Photoshopped all of them into a single photo. I did this as much for me as for anyone else, because I really need to SEE where I was and how far I've come. That helps to keep me motivated, even on days when I'm sick of being on plan, sick of skipping over all of the really YUMMY food selections on the restaurant's menu and deciding between which kind of grilled meat I'm going to order THIS time. I'm tired of skipping the sauces, holding the butter, passing on the bread, and saying no to the desserts. BUT then I look at my "before" pictures and realize all over again how worth it all of this is, and I know that's exactly how I'll feel when I reach my final goal.

I also have to remind myself that in the past six months I have gone from being on the brink of diabetes to NORMAL (even my doctor said so!), from needing meds to keep my cholesterol down to having normal cholesterol WITHOUT meds, from having blood pressure that was on the rise to NORMAL, HEALTHY blood pressure, and from having so much pain in my knee that I could hardly walk to literally running up and down stairs. All of that is worth it - wow, is it EVER!

So my thinking today is something like this: Is this still fun for me? Not particularly, but so what? Am I getting a bit bored with the whole thing? Yes, but so what? Was it fun being 260 pounds???? Was it fun shopping for the very largest sizes my local woman's store carried? Was it fun worrying about being diabetic? Was it fun paying the copay every month for my cholesterol meds? Was it fun having pain with every step, taking stairs one at a time, and not being able to wear some fun high heels?

This is my reality check on a very cold January in Michigan. Yes, I'm bored and a bit tired of the whole thing, but boredom won't kill me and obesity might. And I'm worth reaching my goal, and my family is worth me reaching my goal. For once in my life, it's about doing what I KNOW I need to do, not what I feel like doing.

*****
I had many days after I wrote this blog when I wasn't having fun staying on plan, when I was bored to death with my food choices (there are a lot more Medifast food options now than there were four years ago). However, I stayed on plan regardless of how I felt. When I reached my goal, I had NO regrets for having made the choices I did! Four years later, I still have to choose every day whether or not I'm going to do what I need to do or what I want to do (still waiting for the "want" and "need" to consistently be one and the same!). You face the same choice every day, too. Let's choose wisely :-)

Are You On a Diet?

2012-01-17T08:50:00.000-05:00

Are you on a diet to lose weight, or are you on a program to get you healthy and keep you healthy for the rest of your life?

It may sound like a redundant question, but it's an important one, and your answer may, in part, determine whether or not you're successful on this program.

Most of us have been on one diet or another for years - perhaps as long as a couple of decades, or even longer. None of them worked for very long, did they? There are a lot of different reasons why diets don't work (and they don't), but I want to focus on one important reason.

Diets bring with them a "diet mentality" - a mentality filled with deprivation and denial, and the final goal of a diet, and the measure of success, is reaching your goal. All fine and good, if you get there. But then what? Diets are designed to help someone lose weight, but they are completely inadequate for helping people figure out how to maintain their weight loss. That's why over 85% of people who lose weight gain it all back, and often more, within two years.

Take Shape for Life/Medifast is NOT a diet. Take Shape for Life is a program designed to help people get to a healthy weight and teaches them how to stay there for the rest of their lives by developing what Dr. Andersen calls the habits of health. Embracing the habits of health means we move from a diet mentality focused on deprivation and denial to a focus on getting healthy and staying healthy. We learn to shift our focus to all that we are gaining instead of looking at what we're giving up.

A diet mentality says "it's a holiday, my birthday, the weekend, I'm tired, I'm upset, I'm celebrating, I'm busy . . . so it's OK if I cheat because I'll get back on my diet on Monday, or after the stress is over, or after vacation, or ??" A diet mentality views cheating as "rewarding" ourselves, views the very foods that got us unhealthy in the first place as "treats" that we "deserve." And after one too many "rewards" and one too many "weekends or holidays", we realize that it's been weeks since we've been on plan and our head is completely out of the game. How do I know this? Because I just described how I approached every other weight loss plan I ever went on, the plans that brought me to 260 pounds (yes, I "dieted" my way there!).

Take Shape for Life is designed to get us to a healthy weight and then teach us how to stay there for the rest of our lives. When we view the goal as an ongoing pursuit of optimal health, when we view reaching our weight loss goal as the beginning of a healthy new life instead of the end of a diet, we begin to view things a bit differently. Those off-plan foods aren't "treats" anymore - they are obstacles that will get in the way of what we really want - a long and healthy life, with the energy we need to do the things we want to do.

So I'm asking you today - are you on a diet or are you on a journey towards a healthy body and a longer, more vibrant life? Your answer may well determine your outcome . . . choose wisely :-)

Wrestling with a Grizzly Bear

2012-01-16T08:29:00.000-05:00

We got hammered with snow over the weekend - winter has settled in for a nice, long stay here in Michigan. Several inches of snow cover the ground and more snow is on it's way this week. I joke that those of us who experience this type of weather (I resisted the urge to write "endure"!) have a deeper appreciation for spring, summer and fall than those who are surrounded by green grass and flowers twelve months of the year, but the truth is that this kind of weather has a tendency to drag me down. Because we live very near Lake Michigan, we typically get a lot of cloud cover most of the winter and going for days without sunshine probably contributes to that dragged-down feeling.

Truth is, this time of year brings out the grizzly bear in me - all I want to do is put on a nice layer of fat via lots of carbs and sugar and then sleep until spring :-). For years, that's pretty much how I coped with our Michigan winters. Even in my 20's and early 30's when I was at a healthy weight, I'd pick up around 10 pounds every winter then take it off in the spring and summer and just accepted the fact that my winter slacks were a size larger than my summer ones. I didn't understand at that time that I was really yo-yo dieting and that each gain/lose/gain cycle was actually increasing my percentage of body fat, so I succumbed to the inclination to carb load and curl up under a blanket with a book.

To be honest, that is STILL my inclination . . . but that's not what I do anymore. As tempting as it is to reach for those carbs and vegetate under a blanket, I'm making different choices these days. That grizzly bear tendency is still there and it still growls at me, but I'm growling back :-). I know that what I really want is to be thin and healthy, and grizzly bear living is NOT the way to have what I really want. So, whether I feel like it or not, I make healthy choices and I move my body.

I think that my seasonal battle with the grizzly bear can most likely be attributed to my self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but I've found that eating right and staying active actually helps to calm the grizzly bear. I also take extra Vitamin D to make up for the sunshine that we miss - the extra D helps minimize some of the winter blahs, too, and I have a light therapy box that I can use as well.

Sometimes it's just plain hard to make the choices we know we should be making when we frankly feel like doing something else. If we are taking a short view of life, we'll go for the immediate gratification and follow our instincts almost every time. The challenge is to shift our focus and look at where we want to be in 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months from now. If we stay focused on where we want to be, and if that's what we REALLY want, we will then be able to make choices that will support what we want.

So it really doesn't matter how we feel today - what matters is what we want tomorrow and the day after that. Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-)

"Shoulds"and "Musts"

2012-01-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

Is losing weight and getting healthy on your "should" list or is it on your "must" list? How you answer that just might make the difference between reaching your goal and maintaining your weight loss and falling short of where you want to be.

Peak performance coach and human behavior expert Tony Robbins says that when people aren't achieving their goals, it is often because they haven't made it a "must."

“People give up on achieving their goals because they are ‘shoulds’ and not ‘musts,’” says Robbins. “ But when something becomes an absolute must for you, when you cut off any other possibility in your mind, then you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.”

Do you retain the option of not losing weight? Have you left yourself open to the possibility of staying overweight? If you can honestly answer "yes" to either of these questions, you are possibly approaching this program as a "should" rather than a "must." As long as we're approaching weight loss as a "should," we're allowing ourselves the possibility of failure.

However, if we've made this a "must" in our lives, if there is no other allowable option other than getting to our goal, we will find a way - or make a way - to overcome the obstacles that we face. That doesn't mean that we might not slip, because a "must" doesn't necessarily ensure 100% compliance 100% of the time (thought that is highly recommended!). "Must" means that if we do slip, we pick ourselves up and keep on going.

When I placed my first Take Shape for Life order, I had finally reached the point that losing weight was no longer a "should", it was a "must." I told my husband that night that I couldn't continue in the body I was trapped in anymore. I had finally reached the point when I was ready, and that made all of the difference.

One more thought: the "must" has to be YOUR "must", not someone else's. If you are thinking that you "must" lose weight because your doctor told you to, or because your husband or someone else is urging you to lose weight, then your "must" is still a "should." "Must" comes from deep inside of you, it is not the product of external pressure. Regardless of how intense that pressure might be, if it's coming from someplace else, it's a "should." YOU have to want this, and YOU have to make the decision that there is simply no other alternative.

Medifast's medical director, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, calls this point "making the fundamental choice to get healthy." In his wonderful book, Dr.A's Habits of Health (which I highly recommend!), he writes at length about choices, starting with the fundamental choice to get to a healthy weight. Once we've made that choice, we will made the secondary choices necessary to support our fundamental choice because we've left ourselves no other options.

So is this a "should" or a "must" for you? If getting to a healthy weight is a "must", then carefully consider the choices you'll have to make today, then choose wisely :-)

Welcome to Winter

2012-01-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

Those of us who live in West Michigan are bracing for a winter storm that's moving in this afternoon. We've had a relatively mild winter so far with very little snow - and I'm not complaining :-). It was a bit disappointing this year to not have a white Christmas, but once the holidays are over I'm never excited to see the white stuff on the ground. It's funny how excited we can get about snow just before Christmas and so less-than-excited about snow in January, knowing it could be on the ground for the next three months. Same snow, but a different attitude.

That may be where you are with your feelings about Take Shape for Life/Medifast right now. The initial "wow, this is great and I'm losing weight" excitement may be fading, or it may even be gone. All you may be thinking right now is "I'm going to have to eat this for the next X number of months," or "I can't have any of my favorite foods ever again." The newness and novelty is gone and you've settled into a new routine. The initial big weight loss has now been replaced by smaller losses each week. If I just described you, welcome to Take Shape for Life/Medifast winter.

The challenge is how to keep moving forward and stay on plan when it's not fun anymore. How do you keep motivated on days when you aren't sure you can look at another Medifast meal, let alone eat it?

The answer boils down to one thing: staying focused on what you want. You are in the process of creating something amazing in your life. Take a moment to picture yourself at goal - really, take a moment to do this. What do you look like? How do you feel? Imagine having fun shopping; imagine possibly being off one or two prescription medications; imagine your joints not hurting and being able to run if you want. Get that mental picture firmly in your mind, then don't let go of it.

If you have a clear image of what you are creating, one lost pound at a time, then making the choices you need to stay on plan becomes much easier. Once I had a clear image in my mind of what my life would be like once I reached my goal (and the reality is SO much better than even what I envisioned), I literally viewed off-plan foods as obstacles that stood between where I was and where I wanted to be. It's not that I wasn't tempted - because I was often tempted - but I knew I wanted something far better than the brownie that was calling my name.

It is really a shift in orientation to move from focusing on our day-to-day actions to embracing the reality that we are creating something - a healthy, vibrant life.

My encouragement today is to take a few minutes to create a picture of what goal will look like for you. Once you have that clearly in mind, choose wisely :-)

Dreams Becoming Goals

2012-01-11T08:43:00.001-05:00

One of my goals every day is to include some inspirational and motivational reading into my schedule. For me, this includes not only spending some time every day reading my Bible, but also reading other writings that challenge and inspire me. Here's a quote I recently read that inspired me: "A dream becomes a goal when action is taken towards its achievement" ~ Bo Bennett.

I really like that quote because it outlines the difference between a dream and a goal, and that difference is ACTION. I like to dream and I've often dreamed about things that I'd like to see happen, but more often than not I've never taken any steps to make those dreams become a reality. Of course, some of the things I've dreamed about are strictly in the realm of fantasy - becoming invisible, being able to fly, etc., but other dreams could easily become goals if I decided I really wanted them badly enough. I have dreams of traveling to Europe, dreams of going on mission trips, dreams of writing a book - lots of dreams that could be realized if I decided that I wanted them enough to take steps to make them happen.

The fact that you are reading this today and most likely on program indicates that you have taken one or more concrete steps to turn your own dream of being at a healthy weight into reality. That's a good thing! I used to dream about being at a healthy weight even while I was busy stuffing myself with the very things that would keep me obese. As long as I did that, it was nothing more than a dream with as much chance of being realized as me flying. However, there was a day when the dream became a goal and I put into place some specific actions to move me towards that goal.

Making the move from a dream to a goal can happen in an instant, and it happens the moment we choose to make the the dream a goal. We have to be willing to take the action steps needed, and that's where it gets challenging :-). Turning a dream into a goal can be scary, because that goal may well take us places we've never been before, or at least haven't been in a long time. Turning a dream into a goal may force us to change in ways that may not be comfortable at first, stretching us in ways we don't want to be stretched. Nobody ever said that turning dreams into goals was easy, but I can promise you that the end result is worth it.

It was an amazing journey for me as I went from a 260 pound woman who propped myself up in bed with pillows every night to watch TV and eat, dreaming of someday, somehow being thin, to weighing in the upper 130's to low 140's, being at a healthy weight and a size 6 with tons of energy to spare. The reality is so much better and richer than anything I ever dreamed, and it's not just because the dream came true. What I didn't realize was how much I would change and grow in the process of moving towards that dream/goal.

You are in the process of transforming your dream of being at a healthy weight into a goal, and you move closer to making that a reality each day that you choose to stay on plan. Keep dreaming, but don't stop with dreaming. Keep taking the steps necessary to make your dream come true. It all comes down to the choices we make today, so choose wisely :-)

One Shovel at a Time

2012-01-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

There was once 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.

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 on the internet when I came across information about Take Shape for Life/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 this program 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.

In the story, I found it interesting that a man 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 :-)

Gaining by Losing

2012-01-09T07:45:00.002-05:00

There is a 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 9th of January which means that some of you are on the 8th or 9th day of this 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 8-9 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 :-)

Weekend Planning

2012-01-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, did this week ever go fast! I can't believe it's Saturday already! For those of us who are trying to lose weight, the fact that it's the weekend can be both good news and bad news.

Weekends are always extra-challenging. During the week, most of us are on some kind of a fairly predictable schedule, which makes staying on plan pretty easy. Then the weekend hits and we spend two days on a totally different routine, and weekends are when many of us do most of our socializing. For me, much of my socializing involves food - meeting friends for dinner; getting together for movies and, yep, snacks; family get-togethers which ALWAYS involve eating - a challenge for sure! So what's a person to do?

PLAN and COMMIT.

PLAN: Decide ahead of time how to handle the social situation. Since I'm a people person and absolutely HATE to miss out on a good time, skipping these social events was out of the question for me, so I had to figure out how to survive them. If we were going out for dinner, I'd save my lean & green for dinner and, when possible, check out the menu on line. Deciding ahead of time what I was going to eat was really helpful! I'd log the meal on "My Plan" (one of the Take Shape for Life "Support in Motion" tools) before I left and it helped to cement the plan in my mind. If we were invited to someone's house for dinner, I'd offer to bring a salad :-). If we were getting together for games or a movie, I made sure I brought a Medifast grab-and-go meal. After a while, people got used to the fact that I was going to stay on plan, no matter what.

COMMIT: After you carefully plan, commit to following your plan! It can be easy to be swayed by what other people are doing or eating. That's why part of my plan was to check the restaurant's menu on line before we'd go out to eat. I'd write down what I was going to eat and wouldn't even look at the menu. When possible, I tried to be the first one to place my order so there wouldn't be any last-minute temptation to change what I planned when I'd hear what others were ordering.

One last thing: nobody really cares what you eat - really! Some of us have hesitated to stay on plan because we're worried about how what we eat or don't eat will impact someone else. One of the things I learned is that others really don't care. As long as you're comfortable with what you're doing and don't make a big deal out of it, neither will anyone else.

So, is this a busy weekend for you, or are you going to be able to kick back and relax? Either way, are you carefully planning to make sure it's an on-plan weekend?

Plan, commit, then choose wisely :-)

Pressing On

2012-01-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

In this new year, just about everyone I knows has a new enthusiasm and determination to get back on track and get their weight off. You have to love New Year's resolutions! The challenge for most of us when it comes to those resolutions is that all too often we quickly lose our focus.

In Beth Moore’s “Believing God Day by Day” devotional book, she writes:

The middle of any challenging journey can be the most critical point. Many of us may not be where we were, but we’re not yet where we want to go. Perhaps the terrible bondage of Egypt is behind us, but the land of promise seems remote.
The longer we wander in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, the greater the chance that we’ll return to captivity. The pull of familiar comforts and habits can feel overpowering, particularly against the uncertainty of Canaan’s unknowns. But as we persevere, God is faithful to continually give us the extra push of motivation to press on.

Once we've been on plan for a while and lost some weight, and once we've dropped a size or two, the pressing need to lose weight can start to feel a bit, well, less pressing. We've entered that state in our weight loss journey where the pain of where we were (Egypt) has lessened, but we aren't quite yet to the Promised Land (our goal weight). That in-between time can be challenging, and it's easy to lose motivation and begin to slip into old habits. We may begin to think, "I've done really well - look how far I've come. I deserve a "treat" today." Or we think, "I'll take a mini break from being on plan and view it as a test to see how I'll do in maintenance."

I'm here to encourage you to keep pressing on - don't stop now. Don't take a break - just keep moving forward!

In Dr. Andersen's book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health," he writes about shifting our focus from where we started to looking ahead to where we want to go and what we want to achieve, which is optimal health. (This book is terrific, and if you haven't ordered it yet, make sure you do. Everything you could possibly want to know about how to reach and maintain optimal health is there.)

Over 3-1/2 years since reaching my goal, I am finding the need to continue to focus on moving forward in my own journey towards optimal health (and it is an ongoing journey!). It's been over 4-1/2 years since I first started on 5&1, so each day takes me a little bit farther away from the pain and misery I experienced at 260 pounds. It's easy for me to forget how miserable I was, and it's also easy to begin to rationalize unhealthy eating. I have had to refocus on what I want, which is optimal health for the rest of my life. Being back on 5&1 to peel off a few pounds I've picked up, getting to the health club for a good workout on a regular basis, whether I feel like it or not, getting adequate rest - all of these things have me moving in the direction I want to go and it feels great!

Regardless of whether you're just getting started, somewhere in the middle of your journey, or, like me, dealing with the challenges of maintaining a healthy weight, the challenge for all of us is the same: to make sure that stay focused on what we want and continue to choose wisely :-).

How 'Bout Those Resolutions?

2012-01-05T08:45:00.002-05:00

We're five days into the new year, so how's it going so far? An article on the internet stated that, according to research, many people don't have the willpower to make their New Year's resolutions last longer than a week. A week . . . which means that there are some people whose resolutions are already starting to weaken.

I hope that doesn't apply to anybody here! I do know that being successful on this program requires a lot more than what is usually found in a New Year's resolution. Most of my past New Year's resolutions were mostly wishful thinking with very little resolve to be found. I know that's true because they rarely lasted a full week.

The research identified the reason for failure as a lack of willpower, but I disagree. Willpower really has nothing to do with it, because we almost always end up doing the things we really want to do. We just need to decide what it is that we want and keep what we want in focus.

When I decided that what I really wanted was to get to a healthy weight, that became my focus and there was a level of resolve that hadn't been there before. Foods that had formerly been huge temptations suddenly became obstacles to me getting what I really wanted. The food hadn't changed, of course, but my focus had and I wanted health far more than I wanted the food. To be honest, I still wanted the food, and sometimes it was really, REALLY hard to walk away from it, but I was able to walk away because there was something else I wanted even more.

I've often heard people say that they can't lose weight because they don't have enough willpower. Sorry, but that's a cop-out! The truth is that they just don't want it bad enough, at least not yet.

The good news is that this program is designed to get us what we really want - if we really want to get to a healthy weight - and it will get us there pretty quickly. We just have to decide if that's what we really want. Once we decide, we'll make choices that support that decision. Once again, decide what you want, then choose wisely :-)

THE Secret to GUARANTEED Success!

2012-01-04T08:27:00.002-05:00

I am SO excited this morning! I have a secret to share with you - THE key that will GUARANTEE your success on this program. It doesn't matter if you're just getting started (if so, welcome!) or if you're a veteran who's been on the program for several months (or longer). This is it - the key that is guaranteed 100% to get you to your goal.

Are you ready? Here's the key to your success:

1. Get started
2. Don't quit

Yep - it's that simple! Here's the good news: since you're reading this, I'm assuming that you've already started. If that's true, then you're half-way there! :-) Getting started is often the hardest part, especially if we've tried and failed before. Failure tends to breed failure, and if you've failed before (like I did about a zillion times), the very thought of trying again can be overwhelming. The fear of failing yet again can keep us from even trying, so the very fact that you've started is encouraging.

The second half of the "guaranteed success" equation is to keep going and not quit. You already know that this plan works. If you've been on plan for even a week, you've lost weight - possibly more weight than you've ever lost in a single week on any other plan. All you have to do is keep going :-).

This is such a great time of year to keep going and not quit! First of all, with everyone just coming off the holidays, a lot of people are focused on eating healthier and losing weight. There are less temptations now and you are more likely to encounter sympathetic, supportive people. For everyone who lives in one of the cold weather states, you have several months before shorts and swimsuit weather is here - great motivation! Getting started and not quitting means you'll be at your goal (or at least a lot closer) by the time warm weather arrives.

I do apologize if the key to success wasn't exactly what you were looking for - I fully understand! Before starting on this program, I was always on high alert, looking for THE thing that would finally unlock the chains of my own morbid obesity. Almost every January would find me perusing the diet section of my local bookstore, checking out the latest and greatest plan. Every year I hoped and prayed that the latest and greatest new plan would be THE key. When someone I knew lost weight, I'd always ask them how they did it. When they responded that they changed how they ate and started exercising, I was always disappointed because that answer was so simple - I wanted to hear about something new that would let me eat whatever I wanted, continue to be a couch potato, and still melt the pounds.

Of course, that "secret" never materialized, and I know now that it never will. There IS no magic potion, pharmaceutical wonder, or anything else that will bring the results we want without effort on our part. Sigh!

However, this plan works and it works fast. All of the hard work has been done for us - we don't have to figure anything out. No counting calories, carbs or fat grams, no worrying about whether or not we're getting the nutrition we need - it's all been taken care of. All we have to do once we start is just keep going and not quit. If we do that, the chances that we'll reach our goal is 100%.

Get started. Don't quit. The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-)

My Current Reality . . .

2012-01-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

When I started blogging on my first day on plan, June 24, 2007, it was a very personal record of my thoughts, feelings and struggles as I embarked on the daunting task of losing 126 pounds. After reaching my goal on May 22, 2008, my blogs became less about my own experience and more about encouraging individuals still on their own journey. Today's blog is a return, for today, to recording my own thoughts and feelings. In the process, I hope what I share will be an encouragement to someone else.

Although I've done a relatively good job of maintaining my weight loss for the past 3.5 years, I haven't done it perfectly. To be honest, over the past year I've seen about 15 pounds creep back on, a few pounds prior to my knee replacement surgery last August, a few more during the recovery period (which continues . . . ), and a few more over the holidays. While my long-term goal is still to not ever need to go on 5&1 again, I am glad to have this "secret weapon" in my back pocket, knowing that this simple and goof-proof program will soon have me back to where I want to be. But I'm NOT happy that, despite my daily blog ending to "choose wisely," I haven't chosen as wisely as I should have.

I weigh myself every day, so I've been well aware of the pounds coming on. I also wear a BodyBugg, so my daily calorie expenditure is tracked. Starting in mid-October, my husband and I rejoined a health club and have met periodically with a personal trainer who put together a workout routine for each of us.

What I know, and what I realize all over again, is that I can have all of the tools and all of the information I could ever possibly need and it doesn't mean a thing unless I put it into practice. At the end of the day, it all comes down to whether or not I've made the decision to choose wisely when it comes to what I eat and portion sizes.

There is some good news, however. First of all, I am NOT doing stress eating. There has been a fair amount of stress in my life lately and I am incredibly thankful that the stress hasn't had me running straight for my drug of choice, chocolate. After struggling with emotional eating for over two decades, I am thankful that God has truly set me free from this terrible bondage.

I am also incredibly thankful that 3.5 years after reaching my goal of losing 126 pounds, I am still maintaining the lion's share of that weight loss. That is a huge victory for me, especially in light of the fact that 85% of people who lose weight on a diet regain the loss, plus, within two years. Again, I haven't done this perfectly, but I am also not beating myself up because the scale blipped up. Not berating myself is a huge change for me, as I spent far too many years basing how I felt about myself on whatever number was reflected on the scale.

Rather than berating myself for not being where I want to be, I made the decision to face my current reality, then refocus on what it is that I really want.

What DO I want? First of all, I am turning 60 in July and I want to turn 60 looking and feeling as fabulous as I possibly can. I also want to start the next decade of my life as healthy as possible. To that end I am committed to not only get back to my goal weight, but to continue working with my trainer to build strength and stamina. Also, our son (my baby!) is getting married in March and I want to look and feel fabulous on his wedding day. I was morbidly obese when both of our daughters got married, so I want to look back on the wedding pictures that will be taken in March and know that I looked and felt my best.

So I know where I am right now and I know where I want to me. I am making the choices I need to get me from where I am to where I want to be. And I am once again reminding myself of the need to choose wisely :-)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T22:26:00.000-05:00

Happy 2012! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and I also hope that you're ready to make 2012 your healthiest year ever. It doesn't matter if you're just starting on this program for the first time or if this is your umpteenth go-around. It also doesn't matter if you blew it royally over the holidays. The only thing that matters is that you've made a decision NOW to create something wonderful - a healthy, thin YOU, living the life you want to live.

That may sound next to impossible to some of you; it sure sounded impossible to me when I started on this program in June of 2007. I was desperate to lose weight but, at 5'5" and 260 pounds, I didn't think it was possible to lose the weight I needed to lose. Two decades of failure with multiple weight loss attempts only reinforced what I believed to be true. Funny thing, though - what I believed to be true about my inability to lose weight ended up not being true at all! I not only lost a total of 126 pounds on this program, reaching my goal in May of 2008, but I've been fairly successful in maintaining my weight loss ever since. I say "fairly successful" because I haven't done maintenance perfectly, but I'm still wearing my size 6 jeans . . . sometimes they're a bit more snug than I prefer, but this program has given me the tools I need to know what to do when the scale blips up.

So how do you shift gears and move forward, even if you don't really believe you can? It's simple (please note: I said "simple," not "easy"!). You shift gears by focusing on what you want. Have you made the decision to lose weight and get to a healthy weight? I'm not talking about you wanting to lose weight, because just about everybody wants to lose weight :-). I'm asking if you've made the decision to lose weight and get healthy. This isn't a matter of semantics. Everyone wants to lose weight and would opt to do so in a heartbeat if it could be done quickly and without giving anything up. However, very few people actually make the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight, because once you make that decision, things begin to change.

It's not that making the decision to get to a healthy weight somehow waves a wand that magically makes it happen, but once you make the fundamental decision and focus on what you want, you will begin to make the choices necessary to support that decision. Making the decision also doesn't mean that you won't ever slip up, because some of you will, but if you have your eyes on your goal and keep focused, you'll keep moving forward.

Forget what's happened in the past - you can't change it. The past can only rule your present and determine your future if you allow it to. Today, at the beginning of 2012, you can set your course for a different future - IF you know what you want and have made the decision to go for it. Once you've done that and focused on what you want, all that's left to do is make the choices that will support your decision. Decide, focus, then choose wisely :-)

Christmas Future

2011-12-23T08:43:00.002-05:00

In Dicken's classic story, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. The visits changed his life - and they changed his future. I love this story because it is ultimately a story of redemption and hope.

With Christmas just two days away, some of us may feel like we're being visited by ghosts of our own Christmas past. Some of those memories may be very sweet and precious to us, while other memories may be painful.

The ghost of Christmas present may also be haunting us right now. We may be feeling the pressure of things on our "to do" list, or we may be feeling a whirl of emotions as we anticipate being together with family members.

Emotions tend to run high this time of year and there can be great temptation to deal with those feelings with food. When you're tempted to do that over these next few days, I am encouraging you to think about the ghost of Christmas future. When you think ahead to next Christmas and the one after that, where do you want to be? A year from now, would you like to be celebrating Christmas at your goal weight, looking and feeling fabulous? Do you want to be healthier a year from now than you are right now?

Ebenezer Scrooge changed his Christmas future by making the decision to change. He had a glimpse of a future that scared him, so he made different choices that resulted in a different, joy-filled future.

We can't change our past - it is what it is. But we can change our future. If you don't want to be struggling with your weight next Christmas, if you want next year's holiday photos to reflect a more healthy you, you can have that. It won't happen on it's own, but it WILL happen if you make the decision to have a different future and then make the choices needed to support that decision.

What will your Christmas future be? It's up to the choices you make . . . choose wisely :-)

Starting - and Maintaining - a Bonfire

2011-12-21T08:26:00.001-05:00

Where does your motivation come from? Do you look for other people to get you motivated and keep you motivated, or does your motivation come from somewhere deep inside of you? I read a quote from Steven Covey that addresses this question: "Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tried to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly."

I think we've all had the experience of someone else trying to light a fire under us - whether it was our boss or our mother :-). It was pretty hard to keep that fire going, wasn't it? The same is true when we try to light a fire under someone else (one of the reasons being a mother is so challenging!).

If this quote is true, then it's also reasonable to conclude that we can't look to someone else to provide motivation for us. It doesn't matter if it's someone else trying to light a fire under us or if we're looking to someone else to do it for us, external motivation doesn't last. This is particularly true when it comes to making long-term changes in our lives.

For long-term, permanent weight management, we have to find the motivation from within. Doing this because our spouse, our friends, or even our doctor wants us to lose weight ultimately won't work. We have to WANT to get to a healthy weight and we have to make the fundamental choice to get healthy.

The motivation we need to be successful isn't a "let's go get 'em" type of feeling, because that doesn't last, either. The motivation we need isn't a burst of inspiration that sustains itself over time, because inspiration definitely comes and goes. The motivation we need is born out a decision that we make to get to a healthy weight. It's a decision, not a feeling. Because it's a decision, it will carry us through those days when we don't feel like doing this - and there are definitely those "don't feel like it" days. Once we make the fundamental choice to get healthy, once we create in our mind a vision for what living at a healthy weight will look like for us, we will continue to make the secondary choices we need to keep us moving forward. That doesn't mean that we will never mess up - some will choose to stay on plan 100% of the time and some won't - but we know where we're going and we'll keep putting one foot in front of the other, one meal at a time.

When that kind of motivation burns within us, it's a fire that cannot be doused and it will burn hot and bright. Even on days when we don't feel like doing this, there is a deep satisfaction that comes from doing it anyway because that choice moves us a day closer to our goal. There were days when I was sick of staying on plan, but I went to bed those nights thankful that I'd made the choice to do it anyway.

Motivation from within will get the fire started and the choices you make will keep the fire burning. Choose wisely :-)

Having It All

2011-12-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

I remember a TV commercial for a cologne from the late 1970's or early 1980's that featured a woman who proudly proclaimed she could bring home the bacon, cook it up in a pan, and never let her husband forget that he was a man. The woman sang all of this as she skillfully (and cheerfully) moved from a corporate look to wearing an apron to wearing something sexy to remind her husband . . . oh, never mind! :-) The implication was that a woman really could have it all, at least if she wore the right cologne.

A couple of decades later and I think most of us have figured out that we really can't have it all, at least not at the same time. Some of us have spent a lot of time and driven ourselves and our families half-crazy trying to have it all - all at the same time - and ended up tired, frustrated and disappointed in the process. We then conclude that we must be doing something wrong because we're sure that if we just did things right, we could somehow pull it off.

The reality is that when we choose one thing, by implication we are also NOT choosing something else. That's true in life and it is most certainly true when it comes to our weight and our health. Unless we are blessed with a killer metabolism (and the fact that you're reading this means you probably don't have one!), we have to choose between eating everything we want, when we want it and in the quantity we want, and getting to and maintaining a healthy weight. This time of year we may want to eat everything at the holiday parties and throw caution to the wind, but we can't do that AND keep moving toward a healthy weight at the same time.

It's not always fun living with the reality of having to choose. I want to eat all of my favorite holiday goodies, but I know I can't do that and continue to zip my size 6's . . . there's nothing like white sugar and white flour mixed with lots of butter to pile pounds on me pretty quickly! I think part of that is due to the fact that I just don't metabolize that stuff very well and I think the other part is that once I start eating that kind of thing, my brain disengages and portion control tends to go out the window.

I have a whole collection of great holiday recipes - cookies, breads, etc. that I haven't baked since December of 2006. I was on 5&1 in December of 2007 and have been in maintenance since then. Last year I spent some time looking through those recipes and really had some conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I remembered many of these recipes with a lot of fondness - they are great recipes and I enjoyed making them and eating them. On the other hand, there was a bit of sadness because I realized that I'll most likely never make some of them again. We generally have a couple of desserts on Christmas day, so there isn't any need for me to bake up a storm and serve a lot of extra things. My entire family eats a lot healthier now and we're much more careful about what we eat; if I baked a lot of extra things, they would either end up getting thrown away or worse, I'd end up eating them.

As much as I enjoyed baking and eating all of those things, I hated weighing 260+ pounds and being diabetic. I loved baking and eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but I hated how I looked and felt. So I have to choose what I want because I can't have both the food and my health.

Ultimately we will choose what is most important to us. Our challenge is to not lose sight of what we really want. This time of year it's easy to forget and succumb to immediate gratification, so take a minute to remind yourself of what you really want, then choose wisely :-)

Choosing to Believe

2011-12-19T08:10:00.003-05:00

"If you were to take the most talented athlete in the world and put him or her in a room of liars and verbal abusers for two hours a day, you'd see the athlete's performance sharply decline. The level of talent remains the same, the training continues, but the ability to win vanishes. Why? Because no one can listen to constant discouragement and be encouraged. No one can have confidence undermined and still be confident. No one can doubt his or her ability and still use it effectively. What we believe matters a lot."

This quote has wide application for many areas of our lives, including this weight loss journey. As I've shared before, the food part of this program is simple - it's the head and heart part that's the challenge. What we believe about our ability to be successful in losing weight matters. The kind of feedback and support - or lack of support - from others also matters.

We have to choose who and what we're going to listen to because there will always - ALWAYS - be thoughts and words that discourage. Our struggles in the past can cause us to doubt our ability to be successful now or in the future. For some of us, there are people in our lives who are natural-born naysayers and who seem to think it is their calling to say a discouraging word at every opportunity. If we believe the negative thoughts we have and listen to the negative comments of others, this journey is going to be even more of a challenge.

When I was on 5&1, I had a lot of negative thoughts that ran through my head that caused me to doubt this program would work. All of my past failure seemed to have a megaphone that shouted "give up, it will never work." No one could have been more skeptical than I when I started on this program. Thankfully I didn't have any nay-sayers in my life - my husband was supportive from the very beginning - but I believed a lot of lies about myself and my ability to change.

My belief about what I could and couldn't do began to change because of two things. First of all, while I "believed" I couldn't stay on plan for a month or a year, I knew that I could stay on plan for a day, so I took it one day (and sometimes one meal) at a time. As each day on plan was added to the one before, the days turned into a week, then into a month, and what I believed about what I could and couldn't do began to change. I realized that I had been believing a lie and I had allowed that lie to keep me stuck in a very unhealthy pattern.

Secondly, I surrounded myself with encouraging people. The daily support and encouragement I received from others who believed I could do this was amazing! I also drew a lot of inspiration and encouragement from reading about people who had reached their goal and I spent a lot of time looking at their success photos and reading their stories. Realizing that others were successfully losing weight helped me believe that I could be successful, too.

Right now you may not believe you can be successful, but do you believe you can stay on plan for a day? Do you believe that you can make your next meal a Medifast meal? Start there, and by taking one tiny step at a time, you will not only change what you believe about your ability to lose weight on this program, but you will also change your life.

If you have nay-sayers in your life, find a way to mute their negativity. You may or may not be able to avoid them, but by surrounding yourself with others who will encourage you, you can begin to get the support you need to continue moving forward. You have the right to have the support you need!

The choices we make today go far beyond what we're going to put in our mouths. We also have to choose what we allow to resonate in our hearts and minds, and we have to choose what we're going to believe. Choose wisely :-)

Valuable Stepping Stones

2011-12-16T08:34:00.001-05:00

My husband has a sign in our office that says, "The lesson is in the struggle, not in the victory." He has this sign as a reminder that there is value in the struggle, and even in the failures we experience along the way to what is ultimately victory.

We are a success-oriented, success-celebrating society, and most of us have spent our lives viewing failure as something to be avoided at all costs. That thinking has been difficult for many (or most) of us who have struggled with our weight for years. It's hard to be a walking example of weight loss failure in a society that rejects failure.

When we start on this program, we all experience immediate success as we see weight begin to drop, and that early success propels many of us on all the way to our goal. However, that early success doesn't keep everyone motivated and many find themselves struggling sooner or later.

I want to encourage all of the strugglers today. Your struggles, and even your failures, are valuable stepping-stones on the way to ultimate success. Every struggle and every failure teaches us what doesn't work and gives us the opportunity to fine-tune what we're doing - if we're paying attention along the way :-). I once heard a speaker say that "the hallmark of achievers is that they have failed their way to success - every failure teaches us what doesn't work."

The key, of course, is to pay attention and use those struggles and failures as opportunities to learn. We may trip and fall a dozen times, but if we get up again and learn from the experience, we'll be stronger in the end. The victory will also be that much sweeter - and there WILL eventually be victory.

When we fail - and we all do, one way or another, sooner or later - we are faced with a choice. We can either beat ourselves up and allow the failure to define us, or we can choose to learn from the failure and use that failure to propel us to future success. The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-).

It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-14T08:57:00.000-05:00

We have a pretty good collection of Christmas movies that we've collected over the years and one of the things I love to do in the evenings this time of year is sit in front of the fireplace and watch one of the movies. "It's a Wonderful Life" is one of my favorite Christmas movies and it still makes my cry at the end as George Bailey realizes how rich his life really is. For those of you who are familiar with the movie, you know that George didn't realize how blessed his life was until he had the opportunity to see what life would have been like if he'd never been born.

After watching the movie, I did a little imagining of my own, only instead of imagining what life would be like if I'd never been born, I got to wondering what my life would look like today if I hadn't found Take Shape for Life/Medifast and lost 126 pounds. I certainly couldn't have imagined 4-1/2 years ago that my life would have changed as much as it has, and I got to imagining for a few minutes what it would look like if I was still 260 pounds.

It's wasn't a happy picture. For one, I know that if I was still 260 pounds (or more), I would now be a full-blown diabetic on medication. I was diabetic when I started on Medifast, but not yet on medication. However, my numbers were on the rise and I knew that at my next doctor's visit she would insist that I go on one drug or another. I was already on medication for cholesterol and gastric reflux, and with my blood pressure on the rise, I imagine I would also be on medication for that by now. Because my weight was going up, I may have been edging close to 300 pounds by now. My energy would be low and I'd feel sluggish most of the time. I remember hating how I looked and felt, and I imagine that another 4-1/2 years of morbid obesity would have wreaked further havoc on my emotions and my self-esteem. The picture in my mind is pretty sad.

Had I not lost weight and become a full-time health coach, I would also still be at my job at the hospital, putting in lots of hours and most likely dealing with the challenges hospitals are facing as they try to balance their budget (i.e., small or no salary increase, or even reduction in hours or pay). My work day priorities and my pay would still be determined by someone else and I wouldn't have the flexibility I do now to focus on the things that matter the most to me. Also, my husband would be working long hours in his 41st year in retail, rather than working alongside me as a health coach.

Had I not found Take Shape for Life/Medifast and lost my weight, my life would also be far less rich in friendships, as I have met so many wonderful people from all over the country through Take Shape for Life.

The "what if I hadn't lost weight" imagining didn't last very long - thankfully! It wasn't a very happy mind escape, but it WAS very sobering and humbling. I certainly had no idea that anything positive would happen when I started on the plan. Honestly, I thought the only thing I would really lose was close to $300 :-). I had no idea that I would not only lose the weight I needed to lose (and continue to keep it off), but that I'd also enjoy so many wonderful new things.

As I think about all that has happened, the word that comes to mind is "joy." My life has so much more joy these days, and I'm so thankful to God for all He has done in my life, including leading me to this program when He did. As I watched "It's a Wonderful Life," all I could think of is, it sure is!

As I imagined my life still obese, I realized that the difference today began with a choice to go on plan. Each day that I reinforced that original choice by staying on plan moved me one day closer to the life and health that I have today.

The choices you make today will either move you towards the life you want to live or will keep you in a place you don't want to be. Choose wisely :-)

Watching Out for Slick Spots

2011-12-12T08:23:00.001-05:00

Some things are as predictable as, well, snow in Michigan in the winter. One of the things that is absolutely predictable with the first snow of the winter is an absolute rash of fender benders. Thankfully, most of these are just that - fender benders - with no serious injuries. Once everyone readjusts to driving on snowy (and sometimes icy) roads, things settle down pretty quickly. What amazes me is that it snows absolutely every winter, and anyone who has lived in Michigan for any length of time and driven in winter has developed the winter driving skill set they need to navigate the roads safely - at least that's the theory. In practice, however, it appears that some people relearn how to drive every single winter, and the rest of us try our best to avoid getting hit by one of them.

Why is it that we so quickly forget what we think we've learned? I am almost certain that by the time the snow melts for the last time every spring, most Michigan drivers are expert at dealing with winter roads. Then the weather turns warm, the roads become dry once again and many drivers get lax and are seemingly caught unaware when the snow inevitably falls the next winter.

The same is often true for those of us on 5&1. We think we've "got it" this time, and we do really well for a while. Then things come up and some find themselves off plan and quickly out of the 5&1 routine. When that happens, there can be a series of "5&1 fender benders" before these individuals are back on the road again.

Staying on plan, like winter driving, requires lots of repetition and attention. The more we do it, the more comfortable we are and the easier it gets. We can't afford to take our eyes off the road because there may be unexpected "slick spots", but if we hit a spot and start to skid, we know exactly what to do to bring things under control so we don't end up in a ditch. And landing in a ditch is no fun at all!

With Christmas looming, there are a lot of food "slick spots" waiting to put your 5&1 vehicle into a spinout, so my encouragement to you today is to keep your hands on the wheel, your eyes on the road, and keep doing what you're doing (staying on plan!). Every time you choose to stay on plan, you are becoming a more "expert driver" and will be better able to navigate past potential pitfalls. Every time you choose to stay on plan, you are one day closer to your destination - your goal weight.

Today, as every day, the choice is yours. Choose wisely :-)

Enjoying Food or Enjoying Life?

2011-12-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

For many of us prior to going on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program, enjoying food was one of the major pleasures in our lives. Going on this program was hard because it meant giving up a major source of pleasure. My social life revolved around food - every time we got together with someone, it was to eat. There was good conversation and a lot of fun, but all of that took place over a meal or dessert or a variety of snacks.

What I realized after starting on this program was that while I had been enjoying food - lots of food, I wasn't enjoying a lot of other things. I didn't enjoy physical activity because pain in my knee and my back made even walking difficult at times. I didn't enjoy shopping for clothes because I hated the size I was in and, out of embarrassment, never shopped for clothes with my friends. I felt fatigued much of the time and was happiest when I was sitting someplace, particularly at a table with food in front of me. I didn't enjoy going to a beach and would never attend a pool party . . . the list of things I didn't/wouldn't/couldn't do was pretty long.

What was true for me then is still true for some people I know. They won't even try this program because they claim that they just enjoy food too much to give it up. What's sad is knowing that for some of them, their enjoyment of food and their resulting obesity is preventing them from enjoying so many other things - they're enjoying food, but not really fully enjoying life.

As I started this program and began to really embrace it, an amazing thing happened. While I wasn't enjoying food in the same old way (from a culinary perspective, eating five Medifast meals and a lean & green doesn't placate the pleasure centers in the brain like all of those high-sugar/high-fat and calorie-laden meals), I WAS enjoying other things. My knee and back started feeling better pretty quickly and I started to enjoy taking walks. My energy level went WAY up and I didn't feel like crawling into bed when I got home from work. We still got together with friends, but I found out that I could have a great time with them and NOT eat the same old food - a lean & green at a restaurant or having my own Medifast meal while they snacked on something else didn't impact my ability to have fun at all.

As I continued to lose weight, I realized that I was getting a whole new life for myself - one that wasn't defined by obesity or dependent on food to have a good time.

Four years ago, I stayed on plan through the holidays and lost 18 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. My memories of that holiday season aren't about the food I did or didn't eat - they are of time spent with family and friends. My enjoyment of the holiday season wasn't diminished in any way because I didn't eat this or that because my focus was on enjoying time with the people that I loved.

Since reaching my goal, I've been able to enjoy a wide variety of food again, but the lessons learned while on 5&1 have remained. Enjoying life is about so much more than what's on my plate.

Today are you choosing to enjoy life, or are you choosing to enjoy food? Choose wisely :-)

Evaluating Value

2011-12-10T08:53:00.002-05:00

So many things changed for me, inside and out, as I lost 126 lbs. on this program. Some of the changes were expected (or at least hoped for!), like getting to a healthy weight, being able to wear small sizes and getting healthy again. Other changes were completely unexpected.

One of the unexpected changes was a shift in how I evaluate the value of things, especially food.

I was raised by a mom who was frugal by training and necessity. My mom was born in May of 1929, just months before the stock market crashed in October of 1929, plunging the country into the Great Depression. Money was scarce and nothing was wasted, and my mom learned early on how to stretch a dollar and look for the best possible value. Her skills were further developed during World War II, when ration books determined how much you could buy and individuals learned how to either stretch those limited commodities or do without. As a young wife and stay-home mother working with a very limited budget, my mom watched sales and clipped coupons in order to keep our grocery costs to a minimum. She prided herself on having the lowest grocery budget in the neighborhood. Now at 82, Mom is still always on the hunt for a bargain and still very frugal and unwilling to waste a thing.

That's the training and one of the values that was drilled into me from the earliest age - look for the best possible value and don't waste a thing. However, as I lost weight and got healthy, and especially now as I continue to work to maintain a healthy weight (and yes, it IS work!), that early-learned value is sometimes in conflict with another value I have: staying healthy.

I eat fresh fruit and vegetables year-round and I try to avoid pesticides whenever possible, so much of what I purchase is organic and more expensive than things grown with chemicals. Because I try to avoid preservatives in my food, I read labels and select the grocery items that are labeled "all natural" or "organic." These items are always more costly than other similar-looking items on the shelf. But staying as healthy as possible is a higher value to me than saving a few dollars on my grocery trip, so I am willing to spend a little more to get food that I believe is healthier for me.

Being frugal and getting the best deal and staying at a healthy weight briefly came in conflict recently. We don't keep dessert items or any sweets in our house because both my husband and I have terrible sweet tooths. A couple of nights ago, we were both in the mood for some ice cream and I suggested we go to a local favorite spot of ours and each get a serving. My husband thought it would be more economical to go to the grocery store and pick up a half-gallon. He was right - it would have been much more economical. However, because I am committed to staying healthy, and because I know my own triggers, I knew having the better part of a half-gallon of ice cream in my freezer would NOT be a good thing for me. That stuff has it's own siren song that calls my name and despite the fact that the carton lists a serving size as 1/2 cup, I doubt I've ever self-served a mere 1/2 cup of ice cream to myself in my life. I told my husband that I knew it would be more expensive to go to the local shop, but I also noted that by doing so we could thoroughly enjoy our treat and then be done with it. He smiled and nodded and said, "Ah, portion control, right?" Right!!!

I'm not sharing this to say that anyone else has to make the choices that I've made and that I continue to make. My intent is to get you thinking about how you evaluate value. You may find, as I have, that by elevating the value you place on your own health, the value you place on other things shifts. For some of you, being on 5&1 is a financial sacrifice and a real stretch, but you are doing this because you have elevated the value of your own health.

And value isn't just limited to money, of course. You may value time to yourself when you get off work, or you may value sleeping in a bit later in the morning, but you will work out first thing in the morning or at the end of your work day because you value being healthy more than having a little extra time to do something else.

What you value will influence the choices you make when it comes to your health. Choose wisely :-)

Feeding the Dogs

2011-12-09T07:55:00.002-05:00

There's no denying it - getting to a healthy weight and maintaining a healthy weight is an ongoing battle. We are constantly challenged to make wise choices, and the struggle to choose between immediate gratification and what we REALLY want - a healthy body - can be a fierce struggle. One friend told me that she said she felt like she had an angel sitting on one shoulder and the devil on the other, with each whispering in her ear. I've had that same feeling and I'm guessing that a lot of you have, too. We know what we SHOULD do, and perhaps it's what we really WANT to do, but then there's this other voice that says, "just this once won't hurt . . . ". All of the sudden, the battle is on as two conflicting desires pull us in two different directions.

The battle that wages is about so much more than whether or not we're going to eat something at that particular moment. The battle that's waging is really the battle between getting healthy and staying overweight/obese.

The Take Shape for Life/Medifast program did a lot of wonderful things for me, and I'm continuing to reap so many of the benefits, but it did not cure my obesity. The plan enabled me to return to a healthy weight and put me on a path towards optimal health, but it did not cure my obesity. That beast is there, always there, ready, willing and able to rear its ugly head and take over my life if I choose to become mindless about what I eat and do.

Everyday that I make healthy choices is another day that develops the healthy habits I want to keep and develop for the rest of my life. However, I am aware that the beast is alive - just hungry and underfed at the moment :-). I'd like to think I could starve it to death, but that's not likely to happen.

I once heard a story about a man who talked about the internal struggle he was having and likened it to a fight between two dogs. Someone asked him which dog was winning and the man replied, "Whichever one I feed."

Everyday each and every one of us has to face the dog fight yet again. We're in a battle for our health, and one of the dogs in the fight is named obesity. This dog may be a little skeletal at the moment because it hasn't been fed in a while, but it's watching in the corner, waiting for an opportune moment.

So every day we plan, and we commit to NOT feeding that dog today! Every day I realize all over again that I CANNOT do this on my own and ask my Heavenly Father for a fresh measure of His grace and strength. And every day that I do that - and every day that each of us makes a commitment to making the sometimes hard choices - is another day that moves us a bit closer to a healthier you and me.

Which dog are you going to feed today? The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

Deciding What I Love

2011-12-08T08:58:00.000-05:00

What do you REALLY love, and what are you willing to give up for it? This is a question I'm asking myself right now - I'm posting this so you can ask yourself the same question.

Sweets are my downfall. If it has sugar in it, there is a 99.9% chance that I'll like it. If it has both sugar AND a high fat content, that percentage goes up. What I have learned since reaching my goal over 2.5 years ago is that although many things and many habits have changed, I still have a sugar addiction. It is very difficult, bordering on impossible, for me to eat sweets in moderation. Once I start, it's as if my brain completely disengages. This time of year becomes very challenging for me because the stuff of my addiction is everywhere (except my house!).

Some people report that once they lose the weight and reach their goal, sweets and other fattening things don't ever tempt them. Some say that those things don't even taste good to them anymore. Sigh . . . I wish I could say that, but the truth is that I still have a set of fully-developed fat-girl taste buds - everything still sounds and tastes as good to me as it ever did. I was raised with a lot of fried food and my taste buds still think that frying only improves the taste of anything.

When it comes to eating, I have cut myself a bit too much slack lately - been a little less mindful of both the kind of food I've eaten as well as the quantity. I still eat six small meals a day and 2-3 of them are usually Medifast meals, but some of those other meals have included things that aren't in my long-term best interest. When this happens, I notice pretty quickly that I feel more sluggish and that I start to crave more of the stuff.

Because I am committed to staying at a healthy weight AND being healthy (having once been diabetic, I am well-aware of the dangers of regaining my weight), I have to ask myself once again the same important question: what do I REALLY love?

It comes down to what's most important to me. We all have to make primary choices, then make secondary choices to support our primary choice, even if we don't necessarily like the secondary choice. For example, if someone makes the decision to become a concert pianist (primary choice), they will make secondary choices (practice 4 hours a day, not engage in some sports to avoid possible injury to their hands, etc.) to support that primary choice. We don't always LIKE the secondary choices, but we do them because they support our primary choice.

When it all boils down, my primary choice is to be thin and healthy, so I am making some secondary choices that support that. I will exercise, whether I feel like it or not; I will make healthy choices in what I eat, whether I feel like it or not; I will continue to eat 5-6 small meals a day (2-3 of them Medifast meals), whether I feel like it or not.

For me, it's important to stay focused on what I'm gaining, not on what I'm giving up. I kept that focus while I lost my weight, and it's important for me to keep that same focus now. If I focus on feeling deprived, that has the potential to lead to failure. However, if I stay focused on what I'm gaining - and there is SO much to gain by making healthy choices - then I will embrace those healthy choices and celebrate the victories.

All of this has very little to do with willpower and a lot to do with deciding what is REALLY important to me at this point in my life. I LOVE the life I have, and I'm so thankful to God for leading me to Take Shape for Life/Medifast. This program has changed my life - literally gave me back my life. I am making the choice to maintain my weight loss and my health for the rest of my life!

For you and for me, it's a choice we have to make every day. Choose wisely :-)

Filling the Gaps

2011-12-07T07:53:00.002-05:00

Part of my weight loss journey four years ago was addressing the things that led to the overeating that resulted in my weight ballooning to 268 pounds. I understood that I didn't get to that weight just because I enjoyed a good meal or because I'm a great cook - I was a self-confessed emotional eater. As I've shared before, an unexpected outcome of going on this program was my coming to grips with turning to food and other things as a coping mechanism for dealing with stress, anger, boredom, etc.

This is a time of year when those of us who are recovering emotional eaters can be especially challenged. The holidays tend to be emotional times anyway - good and bad - as they not only bring back memories from past holidays, but the busyness of the season creates its own level of stress. When our emotions are running on high and then a lot of holiday food shows up, it can be hard to stay on plan.

Last year I did a personal study of Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" Bible study. Her study is focused on helping women truly break free from the things that keep us trapped in unhealthy behavior. After completing the lessons for each week, I download the video lesson she teaches. One on the video lessons especially impacted me, as it was a powerful illustration of my own attempts to fill the gaps in my life.

Beth shared the story of Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman at a well, a woman who had tried to fill the gaps in her life with relationships (she'd been married 5 times and was living with a man). Jesus recognized that she was thirsty for more than the water in the well and He offered her living water so that she would never thirst again (He, of course, was referring to Himself as the Living Water). Beth took a large glass container and began to put all kinds of things in the container - a couple of small dolls to represent relationships, chocolate, money, jewelry, etc. - different things that people use to fill the holes in our lives. She filled the container full, stuffing in as many things as she could, but it was clear there were still gaps in the container. Beth explained that we could never put enough stuff into our lives to fill every gap, and she said that we all have gaps that we want to fill.

Beth then took a container of water and poured it into the container and I watched as the water filled every empty spot - every gap was filled. For me, this was a powerful reminder that only God can fill the gaps in my heart. For years, even though I knew stuff, including food, couldn't fill the gaps, I still tried. I couldn't eat enough, couldn't shop enough, to fill the gaps. I want to point out that my life was good - a solid, happy marriage, healthy kids, a good job, nice home, wonderful friends and family - but there were still emotional gaps, the kind that we all have. When I was under stress or upset about something or even bored, those gaps became gaping holes. No amount of chocolate or anything else could fill those holes.

Part of my weight loss journey was learning to turn in an entirely new way to the Lord, and He filled every gap in my heart. When that happened, food was able to take its rightful place in my life as a source of nourishment for my body, not my heart. Watching Beth pour water into that container was a powerful visual for me and a good reminder once again during this time of year to not reach for food when the pressure of the season weighs me down.

We all have gaps in our lives and we choose how we're going to try and fill those gaps. Choose wisely :-)

Tons or Ounces?

2011-12-06T08:26:00.000-05:00

Life isn't easy. Every day we are faced with dozens of choices and many of those choices are difficult. This time of year, for those of us committed to either getting to or maintaining a healthy weight, the difficulty in making the right choices is increased a hundred-fold, and sometimes we may wonder if the struggle is worth the pain we're feeling. There is a great Jim Rohn quote that addresses this question: "We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons."

Having experienced both the pain of discipline and the pain of regret (LOTS of regret . . . ), I can tell you from first-hand experience that I'd much rather carry the weight of discipline! In the moment, it's always easier to make the wrong choice because the wrong choice invariably is the one based on immediate gratification. We get a quick rush of good feelings or perhaps even euphoria when we go for the instant gratification. The problem is that the rush is almost always quickly followed by lots of regret and self-recrimination. The good feelings we had as we were eating the off-plan food are gone almost as soon as the last bite is swallowed and in their place are thoughts of "I just blew it . . . I can't believe I ate all of that . . . I'm so weak . . . I'll never reach my goal . . . it's hopeless . . . " My experience is that the regret always outweighs the brief satisfaction I had, and it lasts MUCH longer. In the past, that regret usually led to another round of going for immediate gratification to make me feel better temporarily, followed by another round of regret. Blech!

There is certainly pain in discipline, but it's short-lived. At the point of making the decision, there can be a real struggle in saying "no" to something we really want. For me, there have been times when it felt like it took everything in me to walk away from the temptation. But when I DID walk away . . . when I DO walk away . . . the pain of saying "no" is immediately replaced with a rush of relief and joy that I didn't give in. When I was on 5&1 and successfully faced up to a food temptation, the relief and joy that followed was a reminder to me that I would have felt awful if I'd given in. The next time a temptation came up (and temptations were everywhere, especially during the holiday season), I remembered how wonderful I felt when I'd walked away and that helped to give me the strength I needed to do so again. As I've shared in the past, I also recognized my own weakness and drew heavily on my Heavenly Father for the strength I needed to walk away.

Tons or ounces . . . what do you want to carry today? The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

It's the Most Wonderful, and Challenging, Time of the Year

2011-12-05T08:54:00.002-05:00

Since we are now into December and the holiday season, I thought I'd share with you a blog I wrote four years ago yesterday. I was just over five months into my weight loss journey, and I approached the holidays with a lot of trepidation. Here's what I wrote:

It's only December 4, but this is going to be one tough month! December is always challenging, but in years past I always dealt with stress be eating more chocolate or Christmas cookies, and one stress I never dealt with was trying to AVOID all of the holiday goodies. But this is definitely a different year for me - time to gird my (shrinking) loins!

There is food all around me, and almost NONE of it is on plan. We hosted a Christmas party for our small group Bible study on Sunday night and I stuck with the shrimp cocktail (no cocktail sauce) and some raw veggies (both were part of my L&G for the day). Then I walked into work on Monday morning to find a large box of Godiva chocolates sitting my my desk (that was quickly taken to the kitchen and OUT of my sight!). Then a large package of gourmet popcorn was delivered to our office, and additional food gifts will continue to come for the next two weeks. Our office is holding a holiday luncheon for physician office billers on Thursday and we're catering in a full Italian meal - two different kinds of pasta, homemade breads, and truffles and cannoli for dessert - certainly nothing for me to eat! And the list just goes on and on, day in and day out for the next couple of weeks. I have a lot of holiday events to attend and/or host, and it will be a literal minefield for me to walk through every single time.

But what's true for me is probably true for many of you, too. I'm not complaining, just taking stock of all of the potential dangers and carefully planning my strategy to ensure that I don't end up thrown off plan. Part of the planning is making sure that I eat my Medifast meals on time and don't allow myself to get overly hungry. Part of the planning is making sure I have an emergency stash of Medifast food at my desk and in my purse so that I never have an excuse to stray.

Then there's the mental and emotional preparation! Here's what I'm telling myself right now:

That non-plan food will not get me where I want to go, and it may result in me getting seriously off-track
Everything I need nutritionally is provided through my 5/1, so there is absolutely no need for me to go off plan (and "just because I feel like it" doesn't count!)
I already know how all of this food will taste because I've had it before, so I don't need to taste it
These types of food will be around next year, and next year I will be able to have a small (as in VERY small) taste of the things I'm most wanting
By refusing to give in now, I am strengthening my "no thank you" muscles; this will help me to maintain my weight loss later
I don't want to spend one more day than necessary being overweight, and that piece of chocolate/cookie/etc. could cause me to spend another day overweight
I haven't been out of the fat-burning state since I first got into it in late June and I do NOT want to go through that misery again just to have that chocolate/cookie/etc.
If I get out of the fat-burning state, in addition to the misery that will accompany getting back in, it will take me approximately 3 days to get back in. That's 15 meals and $30 (@ $2/MF meal). Is that chocolate/cookie/etc. worth $30 to me?

Yes, I'm talking to myself a lot right now! But I am committed to losing weight and don't want anything to get in my way. It's not easy, but having made the decision to stay on plan, it really IS simple. If the food isn't on plan, I don't eat it! Who's with me?

Besides, the Reason for the Season isn't food, anyway, right?

That was my mindset four years ago, and with God's help, that's what helped me lose 18 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Then, as now, it always comes down to a choice that we have to make. I have no regrets for the choice I made four years ago :-). If you want to get through the holidays without regrets, choose wisely!

Having Fun Yet?

2011-11-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

Are you having fun? This isn't a trite question - I'm serious. Are you having fun on this program? You may not be having fun EVERY day (I certainly had days when I wasn't having any fun at all), but overall, do you enjoy being on this program? Are you having fun?

Before you think I've totally lost my mind, let me explain. Over time, we will continue to do the things that we enjoy and find it very difficult to sustain activity that we don't. Unless we are uber-disciplined (something that escapes the majority of us, including me), we just won't continue to do things over time that we don't enjoy.

I watched a short video that brilliantly illustrates the difference fun can make. Individuals at a train station in Sweden noticed that most people took the escalator with very few opting for the stairs, so they wondered if they could get more people to choose the stairs by making it fun to do so. They hired a group of engineers who turned the stairs into a piano keyboard, complete with sound for each note on the keyboard. As a result, 66% more people than normal chose the stairs over the escalator. They concluded that fun can obviously change behavior for the better. Here's a link to the video, in case you want to watch it: http://www.thefuntheory.com/piano-staircase.

Sometimes we have to look for the fun - it may not show up as an engineer-designed piano staircase :-). Choosing activity we enjoy will keep us moving and active over the long-run because most of us won't continue to engage in an exercise routine we hate. We can even enjoy being on plan if we recognize how much better we feel, both physically and mentally, eating six small meals a day and reclaiming control of our health. And yes, it IS fun to feel (and look) better!

Look for ways to have fun today! If we're looking for the fun, we're more likely to find it. One of the choices we get to make every day is our attitude. Choose wisely :-)

Food Won't Fix It

2011-11-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

The food part of this program is the easy part. In fact, it couldn't be easier! The hard part of this program is the head and heart part - learning to redefine our relationship with food and learning to not view food as anything more than nutrition for our bodies (nutrition we can enjoy, of course!).

For those of us who were or are emotional eaters, learning how to establish a healthy and proper relationship with food is hard work. Some of us spent decades of our lives enmeshed in a very unhealthy, love/hate relationship with food. We ran to it whenever there was a blip on our emotional radar, somehow expecting that food would fix the problem or at least make us feel better. The problem was that we never ended up feeling better. My own experience was that even while I was doing my emotional eating thing, I kept mentally telling myself that I shouldn't be doing this and reminding myself that I was cheating on whatever diet I was currently on. Of course, those thoughts didn't keep me from eating the food, but they did make me feel guilty while I was eating it. Once the last bite was swallowed, the comfort I had been seeking was replaced by more guilt and self-recrimination, sending me deeper into whatever funk had prompted the eating to begin with. The problem that I'd tried to salve with food was still there, of course, and I'd added a nice layer of guilt and regret on top of it.

Can anybody relate to this? Honestly ask yourself: when did food ever fix the problem? Food can help to bury the feelings for a moment or two, but the problem never was solved with a fork. Never.

Learning to deal with problems and the emotions that accompany them in a healthy way is such an important thing to learn if we want to not only reach a healthy weight but also maintain a healthy weight for the long term.

For me, part of this process was really learning to turn to my Heavenly Father in a new and deeper way. I made a commitment to stay on plan and not cheat, so when the stuff of life bubbled up (as it always does), I realized I couldn't resort to old habits and run for the nearest chocolate. Out of desperation I cried out to the Lord and asked for His strength to get me through the moment, and as I did that, I found Him to be faithful to provide what I needed in that moment. Every time I turned to the Lord and made the choice to draw on His strength, there was enough strength to get me through that particular moment.

As I continued to do that, I realized that food never did truly comfort me, that it really wouldn't - and couldn't - fix anything in my life. And that realization finally set me free from years of emotional eating.

This holiday season evokes lots of memories and emotions. Some of them are good, but other emotions are difficult. We may feel a lot of stress as we try to get through a long list of things to be done. This is the time of year when some people give in to the emotion of the moment and toss aside their good intentions to eat healthy and stay on plan. But food won't fix it. Eating stuff that will get in the way of goal won't make us feel better. We'll end up feeling sluggish, guilty, and frustrated. And eating more to deal with THOSE feelings will only make us feel even worse!

Choosing to walk away from emotional eating isn't easy, especially during this time of year. But making the choice to do so is incredibly freeing. The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Time Flies

2011-11-28T08:05:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got out all of our Christmas decorations and started putting my house into the holiday spirit. I also put all of my Christmas music on my iPod and listened to that while I put away the Thanksgiving decorations and started working on Christmas. As much as I would like to bask in the glow of Thanksgiving, Christmas is coming and I have to shift gears in a hurry.

As I was listening to my Christmas music yesterday, it was hard to believe that it's been almost a year since I heard those songs. As I pulled out the Christmas decorations, it seemed like it wasn't that long ago that I was putting them all away.

The reality is that time really does go fast. Days morph into weeks, and weeks into months almost faster than we can imagine. For everyone on 5&1 right now, this is really, REALLY good news :-). I know there are some really long days on plan (at least I sure had a few!), but in retrospective, the days, weeks and months go by in a flash. By staying on plan now, even on those really, really long and difficult days, you will be at your goal before you know it. That's true whether you have 10 pounds to lose or 100. The days will pass regardless, and they will pass quickly. If you choose to stay on plan now, everyone one of you will be getting ready for Christmas next year at your goal weight. Many of you will be buying your spring and summer wardrobe in your goal size, too, if you choose to stay on plan now.

It's so easy to get caught up in the here and now and go straight for the immediate gratification (my hand is raised as I write this . . . ), but the here and now is gone in a breath and tomorrow is just a moment away. Staying on plan today means that you are choosing to temporarily give up something you enjoy eating to reach something you really want - a healthy weight and a great goal size. The decision to make wise choices isn't always easy, but there are never any regrets for doing so.

The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

When Obstaces Don't Matter

2011-11-27T08:22:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but the calendar seems to go into hyper-speed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Once the leftover Thanksgiving turkey is put in the refrigerator and the Christmas decorations come out, the days start to fly.

Between the decorating, shopping, family get-togethers and holiday parties, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas can feel like one obstacle after another for those of us who are either on our weight loss journey or focused on staying the course in Maintenance.

I recently read a quote that said, "The only time when our obstacles matter is when we take our eyes off the goal." That's a good quote to keep in mind - or post by our computer or wherever we'll see it - as we launch into this holiday season.

Keeping our eyes on the goal is key throughout this journey, but it's critical during the holiday season when we are surrounded by distractions that threaten to get us off course. If we're focused on what's really important to us - getting to and maintaining a healthy weight - then the potential obstacles won't matter. We will be aware of them and have a strategy in place to make sure that we leap over them.

Think about Olympic runners in track and field. They encounter hurdle after hurdle, but their eyes remain fixed on their goal and they sail over the hurdles. If a runner becomes fixated on the next hurdle, it not only slows their pace but that hurdle could be the one that causes them to trip and fall.

Where do you want to be on January 1? Focusing on that as a short-term goal can help you get through these next weeks unscathed. More importantly, how are you going to look and feel when you're at your goal? That's where you're heading - don't let anything get in your way! You will be faced with lots of choices over the next few weeks, and those choices will either bring you closer to your goal or result in a step or two back. Choose wisely :-)

Waiting for Perfect

2011-11-25T08:40:00.002-05:00

If you've read my blogs for very long at all, you've probably noticed that I enjoy good, thought-provoking quotes. There is often a lot of truth wrapped up in a pithy sentence or two. That is certainly true for this quote:

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what! Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful. ~ Mark Victor Hansen

I am the kind of person who likes to get her ducks in a row, get everything "just so" before I take the first step. There have been a number of things in my life over the past 3-4 years that have moved me outside of my comfort zone as I've been forced to learn as I go instead of getting everything right first. I've realized that waiting until optimal conditions, with everything in place and all obstacles cleared away, usually means that I keep waiting . . . and waiting . . . Life has a way of being messy and less-than-perfect, and just as soon as one obstacle is eliminated, two more pop up.

That was certainly true of my past weight loss efforts. I wanted the calendar clear, with nothing on the horizon that would involve food and tempt me to go off plan. Things had to be good at work - no stress, and there certainly couldn't be any issues at home. When all of these things were properly aligned, I could focus on losing weight. However, the minute life happened - good or bad - the diet was once again off. And trying to lose weight around the holidays? Forget it! Talk about a less-than-ideal time to lose weight!

I was very much in a mindset of wanting to wait for the perfect time to start another program just prior to placing my first Medifast order. I started this program on June 24, 2007, just when the summer fresh fruits were beginning to appear at our local farmer's market. I really like fruit, so the thought of not eating fruit for an entire summer was troubling and I seriously considered waiting until fall to begin the program. But then I thought about the honey crisp apples, my favorites, that made their appearance in the fall. Fall wouldn't be a good time to start, either! But then after fall, I knew the holidays would be here and who in their right mind starts a weight loss program during the holidays?

So, in mid-June of 2007, as I tried to figure out when I should place my order and get started, I realized that the next "convenient" time to start the program wouldn't be until January 2, 2008 - more than six months away. I realized that I absolutely could not go that much longer at the weight I was at (260), and I feared that if I waited six more months, my weight would be much higher.

Was it the ideal time for me to start? That's hard to say. All I know was that it was the right time to start. I started the program two weeks before my birthday and one month before our two-week vacation at a lake cottage we rented. I started this program at the beginning of a summer filled with cookouts and get-togethers with family and friends. It wasn't ideal and there were certainly obstacles to address, but it was the right time for me and, as I shared in yesterday's blog, I couldn't have imagined how much my life would change in the process.

Some of you are just getting started on this program and the holidays are staring you in the face. This isn't an ideal time for you to start, either, but it's the right time because you're ready to change your life. Good for you for not waiting until things are perfect . . . you won't regret the choices you're making! Think about how much better you're going to feel on January 2 when you're 10 or 20 pounds lighter than you are today :-).

You've made a great choice in beginning this program, and each choice you make today, tomorrow and the day after that will bring you closer to a healthier future. Choose wisely :-)

Three and a Half Years Later

2011-11-23T08:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an anniversary of sorts for me. It's hard to believe, but it was 3-1/2 years ago, May 22, 2008, that I finally reached my weight loss goal. During the almost-11 months it took to lose the weight, there were certainly some long days, but the time on plan went fast. As I look back now, 3-1/2 years later, the time spent losing the weight was just a minor blip in time.

So much has changed in my life since then! I am still healthy, still wearing my size 6 jeans, and I'm loving my life. I have had some amazing opportunities to share my story and encourage others and that is actually what I do on a daily basis now as a full-time health coach. If someone would have told me on June 24, 2007, my first day on the program, that I would be where I am today, I wouldn't have believed them. I'm so grateful to God for all of His many blessings, including leading me to this program when He did.

I didn't set out to change my life . . . I just wanted to lose a little bit of weight. But as I learned to make new and better choices, growth happened in ways I didn't expect. I learned how to redefine my relationship with food and, in fact, severed the chains of emotional eating that held me in bondage for over two decades. The shame and embarrassment of living as a morbidly obese women began to heal, to the point I can now talk about how much I weighed, what size I wore, and share the feelings I had - all without hesitation. That would have been unthinkable not that long ago.

Statistics report that 85% of people who lose weight on a diet regain it all, plus additional weight, within two years. I praise God that, because of what I learned on this program and with His help, I have beaten the odds. I don't take that for granted, not for a minute.

Your life is changing on this program, whether you're aware of it or not. I don't know where these changes will eventually take you, but when you reach your goal, you will be in a different place physically, emotionally and mentally. Trust me - it's a GOOD place - and you want to get here :-). And you WILL get here, one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

A Safe Investment

2011-11-22T07:56:00.001-05:00

In this time of economic uncertainty, most of us want to make sure that we get the best return possible on our investments. Whether it's our 401K or IRA or some other type of investment we've made to ensure our financial future, we want to see growth over time. We review our quarterly reports and look for an increase from the previous quarter and we watch for trends that indicate future growth.

Would you be willing to invest $100 if you could be guaranteed a million dollar return? (Who wouldn't, right?)

That's what you're doing right now. The investment you're making in your health is a small investment when it's compared to your future return - a longer, healthier life. The potential return on your health is worth far more than a million dollars, too!

Yes, there is the financial investment you're making to purchase the products needed to do this program, and there is also the mental and emotional investment. There is hard work involved in ridding ourselves of old habits that didn't serve us well and embracing new, healthier habits. It's not always easy and it's not always fun, but incorporating these healthy habits will pay long-term, priceless dividends.

When we have our health - when we feel as good as we can possibly feel - we're able to enjoy our lives to the fullest. It doesn't matter how much money we have or how much stuff we've collected, if we're struggling with health issues and living in a state of unhealth or even disease, the money and the stuff don't matter. We may be wise with our financial investments, but if we aren't being wise in our health investments, we won't be able to fully enjoy the benefits of our 401Ks and IRAs. If we aren't wise in the choices we make for our health now, those financial investments may end up being drained for medication and other medical expenses. I don't know about you, but that's not how I want to spend my money!

The return on financial investments is a bit uncertain right now, but the investment in our health has a solid track record on its return. This is a long-term investment, and while many of us see almost immediate results and have been able to reduce or eliminate medications, the real returns will be evident in the years ahead.

The choices we make today determine the future return we will receive. Choose wisely :-)

Making Decisions

2011-11-15T07:55:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we think that what has been will always be, or we think that where we are is "it" and we're convinced that things will never change. If we've had a long history of failed attempts at losing weight, it's easy to believe that our dieting history determines our future. Here's a quote that challenges this kind of thinking:

"It's not what is happening to you now or what has happened in the past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do with them that will determine your ultimate destiny." ~ Anthony Robbins

The decisions we made in the past had a significant impact on where we are today, and many of those decisions became habits over time. But habits are still decisions, even if we aren't acutely aware that we're deciding each and every time. The reason I know these are really decisions is because we have the ability to change them if we choose to do so. We can get rid of unhealthy habits that don't serve us and we can develop an entirely new set of habits that put us on a new path - if we want to.

Going back to Robbins' quote, "your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do with them" - infused in each of these statements is choice. We choose what we're going to focus on, whether it be past failures or current frustrations or future hopes and dreams that include being at a healthy weight. If we look up and focus on the sky, we can't focus on the ground. If we fix our gaze on the ground, we can't see the sky. Where we choose to focus is critical, and it is a decision we have to make every day.

Robbins says that we decide "what things mean" to us - we attach a value and that value determines what we do with things. Because the focus of this blog is about making healthy choices, let me apply this to the food choices we make. If we value being healthy - if we've made a fundamental choice to get to a healthy weight - then that value will determine the food choices that we make. If we value immediate gratification more than being healthy, that value will lead us to make different choices.

The choices of what we're going to focus on, what things mean to us and what we're going to do with them WILL, in large part, determine the future of our health. That future may seem a long way away, but we're getting there one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

***
I'm leaving early tomorrow morning for a conference in Pennsylvania and won't be home until late Monday night. I'll get back to blogging next week! Have a good rest of the week and a great weekend and keep making wise choices!

Focusing Ahead

2011-11-12T08:10:00.001-05:00

I recently read a story about a man who got on a tractor for the first time. He described the thrill of starting up the engine, dropping the plow, and heading out across the field. As he drove the tractor, he marveled at all of the gauges and gadgets on the tractor and enjoyed the feel of the steering wheel. Everything was perfect until he looked back to admire his results. Instead of seeing the straight lines he expected, he described what he saw as resembling a slithering snake, "with more bends and curves than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway." In his excitement to plow a field for the very first time, he forgot the cardinal rule of plowing: plow with your eye on the fence post ahead. On the return trip he did just that and his line was straight. He realized that the first row was messed up because he didn't have a focus point.

Do you have a focus point? Are you keeping your eyes on where you're going, or are you finding yourself being distracted by the details? When we're focused on where we're heading, that not only keeps us moving forward, but it keeps us moving in a straight line to our goal. If we're looking around at all of the things we "can't have" right now, if we're looking at all of the potential obstacles that might come our way, our path to goal may look a lot like the man's first plow line - filled with twists and turns.

By focusing on our goal, we are more likely to get there in a straight line. We are continually reminded of where we're going and what we want, and that reminder will keep all of the distractions and obstacles on the sidelines. We may be aware of them because we see them with our peripheral vision, but they are a blur as we go past them because our eyes are fixed on our goal.

Where are you choosing to focus today? Your choice will determine your path to goal . . . choose wisely -:)

No Shortcuts

2011-11-11T07:32:00.000-05:00

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 in my goal range for almost 3-1/2 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 :-)

Using Our Brains and Our Feet

2011-11-10T07:37:00.002-05:00

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." ~ Oh The Places You'll Go

This is from the great writer and philosopher, Dr. Seuss :-). He had a remarkable gift of putting great thoughts into simple, fun verse, but sometimes profound thoughts come wrapped in simple packages.

We DO have a brain in our head and we DO have feet in our shoes; we really CAN steer ourselves in any direction we choose! We may not believe that we have the ability to steer our lives in a different direction, but we can do just that if we decide that's what we really want to do. So often we tend to view ourselves as hapless, helpless victims - particularly when it comes to battling our weight.

We blame our genetics, we blame our childhood, we blame our spouses or our boss. We may feel that we're hopelessly enslaved to overeating, or we may just think that we have "big bones." I spent a long time and expended a lot of emotional energy blaming other things (pregnancy, returning to the workforce, etc.) for my obesity, and I felt trapped. I remember times at work when I would take a 3rd or 4th doughnut or muffin and surreptitiously eat it in the bathroom, feeling shame while at the same time excusing myself by rationalizing that I obviously had an eating disorder and couldn't help myself. (I want to stop here and say that I recognize that there are true eating disorders that need professional intervention and I'm not for a second minimizing them here. I didn't have a true eating disorder and just threw out that excuse at the time because I was trying to ease my own guilt.) The truth was that it was a choice I made - every time.

That was actually GOOD news, because it meant that when I was ready to make a different choice, I was able to do that. There came a day when, with God's help, I made the decision to get healthy. Because I wanted that more than I wanted the food, I was able to make different choices. I was able to use the brain God gave me and put my feet on a different path, in a new direction. I don't want to sound like this was easy, because it certainly wasn't, but it WAS possible. It's possible for you, too, if you make the choice to change.

Choose wisely :-)

Too Busy to NOT Eat Healthy!

2011-11-09T08:46:00.002-05:00

Happy Wednesday everyone! I have a jam-packed schedule today - it's all good, but it will be a very busy day! I've planned out my meals for the day, however, so the busy schedule won't result in sludge eating :-).

It can be hard to stay focused and stay on plan when things are busy, and if we don't plan accordingly, busy days, accompanied by their own level of stress, make us incredibly vulnerable to off-plan eating. I'm not sure why it is, but put me into a hectic, stressful day and I can almost guarantee that there will be the wrong kind of food lurking around every corner. I don't kid myself, either. If I haven't planned, if I don't have everything I need with me, it's very easy to rationalize and grab the nearest food - and the nearest food-of-choice will be something loaded with white flour, white sugar and fat.

But eating those things won't keep me moving in the direction I want to go, and I'm in pursuit of optimal health. Even though they taste good for a nano-second, I know that those several hundred calories beckoning me won't provide any nutrition and that an hour or so after eating it I'll get a very predictable blood sugar drop. And not feeling my best won't help me get through this busy day!

So I've planned for today because I'm choosing health. I have the food ready that I'll need because I am also choosing convenience.

Those are my choices today - what are your choices? Is this a busy day for you? Are you ready for it? Is this a day with a lot of free time? Are you ready for that? Regardless of what's on your calendar for today, it's a good day to move forward, and you'll do that one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

How to Avoid the Energy Drain

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Staying on plan is a lot of work. There's no getting around it. Opening packets isn't hard, but being surrounded by the ever-present temptations IS hard and it takes constant focus to avoid them. That focus can be exhausting sometimes.

That's true, but did you know that it's even more exhausting to give in to temptation and go off plan?

I recently read that it takes as much energy to avoid a task as it does to do it; procrastination saps energy while completion gives relief.

This was certainly true for me. I cheated miserably on every other program I'd ever been on until I started on 5&1, and the energy I spent cheating really was exhausting and demoralizing. The internal struggle pre and post cheat went something like this: "That really looks good and I want it. I know I'm not supposed to have it, but it really looks good and I'm hungry/tired/stressed and I deserve it. I shouldn't have it . . . I really shouldn't have it. OK, I'll just have a bite. Well, maybe half won't be too bad . . . Ugh, I ate the whole thing. Since I ate one, I'll eat the other one so I won't be tempted anymore . . . Well, I really blew it. How could I be so stupid and weak? I don't even feel good - I ate way too much. I'm never going to lose weight. Why do I even try? I wish I hadn't eaten the stupid thing - it wasn't worth it."

That cycle was repeated over and over again, and it was emotionally exhausting. Every time the cycle was repeated, I felt more demoralized and defeated and reaching a healthy weight seemed just a little further away. Talk about an energy drain!

Contrast that with the energy involved in staying on plan: "That really looks good and I want it. But I also really want to get to a healthy weight and I want that more than I want the food. I can have that if I want, but I am choosing to not eat that right now because it won't get me where I want to go . . . Wow, I did it - I didn't cheat. Whew! I really did it - that feels great!" Instead of feeling emotionally drained, this scenario energizes you - it really does!

I remember really struggling at times to stay on plan and there were a few times when I almost caved. The internal dialogue was certainly more extended than the example listed above. However, there was SUCH a feeling of relief when I walked away - I was flooded with relief and joy once the temptation had passed. The realization that I really could stay on plan gave me hope that I would eventually reach my goal and it also strengthened my "no thank you muscle" for the next inevitable temptation. Knowing that I'd resisted once made it just a bit easier to resist the next time, and that next time made it even easier to resist the time after that.

So how are you going to spend your energy today? It all depends on the choices you make, so choose wisely :-)

Don't Forget Your Zzz's

2011-11-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

We turned the clocks back this past weekend, which means we had the opportunity to get an extra hour of sleep. Did you take advantage of that?

Did you know that sleep, or the lack of sleep, has a dramatic impact on your health, including your weight? Along with poor diet and inactivity, poor sleep is a major contributor to living in an unhealthy state.

In his book, Dr. A's Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen, Take Shape for Life's co-founder and Medical Director, writes that getting too little sleep disturbs appetite regulation, giving sleep deficiency the potential to be a major factor in obesity. He cites research on 28,000 adults and 15,000 children which showed that less sleep almost doubled the risk of obesity, even in children as young as five. Dr. Andersen explains that when we're sleep-deprived, our body secretes excess ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite, and less leptin, a substance that tells us to stop eating. Lack of sleep also prevents our bodies from replacing dopamine and serotonin, two brain chemicals that bring comfort and satisfaction. Guess what? If we're low in those two brain chemicals, we will crave sugar and other high-calorie foods.

And we thought getting healthy was just eating right and moving our bodies!

In our fast-pace society, sleep is something we're tempted to compromise. When I worked full-time, I rarely got more than 6 hours of sleep a night because I stayed up too late and then had to get up for work. It wasn't until I went back to work that the weight really piled on, and while I blamed it on inactivity, sitting in front of a computer all day instead of being a busy stay-at-home mom, I now realize that my chronic sleep deprivation may have played a part as well.

We need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep every night. If we aren't getting that, we are not only compromising out health (Dr. Andersen also writes about the link between lack of sleep and increased inflammation and a higher risk of cardiovascular incidents, anxiety and depression), but we may be making it harder to stay on plan and get to a healthy weight.

So as you are making other choices about your health today, what you're going to eat and how you're going to move, what about what time you're going to go to bed? That's another habit of health to develop as you continue your journey! Getting healthy requires a series of choices that, working together, will enable us to create optimal health in our lives. Choose wisely :-)

Decisions . . . Decisions

2011-11-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

"The craving you had for an hour or the body you've wanted for a lifetime - you get to choose."

It really does come down to what we choose, and we will make that choices, and the choices that support that choice, based on what it is that we really want.

Many of us want BOTH the craving we had for an hour AND the body (and the health!) we've wanted for a lifetime. We don't want to choose - we want them both, at the same time. But that's not possible. There may be a few people blessed with a killer metabolism that allows them to eat anything they want and still be thin, but the fact that you're reading this blog is probably an indication that you don't have one of those killer metabolisms - and neither do I. And the reality is that if those rare individuals with killer metabolisms are eating junk all day, they may be thin but still not healthy and may well be on a path to disease.

Every day we have to make choices that will either bring us to a healthy weight and a healthier body or make choices that will lead us down a very different path. That other path is the one that many of us have been on for years, perhaps decades. It is a well-worn path that's been made smooth by the number of times we've been down it. It's an easy path to walk because it's so familiar . . . the problem is that it's taken us to a place we didn't want to be and leads to an even less desirable place if we continue.

Being on a journey to a healthier body isn't easy. The path is a new one for many, and for others it's a path we haven't been on in years. It's a bumpy path with pitfalls and temptations threatening us at every turn. Sometimes it feels too hard and we can question whether it's going to be worth it, especially when the next temptation is staring us in the face.

It's at those times that it's important to take a step back, take a deep breath and ask - for the hundredth time if necessary - what is it that you REALLY want? You will make the choices that support what you want.

You get to choose . . . choose wisely :-)

Staying in the Game

2011-11-04T08:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I wrote about not quitting half-way through the game. I know that's easier said than done! How do you keep going when you just want to be done?

First of all, I understand completely that feeling. I got tired of eating the food and I got tired of not eating so many other things. It took me two days short of 11 months to reach my goal and while the months went fast, especially as I look back, there were some mighty long days! It wasn't always fun.

I remember that about four months into the program I started questioning how long I would be on plan. It was just before Thanksgiving and I had 26 people coming to my house for dinner that year, so I knew that I'd be doing a lot of cooking and baking. I'd made really good progress with my weight loss and had dropped several sizes, so I was in a much better place than I'd been when I started the plan that June. I toyed with taking a small break to really enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and I also considered taking a break between Thanksgiving and New Years and then starting in again on January 2.

I considered this, but I didn't do it. In fact, I stayed on plan through the holidays and lost 18 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. When I reached New Year's Day, I didn't know that it would be over 5-1/2 more months until I reached my goal, but I was really happy that I'd continued to make progress through what is admittedly the toughest time of the year.

So how and why did I do that? Again, it wasn't easy, but I stayed on plan because I knew that what I wanted most was to get to a healthy weight and get on with the rest of my life, and I wanted it more than I wanted the food. I really, really wanted the food - don't get me wrong - but I wanted something else even more.

Chapter 3 of Dr. A's Habits of Health is entitled, "Motivation for Change." He describes a typical and very predictable pattern that most of us will recognize from our past dieting experiences, a pattern based on wanting to change to fix a problem. Here's the pattern:

1. Emotional conflict leads you to act
2. Because you've acted, you feel better - even if the situation hasn't changed much
3. Feeling better takes the pressure off, lessening the emotional conflict
4. Less emotional conflict means there's less reason to continue doing the things that reduced the conflict in the first place
5. Since you feel better, you no longer feel a pressing need to follow through on your actions.
6. And the original behavior returns.

That is how we've ended up in a yo-yo dieting pattern, losing and gaining, losing and gaining over the years. If we are focused on fixing a problem (being overweight and/or unhealthy), the upcoming holiday season is a dangerous one. If you've been on plan for any length of time, you DO look and feel better, no doubt about it. That's why it's important to take a deep breath and focus - focus hard - on what it is that you really want.

I've been talking about the holidays, but this is true regardless of what time of year it is. Life continues to happen and anytime life happens, there is always food . . . always. If we're focused on what we want, and if we're honest with ourselves about what it is that we most want, we will make the secondary choices that support that fundamental choice.

Four years ago, I knew that what I wanted most was to get to a healthy weight. I made some hard choices, but those choices supported what I most wanted. There are no regrets!

What do you really want today? Identify what it is that you want, focus on it, then choose wisely :-)

Changing Priorities

2011-11-02T07:19:00.001-04:00

"When our old priorities don't go with our new life, we either return to our old life or adopt new priorities."

My old priorities as they related to food and my health were WAY off. I was very much focused on instant gratification and only gave a passing nod to the idea that what I was putting in my mouth today could negatively impact me tomorrow. I was certainly aware of the dangers of obesity, but I always had VERY good intentions to "start being good tomorrow." I can't tell you how many "last suppers" I've had in my life as I tried to eat up all of the "bad food" before starting on the next sure-thing diet. I knew that exercise was important, and I could give a pretty good list of all of the reasons why, but there was never time to exercise today - but I'd promise myself that I'd get started tomorrow. My priorities were pretty much on the here and now, and "tomorrow" never showed up on my calendar. Every day was only "today."

To this day, it amazes me that God led me to the right program at the right time, knowing that I was finally - FINALLY - ready to make permanent changes in my life. I didn't even realize it at the time, and that the thought that I could really make permanent, positive changes seemed impossible.

However, June 24, 2007 was the beginning of what has truly been a life-changing journey, and, with God's help, I have made permanent changes in my life. I know I can never return to that old life, so I've been forced to adopt some new priorities. Many of these priorities flow out of my primary choice/ secondary choice philosophy (are you tired of hearing about this yet?).

Some of my priorities - my most important priorities - remain unchanged: my faith and my family. However, other priorities have been rearranged because being healthy is now one of my new, permanent priorities - a primary choice.

According to the statistics, 85% (or more) of people who lose weight end up gaining it all back, plus some, within two years. I can't help but wonder if many of these people return to their old, overweight life because they never changed their priorities.

Priorities don't automatically change. They only change as we choose to change them. It's never an easy task, but if we don't change our priorities to support our new, healthy life, sooner or later we'll find ourselves in a place we vowed we'd never see again.

Changing priorities happens one day at a time, one choice at a time. What choice are you making today? Choose wisely :-)

Setting - and Reaching - Weight Loss Goals

2011-11-01T08:53:00.000-04:00

Welcome to November! I am in disbelief as I type "November" - how did we get here so fast? Are you starting November where you'd hoped to be, or is your weight loss lagging behind your projections? For many of you, you knew where you hoped you'd be by the holidays and based on what the scale is saying, the reality is hitting that you may not be exactly where you wanted to be. If that just described you, the question is, what now?

For a variety of reasons, I'm not a proponent of attaching dates to weight loss goals. We simply can't control how fast we release the weight and the scale can be maddening at times; all we can really control is whether or not we choose to stay on program. That said, I DO understanding wanting to hit milestones.

When I was on 5&1, I set up a spreadsheet that projected when I'd reach my goal if I averaged 2 pound losses each week. Each week as I logged my weight loss for the week, the spreadsheet would update. I had a lot of 1 pound weeks and I had three separate weeks when I didn't lose a thing, even though I stayed on plan. I saw my projected goal date repeatedly change. I'll be honest and let you know that my heart sank a bit when I saw my anticipated goal date extended. However, I realized that I was still further ahead than if I hadn't stayed on plan.

Each day that you stay on plan, you are one day closer to your goal. Regardless of how fast the scale is moving, changes ARE happening and you ARE moving in the right direction. You WILL reach your goal - I promise :-).

So if November doesn't find you where you'd hoped you'd be, that's OK. You're getting there, one day, one meal and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Tricks and No Treats

2011-10-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

When it comes to "magic" weight loss, the news is filled with tricks and definitely NO treats. I remember reading a couple of news articles several months ago that caught my attention and neither was good news for anyone looking for an easy answer to losing weight.

The first article was alarming, actually. Apparently there are a number of patients of a California plastic surgeon who elected to have a patch surgically applied to their tongue. The purpose, according to the physician, was to "make chewing solid foods very difficult and painful, limiting the patient to a liquid diet." I read that and thought, "you have GOT to be kidding me" . . . except I knew it wasn't a joke. The article included concerns from other physicians about the risk of infection and other potential complications from this procedure. Apparently the tongue patch was intended to be kept in place for only 30 days before being removed, but this is certainly not a wise approach, even on a short-term basis.

The other article announced that federal health regulators had decided not to approve yet another experimental diet pill which had been touted by some experts as the most promising weight-loss drug in over a decade. The FDA has asked for more study results and additional information on the drug's possible health risks, including major cardiovascular events and risks for women of childbearing age. The article went on to say that research continues in an effort to find an answer to America's obesity crisis.

In my humble opinion, the answer to America's obesity crisis will never be found in a surgical procedure, any surgical procedure, and it won't be found in a pill, either. These are all attempts to treat the symptoms and don't address the cause.

I'm not a psychologist and I'm not trying to paint everyone with the same brush, but I know that I didn't double my weight between my early 30's and my early/mid 50's because I was (am) a good cook and enjoy food. I spent a lot of time in denial to be sure, but even in my denial I understood that I was doing a lot of emotional eating. No surgery and no drug could fix that . . .

It wasn't until I started on this program that I finally began the work of addressing my emotional eating issues. What prompted me to do that were two things: first of all, I couldn't justify the cost of doing this program unless I was actually DOING the program. I knew it would only be cost-neutral if I was staying on plan. Secondly, when the weight started coming off, I was afraid to mess up what was finally clearly working and working well, so I was motivated to stay on plan. Both of these compelling reasons to stay on plan forced me to begin to deal with the stuff of life without running to food to stuff my feelings. At the time I made the decision to stay on plan, I certainly didn't think about the emotional ramifications of that decision, but learning how to deal with stress, boredom, etc. without running to chocolate (my drug of choice) made all of the difference for me.

As I've shared before, part of my story is that I learned that food couldn't fix the issues and I learned to turn in a deeper way to the true Source of my comfort - my Heavenly Father. He was and is faithful in meeting my every need!

Take Shape for Life/Medifast isn't a bag of tricks - it's a solid, proven program that works. If you make the choice to work the program, you will not only lose weight, but you just might experience personal growth in the process. How's that for an added treat?

It all begins with the choices you make. Choose wisely :-)

Changing or Choosing?

2011-10-29T07:51:00.002-04:00

Here's a quote to ponder a while: "Whatever you are not changing . . . you are choosing." What do you think?

I had to think about that for a bit, but it makes sense. There are certainly some things in our lives that we CAN'T change, but we have the ability to change a lot more than we often think we can . . . IF we choose. When there are things in our lives that we wish were different and we have the ability to change them, inaction really boils down to our decision to choose the status quo.

That certainly is true when it comes to our weight - the issue that brought all of us here :-). It doesn't matter what we think our genetics are, it doesn't matter if we've never been at a healthy weight in our lives, it doesn't matter how old we are or anything else. We can change our weight and begin or continue on a path to a healthy weight if we choose. If we aren't making progress and losing weight, if we aren't taking control of our weight, then it's because we're choosing to stay at an unhealthy weight.

Nobody can do this program for us. Conversely, nobody can make us go off plan. The only exception to the last sentence would be if someone tied us to a chair, pried our mouth open and force-fed us. I doubt that's happened to anybody lately!

I'm not saying that staying on plan is easy, because it's not. I also fully understand the struggle with emotional eating as I was a long-time emotional eater. However, it's still our choice - every time. The reality is that if we decide to change, really decide, we will make the choices we need to make that change happen. We may not do this perfectly, but over time our choices will more and more align with our decision to implement change.

So what are you choosing today? Are you choosing to change, or are you making the choice to stay where you are? The secondary choices you make today will support what it is that you really want. Choose wisely :-)

Don't Get Spooked!

2011-10-26T07:09:00.000-04:00

Happy Wednesday! We're half-way through this week and are coming up fast on the weekend, which includes Halloween. In my past, Halloween was the beginning of an all-out food fest that didn't end until I was in a sugar-induced stupor on January 2. Between Halloween and New Year's, it wasn't unusual for me to pick up at least 10 pounds - yikes!

I have a terrible sweet tooth that I inherited from my dad (he's the only person I know who will put PB&J on his grilled cheese sandwiches, and I've seen him put it on hamburgers once or twice). When my children were young, I would sort through their trick-or-treat bags and take out all of the "yucky" candy bars (I know, I'm bad . . . the kids eventually figured out what I was doing and I was busted).

Four years ago, being on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program and staying on plan meant keeping my hands out of my grandchildren's trick or treat bags (a sugar-aholic is shameless . . . ), but it wasn't easy. Halloween was the first big test of my commitment to stay on plan, so I approached the day with a bit of trepidation. When the moment finally arrived and I stared down all that candy, I realized that once I started eating it I probably wouldn't be able to stop, and I knew that once I DID stop, I'd feel awful - physically and mentally. That was one of the first times on plan that I can remember sensing a serious threat looming to my weight loss journey, and my response was to think ahead and not get caught up in the moment.

I'm writing about this now because I'm guessing that some of you will be facing down a lot of candy and chocolate this weekend. I'm encouraging you to think about it now and decide now what you're going to do and how you're going to respond.

Planning ahead is critical on this plan. So many of us are impulsive eaters, and I know that there were many times when I found myself eating almost before I realized it. That was always followed by regret, but it was too late to undo what had been done. When we take the time to anticipate temptation and plan how we're going to respond, we're more likely to be successful.

Eating my Medifast meals on time was key to keeping me on plan, even when faced with some of my favorite sweets. Because I was eating my meals at regular intervals, my blood sugar stayed stable and my cravings didn't get out of hand. Because I wasn't hungry, it was much easier to walk away. Keeping a crunch bar handy can also be helpful if the craving continues - they really satisfy my sweet tooth!

The most important thing you can do ahead of time is to spend some time thinking about what you really want. When you're not facing a temptation, it's much easier to focus on what you really want (and what you REALLY want isn't the Halloween candy . . . ). Get a clear picture in your mind now of what you want - think about how you'll look and feel at your goal. If you get that picture in your mind, you'll be in a better position to make choices that will support your goal.

I'll talk more about the holidays in upcoming posts, but I'm encouraging you to start thinking and planning now for this weekend. Getting through this sugar-infused day will position you for success as we move closer to those OTHER holidays!

It's all about making choices to support what we really want. Choose wisely :-)

Feeling Deprived

2011-10-25T08:46:00.002-04:00

In my early days of being on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 plan, I had days when I really struggled with feeling deprived and looking at all of the things that I "couldn't have." I hate feeling deprived (honestly, does anybody really like feeling that way??) and had I stayed in that mindset, I never would have gotten to my goal.

Thankfully, over time I began to embrace the reality that I COULD have those things - if I wanted to and chose to have them. I was a grown-up and free to make those choices. I also understood that there was something I wanted more than the food - I wanted to get to my goal and have a thin, healthy body. Because I wanted that, and I really did want that, I made the choice to not eat certain things. I've written a lot about the need to make secondary choices to support our primary choice, and I keep going back to this because it is SO important!

If you have a mindset that thinks of this program as being all about deprivation - can't have that and can't have this - your journey will be a lot more of a struggle. None of us likes to feel deprived. We are hardwired to take care of ourselves and feeling deprived for very long often leads to resentment and anger. Those feelings are hard to carry with us for weeks or months at a time and staying in a deprivation mindset often leads to eventually going off plan because we feel almost driven to "be good to ourselves."

However, if we've made the primary choice to get healthy, then we will view the secondary choices we make - including staying on program - from a different perspective. We will understand that these choices are steps on a ladder, with each choice bringing us that much closer to what we really want. We will embrace these choices are just that - the choices we are choosing to make. When I was on 5&1, I adopted the mindset of "I can have anything I want any time I want, but I am choosing to eat 5&1 instead of that because 5&1 will get me where I want to go and that won't." That thinking kept me out of feeling deprived all the time and it was one of the things that helped keep me focused and relatively cheerful all the way to my goal (I said relatively . . . !).

You don't have to stay on plan and you don't have to reach your goal. You really don't! The choice is yours, and if you've made the choice to stay on plan and get to your goal (and I hope you have!), then embrace this as your choice, then continue to choose wisely :-)

Interested or Committed?

2011-10-24T07:00:00.001-04:00

"There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results."

I've written before about the difference between being interested in doing something (like losing weight) and committing to doing it, but I like the way this quote sums it up. It's really true, when you stop and think about it.

To be honest, quotes like this one used to make me mad, especially as it related to weight loss. I really thought I was committed to losing weight - goodness, I tried every new diet that came out! Didn't that prove how committed I was to losing weight? I sure thought so!

What I understand now is that up until I finally started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was just interested in losing weight, not committed to doing so. I was interested and as long as nothing came up in my life, I was fairly compliant with whatever plan I was on and dutifully counted the obligatory calories, carbs, fat grams or points. I was really pretty good, at least until something came up. The problem, of course, was that something ALWAYS came up! It was almost impossible to get through an entire week without SOMETHING coming up. We'd go out to dinner with friends or our Bible study group would meet and there would be a homemade dessert or the kids would want to come over for pizza or . . . you get the idea. Throw in a fair amount of stress (after all, I couldn't be expected to stay on a program when I was stressed, could I?) and a busy schedule that sometimes had me grabbing a meal at a fast-food drive-through and I was almost always more "off" than I was "on" any program I'd ever tried. I was interested in losing weight all right, but I was only interested in doing something as long as it was easy and there were no obstacles of any kind in my way.

How frustrating that life is always throwing obstacles in our way! If we're only interested in losing weight, those obstacles will trip us up over and over again.

However, when we're committed to losing weight, it's amazing how our attitude changes. We see the excuses for what they are - excuses - and we're focused on results. Once we know what we want, we figure it out. I've seen this happen over and over again.

Are you interested in getting to a healthy weight or are you committed to reaching your goal? If you're committed - if you've made the fundamental choice to get there - then the choices you face become much easier because you will make the choices necessary to get you where you want to be. What do you want? Be honest with yourself as you answer that question, then choose wisely :-)

Motivation for Permanent Change

2011-10-21T07:55:00.002-04:00

In Dr. A's Habits of Health (a fabulous book written by Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen), Dr. Andersen writes "Change motivated by conflict will always be temporary; change motivated by desired outcomes can lead to permanent change." His point is that to make change permanent, we need to move from solving a problem to creating something in our lives.

When I started my weight loss plan, I was trying to solve a couple of problems - my obesity and my diabetes. My blood sugar returned to normal within one week of starting the program, so that "problem" began to improve almost immediately. Week by week, as I saw the pounds melt off and I dropped size after size, the pain of obesity began to ease. Had my focus remained on solving my problems, I'm not sure I would have ever reached my goal. By the time I'd lost 60 pounds and was 200 pounds, I looked and felt a LOT better. I was out of women's sizes and my blood sugar remained normal. I was pretty tired of being on plan and I remember toying with the idea of quitting. I remember walking through the grocery store, loading my cart with lean protein and my greens while smelling great things from the bakery. I took note of all of the people pushing carts loaded with very Medifast-unfriendly food, and many of these people were quite a bit heavier than I was. I remember being mad that I was still on such a restrictive plan while other people were eating all of the "fun stuff," and I began to rationalize. I was 55, I had 4 grandchildren, I was wearing size 16, and I momentarily thought that where I was at was good enough.

Thankfully, I came out of that thinking pretty quickly, before I allowed it to take me down a road I didn't want to take. What brought me back and kept me moving forward was a vision I had in my mind of being at a healthy weight and wearing a small size. I imagined the joy at finally reaching my goal, and I knew if I stopped short of my goal I would feel like I had settled for less than what I really wanted.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I had done exactly what Dr. A wrote about - I moved from solving a problem to creating something in my life. My focus was on moving forward towards something I wanted rather than moving away from something I didn't want. Ultimately, that made all of the difference for me.

It still makes a difference. My focus now is on continuing on the path to optimal health. Optimal health looks different for each of us, but I have a clear vision in my mind of what optimal health is for me. As long as I stay focused on what I want to create in my life, I am motivated to make the choices necessary to continue moving forward.

Today we each have to choose if we're going to look back at what brought us to this program, or if we're going to look forward at what we want to create in our lives. I'd rather create than problem solve - how about you? Creating something new and wonderful in your life will happen one day, one meal and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Making Those Secondary Choices

2011-10-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

This morning my husband and I are off to the health club to work out after a L-O-N-G hiatus. From early October of 2007 (about 3-1/2 months after starting on 5&1) until May of 2010, I worked out fairly regularly at a health club near our house. My husband has successfully kept off the 50 pounds he lost on 5&1, but exercise has never been his strong suit, if you know what I mean. He started working out with me in May of 2010, but once I was injured late that month when I slipped and fell off the treadmill, breaking a bone in my right knee, he never went back. The injury kept me fairly immobilized for several weeks and even after the break healed, my knee was never the same and this injury was most likely the final straw that led to my total knee replacement this past August.

Anyway . . . it's been close to 18 months since either one of us have worked out regularly or gotten much exercise besides a walk. We'd canceled our health club membership and tried to work out at home on some equipment we have, but it was definitely hit and miss, with more "miss" than "hit." We recently received an offer to join another health club (membership fee waived and very reasonable monthly rate). I've finished physical therapy for my knee and know that working out will help to further strengthen my knee as well as provide the overall conditioning and health benefits we need, so we decided it was time to get going again.

To my surprise and delight, the trainer we're working with was one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser (TBL has an entire team of trainers, not just the ones seen on camera). This guy knows his stuff and my husband and I are really impressed with how thorough he has been in doing an assessment of where we are and what we need. I'm excited to see what happens over the next months as we get back into a good workout routine under the guidance of this trainer!

One thing we know for sure: maintenance is about more than just maintaining at a healthy weight. That's important, to be sure, but getting to our goal weight isn't the end of the road, just an important milestone on the journey to being optimally healthy. One of my friends who has lost 30 pounds and maintained a healthy weight for several years said that it's important for her to continue to set health goals for herself. By doing so, she continues to move forward on her own optimal health journey and she continues to experience the satisfaction of reaching new goals.

Consistency in exercise has been an ongoing challenge for me and this is the next hurdle to overcome on my own journey. Certainly the issues with my knee complicated my ability to exercise, but the truth is that I really don't like to do it! However, I DO like to be healthy and I DO want to live a healthy, active lifestyle for as long as I can. Because those things are important to me, I'm heading to the health club today!

Exercise is a secondary choice I am making because it supports what I
REALLY want. The important thing to note about secondary choices is that they are often things we don't want to do . . . but we do them anyway because they support what it is that we DO want. Just as a concert pianist will practice for hours, not for the love of practice but because practicing supports their desire to be a concert pianist, those of us who want to be healthy make secondary choices that support our goal.

Staying on plan is a secondary choice, drinking water instead of something else may be a secondary choice, and working out instead of relaxing at home is definitely a secondary choice. We may not particularly want to do any of those things for the pure joy of doing them, but choosing to do those things will allow us to live a long and healthy life. If that's your goal, choose wisely :-)

Why I Didn't Cheat

2011-10-18T08:59:00.000-04:00

One question I get asked a lot is, "How did you manage to stay on plan without cheating for almost a year?"

The answer really isn't easy, and sometimes I'm almost hesitant to admit that I didn't cheat, especially when I can just tell that the person asking me is hoping to hear that yes, I got off plan numerous times, then got back on and got to my goal.

There are many, many people on program who did exactly that - found themselves off plan from time to time, but eventually they reached their goal. They have nothing but my deep admiration and respect, and I applaud them for their gritty tenacity and never-give-up spirit.

But that wasn't me.

First of all, I was scared to death to get off plan. I'd finally found something that WORKED - I was losing weight and I felt GOOD, unheard of on every other diet I'd ever gone on. I was faithfully logging my meals, involved with the on-line community here, and just plain had my head in the game. Because I had failed miserably on every other weight loss plan I'd ever gone on (and I'd been on just about every plan, sane and crazy, that was out there), it seemed incredible to find something that actually worked. I was afraid that if I got off plan and shifted my focus, I might never be able to get it going again. I was researching weight loss surgery options on line (including lap band in Mexico because it was cheaper . . . ) when I found information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast. I was pretty desperate and felt that if this plan didn't work, I didn't know what I'd do.

So fear kept me motivated :-). I was also sick to death of dieting, having done so for the majority of two solid decades. I was tired of always either being on a diet or feeling guilty because I wasn't on a diet and needed to be, or researching the NEXT sure thing diet. This time, I was ready to just get it done. I took the mindset that this wasn't going to be for the rest of my life, that this was a season in my life I'd set aside to get healthy. I told myself that all the things I wasn't eating while on 5&1 would eventually come back and I'd be able to enjoy them at a healthy weight.

I was tired of feeling guilty about what I ate. Almost every time I ate something "bad", I'd feel guilty, knowing that I "shouldn't" be eating it. That guilt was magnified many times over when I'd eat the forbidden food while on a diet. When I started on 5&1, I decided that I wanted to really enjoy what I was eating, and I wanted to be able to eat it without feeling guilty about it. The wonderful thing is that now I CAN eat pretty much what I want, in moderation, and I don't feel guilty anymore. That is an amazing feeling of freedom! Also, because I no longer feel guilty, I don't have guilt that ends up fueling a binge.

So that's WHY I stayed on plan. Now let me share with you how I did it.

I planned, planned, planned - every meal every day. I faithfully logged my meals and my water intake every day so I kept myself accountable. I would generally sit down in the evening and log everything I planned for the next day, right down to the lean & green (if I knew ahead of time what we were going to have). I'd get my shake ready, mix up my soup, and put my oatmeal packet and a bar in my purse, ready for work the next morning. Because I logged everything ahead of time, I knew every day how many calories and carbs I had allotted myself, which made it easier to turn down tempting treats. And I mean I logged everything - weighed my meat, measured my veggies, and made sure that if it went in my mouth, it was logged on my meal plan for the day. If I had a day when I was going to be on the go all day, I made oatmeal muffins and cream soup bread and made sure that I had packets of shakes or cappuccino with me (I lost my weight before the crunch bars, pretzels, cheese puffs and bites which make on-the-go days SO much easier now!). I had extra meals in my purse, at my desk, and in my car, and I kept an extra shaker bottle in my desk drawer. I left no room for failure, and I wanted to make sure that I never was in a position where I needed to eat and didn't have anything with me. That said, I also came to realize that I would NOT die if I didn't eat immediately, that I really COULD wait to eat, if need be :-).

Lastly, I finally admitted that I was incapable of losing weight on my own. I asked God every day to give me the strength I needed for that day, and I found Him to be faithful to my very earnest prayer. Because I couldn't run to food for comfort, I realized all over again that He really IS my true Source of comfort!

So that's pretty much why I stayed on plan and how I did it. It certainly wasn't easy, and there were many days I didn't wake up joyful that I was facing another day of 5&1 :-). But I did, and I don't have any regrets. I reached my goal over 3 years ago and am still maintaining a healthy weight. It was definitely worth it!

So that's my story - how about you? It doesn't matter if you're just starting the plan, or if you're restarting for the umpteenth time. Today can be the first in a series of on-plan days that will ultimately lead you to your goal. And you'll reach your goal one day, one meal, and one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Mood or Mindset?

2011-10-17T08:36:00.002-04:00

I've got a question for you today: are your responses based on your mind-set or on your mood?

A couple of years ago I did a Beth Moore Bible study based on the book of Esther. In this study, Beth talked about several Bible characters who stood firm even under difficult (and sometimes life-threatening) circumstances. She made the statement that "each responded out of his mind-set rather than his mood."

Up until I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, my weight loss efforts were pretty much dictated by my mood. When I was feeling motivated, I tried to lose weight. When I didn't feel like it, I'd tell myself that it wasn't going to be a "good diet day" and I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted. Needless to say, a mood-driven weight loss program got me absolutely no where!

It wasn't until I embraced a mind-set of getting healthy that I finally began my final weight loss journey. Having the right tools - this program! - certainly made the difference, but what was also different this time was that I had a different mind-set.

When I started on this program, I wasn't trying to lose weight for a specific event, and I didn't set a date to reach my goal. This time, my goal was to get healthy and stay healthy, and I didn't care how long it took (but naturally I hoped it would be fast!). Once I embraced a mind-set of getting healthy, it was amazing to see the difference in my resolve.

If you're in the habit of responding out of your mood, this journey is going to be a long and rocky one, because there will be times when I can guarantee that you won't be in the mood to stay on plan. There are days when this isn't fun at all, and unless you have a mind-set that is fixed on getting to a healthy weight and continuing your pursuit of health, you're likely to succumb to the myriad of temptations that surround you.

Part of moving from mood to mind-set is taking the time to identify what it is that you really want. If you want to be at a healthy weight, write it down. Picture in your mind what your life will look like when you reach your goal - what kind of clothes will you wear? How will you feel? What will you be able to do? If you can get a picture in your mind of what you want, that can help you keep moving forward on those days when this isn't fun. Instead of moving away from what you don't want (being overweight, on medication, etc.), think about what you want to create in your life. That's much more fun and will be a big step forward in giving you the mind-set you need to get to your goal.

The choice is yours - mood or mind-set? Choose wisely :-)

Season Within a Season

2011-10-16T08:59:00.000-04:00

Every now and then, I like to share some of my earliest blogs, written when I was in the early weeks of 5&1. Since that's where many of you are right now, I hope that what I wrote a little over four years ago will be helpful to you today!

***
It's looking a lot like autumn around my house, both inside and outside. Outside, the trees are slowly but surely changing color and some leaves are beginning to fall. I love to have my surroundings reflect the seasons, so last night I bought pumpkins and mums to join a stuffed scarecrow on my porch and put away all of the summer decorations around my house. In their place are leaves, pumpkins, and spicy candles. I am always amazed at how quickly one season turns into another, and realized that in just a few weeks all of my autumn decorations will be replaced by Christmas things.

When I was a young wife and mother, I remember hearing a speaker talk about the seasons in a woman's life. It was a time in my life when I thought I had to do everything NOW and I was running in a hundred different directions, feeling very fragmented and frazzled. The speaker urged women to embrace each season of our lives and not try to rush from one season to the other, because we would find in retrospect that they had passed very quickly indeed. I remember thinking that I "couldn't wait until the baby was walking, or potty trained, or ready for preschool, etc.", and I also felt such a sense of urgency to keep a dozen balls in the air all at the same time. The speaker's comments about viewing different stages as seasons really resonated with me and forced me to slow down and re-evaluate my priorities. At the time, I was in the "young stay-at-home wife and mother" season, and, as she predicted, it all too soon turned into the "full-time working mom of adolescents/teenagers" season, making me wonder why I was in such a hurry for the first season to pass . Now I'm in the peaceful season of the empty-nester, very much enjoying having my adult married daughters and families nearby and my son in college.

I'm finding that there are also "seasons-within-seasons." This journey on Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a "season-within-a-season" in my life; viewing this as a season helps me to maintain perspective on some of my "I don't want to do this anymore" days. Yes, I have stayed on plan 100% for 14 weeks, but there have been numerous times when all I could think was, "This is NOT fun anymore." Going to a great potluck and turning down the cheesy potatoes and wonderful desserts wasn't easy, and there have been other times when I would have killed for a slice of pizza or hot yeast roll. Then I remind myself that this is the season I have devoted to getting healthy - this is NOT the rest of my life (although I know and accept the fact that I will never again be able to eat like I once did). For this season, I am choosing to stay on plan and focus on losing the weight I need to lose and just getting myself healthy.

So as I view the falling leaves and think about how quickly the seasons change, I am reminded that this season of dieting will also pass, unfolding to what I hope will be a very LONG season of enjoying my thin and healthy body!

***
Reading this again four years later is a reminder to me of what an amazing journey this was - and is! I am almost 3-1/2 years into the season called "Maintenance" and it's a lovely season indeed! It's certainly not without its challenges, but getting to a healthy weight and maintaining is well worth any and all challenges.

My hope and prayer for you is that this "season within a season" will be short and that you will enjoy a thin and healthy body for many seasons to come! You'll get there one day, one meal, and one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Do You Really Want To?

2011-10-15T08:55:00.002-04:00

Do you want to get to a healthy weight? Do you want to stay at a healthy weight for the rest of your life?

This seems like an obvious question, doesn't it? And I hate it when people ask obvious questions (makes me wonder if they think I'm stupid or something . . . ). But I'm asking this question today because I think it's an important question to ask.

One book I really like is, "At His Feet" by Chris Tiegreen. One of the devotional readings in this book is based on the story of Jesus healing a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus approached the man, He asked the man, "Do you want to get well?" Interestingly, the man didn't respond, "Well, of course!" Instead, he offered an excuse (the entire story can be found in John 5:1-15 if you want to read the entire account).

The writer of the devotion noted that as much as we think we want to change, we're comfortable with the status quo. The man may have been tired of being an invalid, but he also may have feared the changes in his life that being healed would bring. So Jesus asked what seems to be an obvious question, "Do you want to get well?"

Our problem is that all too often we want change, but we don't want TO change. At least that's true for me :-). I want to keep doing what I've always done, but get better results! Unfortunately, that happens to be the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results . . . ).

We know we SHOULD lose weight, and perhaps we even want to lose weight, sort of. But things come up that are more important to us that getting to a healthy weight and we cheat. Or perhaps losing weight makes people begin to notice us, and that makes us uncomfortable, so we start sabotaging ourselves. Status quo can be a pretty comfortable and safe place to be sometimes, even if we know it's not healthy in the long run.

So the question needs to be asked, and I ask it respectfully: Do you want to get to a healthy weight and stay there? If you do, you are on the right program to get you there. You have a lot of wonderful tools to help you each step of the way and there is an amazing amount of support available. The program is a proven program - the only variable is you. If you work the program, it works! If you don't work the program, it doesn't work.

As I've shared before, for me the food part of this program was the easy part. The really, really hard part was the head and the heart part, because I had to change in pretty fundamental ways how I thought and felt about food. I had to end a long relationship with food, and that was not an easy task. What made this time different than all of the other bazillion times I'd tried in the past was that this time I finally, really wanted to change.

I hope your answer to my question today is a resounding "YES!!!" But be honest with yourself, and if it's not, spend some time figuring out why. If you figure out what's holding you back and then take steps to deal with it, you'll eventually be able to answer "YES!", too. And when you do, you'll reach your goal and stay there! And you'll reach your goal one day, one meal, and one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

It's a Marathon!

2011-10-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

One thing I know for sure . . . getting to and maintaining a healthy weight isn't a sprint - it's a marathon. We really have to prepare ourselves to stay consistent over the long haul, because no matter how long it will take for us to reach our goal, reaching our goal is only the first phase of this program. Maintaining at a healthy weight is the rest of the program - one marathon after another.

I'm not a runner due to my knee (recently replaced, but bad for over 30 years), but I've watched bits and pieces of a few marathons over the years and I've watched my daughter run. As I think back to the marathons, one thing I remember is that most of the runners aren't smiling while they're running. Some of them look like they're concentrating, and others are actually grimacing. The exhilaration of taking off at the starting line eventually fades and the marathoner is faced with the task of just putting one foot in front of the other. At some point along the way, it's not particularly fun any more. But running a marathon isn't necessarily about having fun along the way (although some runners really do enjoy the journey). Running in a marathon is about finishing it and having the satisfaction of knowing that the runner accomplished something difficult. There might not be a lot of smiling going on during the marathon, but there are lots of smiles and lots of celebrations at the finish line.

Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations about the weight loss marathon we're on and we expect it to be fun and exciting the entire time. That might be true if it was a 50 yard dash, but it's not a dash - this is the marathon of our lives. The reality is that we will alternate between exhilaration and exhaustion, between feeling like this is the best thing we've ever done to hating the thought of doing this one more day. In the end, we will experience a full spectrum of emotions on this journey, but as long as we keep putting one foot in front of another, we will cross the finish line. And when we cross the finish line and reach goal, there will be smiles and lots of celebration.

And after the celebration we'll begin the next marathon - maintenance :-).

So, are your running shoes laced up this morning? It's another marathon day - are you committed to staying the course today? The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Oh Really????

2011-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

On our way home from Chicago this past Monday night, we passed a billboard for a bariatric surgeon. The billboard read, "Obesity is a Disease, Not a Decision." All I could think of was, "Oh really????"

The billboard really frustrated me (actually made me angry, if the truth be told). It gives the impression that obesity is something that can't be helped - it's a disease that apparently you "catch." The billboard gives the distinct impression that an individual's decisions have nothing to do with their obesity. Again, I can only ask, "Oh really????"

As long as people think that they are somehow helpless victims of this epidemic, somehow caught in the throes of a disease called "obesity," they will view themselves as powerless to escape. Disease is viewed as something to be treated externally by someone else, whether the treatment is in the form of medication or, in the case of the physician on this billboard, through surgery. Disease somehow implies that there is little to no personal responsibility involved. After all, it's not a decision.

Ugh!

The truth is that while we may not have decided to become obese (in that sense, it's not a decision because most rational people don't one day decide that they want to be obese), the hundreds and thousands of decisions we made along the way brought us to the point of obesity. If obesity is a disease, it is one that we inflicted on ourselves one decision at a time.

Owning up to that is an important step in reversing our obesity. When I saw "268" on the scale, I knew I'd done it to myself, one forkful at a time. Because I was able to accept responsibility for what I'd done to my body and acknowledged that the Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol I had was a direct result of my obesity and the choices I'd made, I was eventually able to make the decision to get healthy. Just as I got obese one decision at a time, I got to a healthy weight that same way - one choice and one decision at a time.

It's not easy to turn things around, but it IS possible. That's not just my own story, but it's the story of so many others I know who finally made the same decision I did. We aren't helpless, and we aren't victims. We have the ability to choose a different path that can lead us to being healthier than we ever thought possible. With all due respect to the surgeon who posted that billboard, obesity IS a decision. And we know it can be reversed in a matter of weeks or months, one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

When the Adrenaline Rush is Gone

2011-10-12T07:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was an interesting mix for me emotionally. On the one hand, I was really happy to be home after a busy ten days away and it felt good to be on my own turf with a more normal schedule. On the other hand, getting back to the "real world" always feels a bit anti-climatic. After a trip that included a conference, time with friends and sight-seeing, I was back home with laundry to do, dust to contend with, and a pile of things waiting on my desk. I am a hopeless adrenaline junkie, so my mini-crash today was to be expected.

The same is true for our weight loss journey. When things are happening - the scale is moving, sizes are shrinking, people are noticing - it's pretty exciting! When things are happening, it's not too hard to stay motivated. The challenge comes when things aren't happening anymore.

To my surprise, I experienced a mini let-down after I reached my goal and went through Transition. After almost a year of watching the scale move, after almost a year of watching sizes shrink and eventually getting constant comments about how great I was looking, I reached Maintenance. The scale didn't move any more, I wasn't going to drop any more sizes, and people began to adjust to my new, small size and comments stopped. This was my new normal, and while I was happy to finally be here, the adrenaline rush was gone. There was no excitement as I stepped on the scale each morning, and I found that I missed it.

The easy part of this program is the food part. The hard part is the head part. I worked on a lot of my food-related issues while I was on 5&1, but I hadn't really anticipated feeling any let-down post goal. I realized that part of what kept me going for almost a year was the excitement of something happening all of the time, and I also realized that I needed to dig deeper to stay motivated for the long haul of Maintenance.

Much like returning to my normal routine that includes laundry and dusty furniture, Maintenance isn't glamorous. Some days are more fun than others, but the adrenaline rush has slowly been replaced by something that is ultimately more satisfying - a healthy life and lifestyle. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the lack of excitement is a GOOD thing, because it means that all of this has truly become an integral part of my life.

For those of you who are on 5&1, I hope this is an exciting phase for you! I hope you're seeing consistent weight loss, that you are shrinking out of your clothes on a regular basis, and that you're starting to receive encouraging and complimentary comments from others. This is a great time in your life and it's truly life-changing! By staying on plan day by day, you are not only moving ever closer to your goal, you are also establishing new habits that will serve you well in Maintenance. And even though Maintenance isn't always exciting, it is great place to be - come join me! You'll get there one day, one meal, and one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Waving My Magic Wand

2011-10-01T07:57:00.000-04:00

I am the weight loss fairy and I am waving my magic wand, sprinkling fairy dust all around. If you are blessed enough to catch the breeze of my wand or have a few bits of dust land on you - poof! You will be at your goal! Anybody interested?

Wouldn't it be GREAT if it was that simple? How I wish I could wave a magic wand or sprinkle dust around and know that everyone touched would immediately be at their goal.

Of course, it's not that easy, is it? It's almost that simple, however. Eat 5 Medifast meals a day and fix a lean and green (or order one at a restaurant). Not much thinking required, and the program really DOES work like magic . . . it's just that the magic on this program takes a bit longer :-)

So are you ready to change your life today? Even in the absence of a weight loss fairy, you CAN make all of your dreams come true, if you decide that's what you want to do. Best of all, unlike magic that has an annoying way of disappearing, the changes you'll make on this program can last a lifetime.

The changes begin with the choices you'll make today, so choose wisely :-)

****
I am leaving today for Chicago and will be flying to Salt Lake City tomorrow morning for a leadership conference at Sundance, Utah. I'll be back on October 11 and will get to blogging when I get home. In the meantime, you know what to do . . . keep making those wise choices!

Dispelling Another Myth

2011-09-30T07:28:00.002-04:00

There is a common misconception that somehow the individuals who stay on plan and reach their goal are stronger or more self-disciplined than everybody else. Every time I hear that, I just have to smile, because I know how much I struggled, and still struggle, to have discipline in my life. When individuals decide that they just don't have the discipline that others have and attribute the lack of discipline to the reason they aren't staying on plan, they've really set themselves up for failure.

If you're telling yourself that you just aren't disciplined, that you aren't as strong as someone else, you've given yourself permission to fail, and you probably will. If you are waiting for some day in the future when you will somehow get the discipline you need to stay on program, you'll be waiting a long, long time.

A quote I really like says, "Discipline is making the choice between what you want now and what you want most!" Discipline isn't a matter of being stronger, it's a matter of deciding what it is that you want.

There are always things competing for our attention and if we aren't focused on what we want, we will grab whatever is closest, opting for immediate gratification. The problem with that strategy is that there is often a difference between what we want now, in this instant, and what we want most. If we are choosing what we want in this instant, that choice may be pushing us farther away from what we want most.

So what DO you want most today? Fix your eyes on it, then choose wisely :-)

How to Finish Strong

2011-09-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

How is your weight loss journey progressing? Are you making steady progress? Perhaps you're struggling to get on plan and stay on plan, questioning whether this is the right program for you and wondering if the success that others have had will somehow elude you. If this last sentence describes where you are right now, take heart.

It doesn't matter where you are or how the program has gone thus far. What does matter is how you finish. One quote I like says "The measure of a person is not how well they start, but how well they finish." You haven't finished yet, unless you've decided to quit.

Struggling isn't any fun and in the midst of the struggle we can sometimes wonder if the end result will be worth the effort. We are geared to want and expect fast results, immediate gratification, so when the positive feedback we're looking for isn't immediately forthcoming, it's tempting to throw in the towel.

I'm encouraging you today to keep going. You don't have to believe that this program works, but if you continue to work the program, you WILL reach your goal. If you embrace this as a lifestyle change, you WILL be able to maintain a healthy weight. Even if you're struggling, even if you are getting back on plan for the umpteenth time, you aren't finished yet!

When we're struggling, it's easy to believe that the outcome will ultimately be failure, but that's not true. I've seen too many people who've had several "practice" attempts on this program before things finally clicked for them and they made it to goal.

Success on this program is directly tied to the daily choices we make. Even if we don't feel like making those choices, and even if we don't believe those choices will ultimately make any difference, if we make them anyway, we will finish well. You may have gotten off to a rocky start, or you may have started strong and now find yourself struggling, but where you are or have been doesn't determine the finish. The choices you make today will. Choose wisely :-)

Beating the Odds

2011-09-27T08:51:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday I went to a prayer breakfast and saw some long-time friends I hadn't seen in almost a year. When one of the women saw me, the first words out her mouth were, "You're still thin!"

It's so interesting that this was her reaction, and she's not alone. When I run into someone I haven't seen in a while, they often comment something to the effect of "it looks like you're keeping your weight off." And they always seem to be surprised.

Of course the reason that people are surprised that I'm keeping the weight off - that ANYBODY keeps the weight off - is because statistics show that over 85% of individuals who lose weight on a diet regain the weight, plus additional pounds, within two years. That is a depressing statistic! Many of the people in that 85% group will start one diet after another, losing and then gaining again and again, with the start of each diet finding them just a bit heavier than they were the last time they dieted. That was certainly my experience for over 20 years of failed dieting attempts. I never got to my goal weight - never got even close - but the beginning of each dieting cycle found me heavier and feeling more defeated. I blamed my failure on my lack of willpower and discipline.

What I didn't understand then, and what most people who start a diet fail to understand, is that diets don't work. A dieting mindset is a short-term mindset, a mindset that says "I'll do this for a while to lose weight." A dieting mindset doesn't have a focus on a long-term solution.

That's what makes our program different! Most of you are in the first phase of the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program, the 5&1 weight loss phase. But 5&1 isn't the entire program. Transition is part of the program, followed by the MOST important phase: Maintenance.

So when my friend commented that I was still thin, my response was, "That's the point of our program! We teach people the healthy habits they need to get to their goal and maintain a healthy lifestyle for the rest of our lives. This isn't a diet."

I'm so glad it's NOT a diet, because if it was, statistics indicate that I'd be right back where I started. But I'm not, and I never will be, because along the way this program taught me the healthy habits I need to maintain the rest of my life. Those healthy habits were hard-wired into my lifestyle one day, one meal, and one choice at a time. That's how they'll be hard-wired into your lifestyle, too. Choose wisely :-)

Getting What We Expect

2011-09-26T08:50:00.000-04:00

According to author John Maxwell, "sooner or later we get just what we expect." In his book, "Failing Forward," Maxwell follows that statement by wondering if the reader views this statement as optimistic or pessimistic, stating that our attitude determines our outlook.   If we're an optimist, we expect things to turn out OK and they usually do. If we're a pessimist, we expect things to fall apart and assume that if anything bad can happen, it will.

So what does this have to do with losing weight and getting healthy? Simply this: do we expect to be successful or do we expect to ultimately fail? That may sound like a foolish question, but I think it's worth asking. In your heart of hearts, being totally honest with yourself, do you expect to reach your goal? Do you envision yourself at a healthy weight, looking and feeling wonderful? Or are you convinced, deep down, that this program will work for everyone BUT you?

Now the good news is that you don't have to believe the program works, because it works whether you believe it or not :-). If you stay on plan and make the daily choice to follow the protocols of this program, you WILL lose weight and you WILL reach your goal. That's a fact.

The challenge is that if we don't believe deep down that the program will work, if we don't believe that we'll ever really reach goal, the expectation of eventual failure can wreak havoc with our determination to stay on plan. If the vision of ourselves reaching goal is clouded or perhaps missing entirely, we will be more vulnerable to the temptations that surround us.

Our attitude can not only impact our outcome in the long run, but it also affects our outlook in the the mean time. If we're optimistic that we will reach out goal, then we are much more likely to take in stride the maddening fluctuations that we see on the scale. We know we're in this for the long haul and we're optimistic that we'll eventually get there. If we're pessimistic, those scale fluctuations may rattle us and we will allow them to reinforce our belief that we won't reach our goal.

But what happens if we're not optimistic by nature? Whether it's through nature or nurture, some of us just naturally see the glass as half-empty. Maxwell says that we can cultivate optimism in our lives by learning the secret of contentment. Contentment doesn't mean that we've settled for where we're at, but Maxwell says it comes from choosing a positive attitude that:
   - expects the best in everything, not the worst
   - remains upbeat, even when we get beat up
   - sees solutions in every problem, not problems in every solution
   - believes we can do it, even when others think we've failed
   - holds on to hope

Hmmm . . . it sounds like we can choose our attitude, perhaps even choose to be optimistic. If that's true (and I believe it is, as does John Maxwell in his book), and if our attitude really does impact the outcome - if sooner or later we really do get just what we expect - then we have some choices to make today. These choices go far beyond which Medifast meals we're going to eat or what we're going to have for our lean and green. We also get to choose the attitude we're going to carry with us through this day.

Have a great day, and choose wisely :-)

Avoiding Ditches

2011-09-25T08:17:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting fact: for every mile of road, there are two miles of ditches. That's not necessarily a comforting thought, to be honest. Because I have repeatedly referred to my own weight loss experience and beyond as a journey, any metaphor that relates to a journey - like a road - catches my attention. Being aware that there are twice as many miles of ditches as there is road, the question is, how do we stay on the road and not end up in the ditch?

Some roads are broad and smooth and we can easily put ourselves on cruise control and travel a good distance without giving it much thought. When traveling down these roads, we're almost oblivious to the ditches because there's a good margin on both sides and we never veer near the edge. There are times when staying on plan is easy - you feel great, the scale is moving nicely, and you may feel like you're on cruise control because you're making great progress and don't have to think about what you're doing. You just aren't tempted to stray and you feel like you could do 5&1 indefinitely. It's a good place to be!

It's those other roads that are scary to navigate - narrow, bumpy roads that keep us gripping the steering wheel and fighting to stay away from the ditches that loom on either side. Those bumpy roads often show up unexpectedly and can stretch on for what seems like endless miles. Perhaps it's a busy schedule or stress that makes the road bumpy, or maybe it's something else. Maybe the scale gets stuck at the same time that life throws us a curve or two. Regardless of what finds us on a bumpy, narrow road, our challenge is to keep moving forward.

How do we do that? Simply, it's by keeping our focus straight ahead and gripping the steering wheel. (I said it's simple, not easy!) When things are difficult, that's when it's most difficult to keep focused on where we're going and not allow other things to distract us. That's also when we're most prone to veer straight for a ditch. Knowing where we want to go and keeping our eyes fixed on our destination is key to staying out of ditches. Gripping both hands on the steering wheel is also critical, and this requires full attention and determination. Sometimes it's just plain hard and the effort required to stay focused is exhausting. What I know is that as exhausting as it is to keep going when it's hard, that is far easier than trying to get ourselves out of a ditch. It is ALWAYS easier to stay on plan than it is to restart again - and again - after spending time in a ditch.

Staying on course when the road is bumpy comes down to the choices we make. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Keep your eyes on the road, keep gripping the steering wheel, and choose wisely :-).

Building a Strong Infrastructure

2011-09-22T08:16:00.002-04:00

About four hours north of where I live in Michigan, the Mackinac Bridge links the upper and lower peninsula of our state. The Discovery Channel's program, "Dirty Jobs," did a story a while back about a man who is an industrial painter on the Mackinac Bridge. He paints the inside of the bridge, a job that nobody sees - a job that doesn't at first glance appear to be very important.

However, this man understands the importance of what he does because the paint he carefully applies to the inside of the bridge ensures that the steel of this wonderful suspended bridge won't rust from the inside out, which would compromise the integrity and safety of the structure.

It's hard to do something, day after day, when the results may not always be visible. The scale doesn't always move as fast or as often as we'd like. People may not notice that we've lost weight. It can get discouraging! There were weeks when I only lost a pound, and I had several weeks when I didn't lose anything, even though I stayed on plan. It wasn't until I'd lost 30 pounds that a co-worker finally commented that my face looked a little thinner; after losing 60 pounds, a couple of people wanted to know if I'd changed my hairstyle. Finally, after losing close to 100 pounds, everybody finally starting commenting that it looked like I'd lost some weight :-). Feedback, either from the scale or others, just wasn't always there for me, and it may not always be there for you, either.

Moral of story? Hang in there! Stay on plan and do it, even if the scale is temporarily stuck (I say "temporarily stuck" because it WILL move, I promise). Stay on plan and do it, even if nobody notices. Eventually they will (I promise). As you're waiting for the affirmation you want (from the scale and others), you're building a strong infrastructure that won't rust out on you!

And while you're waiting, choose wisely :-)

The Biggest Loser

2011-09-21T07:00:00.004-04:00

Last night was the season premier of "The Biggest Loser." Once again a group of morbidly obese individuals have embarked on an adventure that will hopefully bring all of them to their goal, and one lucky person will leave with some extra money in the bank.

I used to watch "The Biggest Loser" when I weighed 260 pounds, and the program always filled me with a mixture of hope and despair. As I watched individuals who were as heavy as me shrink week by week, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for me to drop weight like that, and it left me hopeful that it was possible. Unfortunately, watching the program also brought a lot of despair because I figured the only way to ever lose the better part of 130 pounds, short of surgery, was to put my life on hold and head to the Biggest Loser ranch. I had a bad knee so I knew that I could never do the level of exercise required by the TBL contestants. I also figured that the possibility that I'd ever be a contestant was less than "zero." Also, I couldn't imagine being on national TV wearing clothing that emphasized every bulge and roll, let alone step on an oversize scale for all the world to see. Honestly, a lot of times I'd end up eating cookies or chips while I watch "The Biggest Loser" - how sad is that?

While I'm now happy to see anybody lose weight, just about regardless of how they do it, I am so happy that WE have a MUCH better program right here than what we see on "The Biggest Loser." Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a medically safe, clinically proven program with over 30 years of experience behind it, and it has been recommended by over 20,000 physicians. "The Biggest Loser" can't even come close to that! We are also losing weight while living our real lives, so we're learning how to do this in the same environment we'll live in after we reach our goal. Many of TBL contestants really struggle with their weight once they leave the ranch and return to their real lives, because they lost weight in a completely artificial environment. Again, I'm always happy to see them lose and I'm cheering them on every step of the way. The difference is that I know that Take Shape for Life/Medifast is the real deal and will work for everyone, regardless of how much or how little they can exercise (and remember, we aren't even supposed to exercise more than 45 minutes a day while on 5&1).

Almost 3-1/2 years after reaching my goal, I'm still watching "The Biggest Loser" and thankful that I AM a biggest loser - all 126 pounds of it! I didn't win $250,000 in the process, but I got much more than that. I got my life and my health back, and I have the tools to maintain my weight loss for the rest of my life. That sure feels like a winner to me!

Who else plans to be a biggest loser? You'll do it one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Another Compelling Reason

2011-09-20T08:28:00.000-04:00

If anyone is struggling to find a reason to lose weight and get healthy once and for all, perhaps this will help. There was an article posted on CNN.com yesterday that said diabetes doubles the risk of developing Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Doubles! Being overweight is a leading factor in development of Type 2 diabetes, and as the obesity rate in the United States continues to climb, the percentage of individuals with Type 2 diabetes continues to climb as well.

According to the CNN.com article, "Diabetes could contribute to dementia in several ways, which researchers are still sorting out. Insulin resistance, which causes high blood sugar and in some cases leads to type 2 diabetes, may interfere with the body's ability to break down a protein (amyloid) that forms brain plaques that have been linked to Alzheimer's. High blood sugar (glucose) also produces certain oxygen-containing molecules that can damage cells, in a process known as oxidative stress.

In addition, high blood sugar -- along with high cholesterol -- plays a role in the hardening and narrowing of arteries in the brain. This condition, known as atherosclerosis, can bring about vascular dementia, which occurs when artery blockages (including strokes) kill brain tissue.

"Having high glucose is a stressor to the nervous system and to the blood vessels," says David Geldmacher, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "The emerging information on Alzheimer's disease and glucose shows us that we do need to remain vigilant on blood sugar levels as we get older."

The good news is that being at a healthy weight reduces our risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The other good news is that eating six small, low-glycemic meals a day helps stabilize blood sugar levels.

By following this program, eating six small meals a day and getting to a healthy weight, we can reduce our risk of developing Type 2 diabetes or, for those already diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, can help to better manage the disease. My own weight loss and my continued habit of eating small, frequent meals has kept my own blood sugar readings at normal levels for over 4 years, which is very exciting for me!

I write a lot about focusing on what we want, not on what we don't want. What I want is to not only be physically healthy as long as I can, but also mentally sharp. The CNN.com article gives me hope that maintaining a healthy weight and managing my blood sugar will increase the likelihood that I'll be able to do both.

The choices we're making today will have short-term results (if we're staying on plan, we'll be at our goal in a matter of weeks or months!), but there are also long-term ramifications. Making new, healthy choices now and permanently incorporating them into our lifestyle will impact our lives for decades to come. For the short-term AND for the long-term, choose wisely :-).

***
If you'd like to read the entire CNN.com article, here's a link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/19/health/diabetes-doubles-alzheimers/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6

Getting Off the Slippery Slope

2011-09-19T07:50:00.000-04:00

It's about as predictable as puddles after a rain storm. Mondays are filled with individuals who, for one reason or another, went off plan over the weekend and woke up on Monday morning filled with regret and frustration.

Before starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I never stayed on any plan for very long. I always started each weight loss plan, however sound or crazy the plan was, with the best of intention and the highest of hopes. The problem was that I was always trying to fix a problem - my weight and my size - and I wanted to fix it as fast as possible. Never mind that it had taken time to get into the mess I was in, I wanted it fixed overnight (well, almost overnight . . . ). Of course, the fix was never fast enough for me and I quickly lost interest in the program I was on. It didn't help that the weight loss was slow and that I usually felt pretty iffy - hungry, low energy, cranky and deprived.

That's generally not the case on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, however. Individuals on this program lose weight fast - there is no safer way to lose weight as quickly as we lose it. Once we get into the fat-burning stage (3-4 days), we also generally feel pretty good with low hunger and lots of energy.

So what gives? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why are we so prone to sabotage ourselves? I'm not a trained counselor, so I'm not offering professional advice here, just my opinion :-).

Assuming that weight loss is steady and that hunger isn't really an issue, I'm guessing that something else causes a person to make the decision to go off plan. And it is a decision, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Nobody accidentally goes off plan and eats off-plan foods unless you aren't aware that the food is truly off plan (an example would be someone who didn't read the Quick Start Guide and ate carrots because they didn't realize that this vegetable isn't part of the weight loss portion of this plan). Eating nachos and cheese doesn't count as "accidentally" eating off plan - it's a choice, period. But the question is, why do so many make those choices over and over again, especially when the choice is followed by almost universal regret?

If we keep our focus on what we're trying to move away from, the further away we get from the problem that prompted us to start on plan, the less motivated we are to continue. Once the acute pain is lessened, we start to feel like we can give ourselves a bit of slack. I've seen this over and over again - someone loses some weight, feels happy about their weight loss and decides they deserve to take a break and have a "treat." They may be far from a healthy weight, but they decide to prematurely celebrate their progress, and the celebration includes off-plan food.

Unfortunately, this is often a slippery slope. Once someone goes off plan, then gets back on (and getting back on is a good thing!), they may then tell themselves that going off plan is no big deal - that they can take the weekend off and get right back on. That may work once or twice, perhaps three or four times, but the more often a person makes the decision to go off plan and "take a break," the less likely it is that they will reach their goal. For those who do eventually reach their goal, it's almost always because they finally decide to get serious and commit to staying on plan until goal and stop taking "breaks."

Changing this oscillating pattern requires a focus shift from what we're trying to move away from to what we're moving towards. When our eyes are focused on what we want, when we have a clear vision of what it is, we are more likely to be single-minded in our pursuit of getting to goal.

If you ended up off plan over the weekend, today is a new day and we have the opportunity to make choices that will either move us towards or away from our goal. Choose wisely :-)

Outside In or Inside Out?

2011-09-18T08:57:00.002-04:00

I have a question for you this morning. Are you losing weight from the outside in or from the inside out? How you answer this question may ultimately be the determining factor in whether this is just another diet or the program that will permanently put you on a healthy path.

If we only lose weight on the outside and don't deal with our internal weight, we're likely to stay in an oscillating pattern of gain-lose-gain. I don't know about you, but that's not what I want to do for the rest of my life!

I talk about internal weight because I'm guessing that many of us showed up on our first day of this program with a fair amount of emotional baggage. I was an emotional eater and became an expert in burying my feelings under plates of food. I did a pretty good job hiding the emotional pain I experienced due to my morbid obesity; in fact, my closest friends and even some of my family members were flabbergasted when I finally began to share how awful I felt for so many years. I guess I should have been nominated for an Academy Award, because I gave a pretty good performance, acting like my weight was no big deal and didn't impede me in the slightest. Of course, inside I was miserable and spent over two decades feeling pretty disgusted with myself and so very defeated.

Dealing with that pain, and then going even deeper and dealing with the things that happened in my life that caused me to escape into food initially caused more pain. I'd made the decision to stay on plan, so turning to food to numb myself emotionally was no longer an option. But as I allowed God to gently begin to peel back the pain, one layer at a time, healing finally began to happen. That healing has made all the difference in not only enabling me to get to my goal, but to continue to maintain in my goal range for over 3 years.

So, are you losing weight from the inside out today? It's not an easy process, but it happens one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Thriving, Not Just Surviving

2011-09-17T07:52:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the weekend! It's been a busy week for me - good, but really busy. As I continue to recover from my knee replacement surgery, it feels good to be busy again :-). I'm so thankful that healthy habits have become part of my lifestyle, because in my obese past, a busy week would have been a lost week for me in terms of doing anything healthy. In my obese past, a busy week would be one where I went into what I called my "survival mode," which meant "don't even think about trying to make any changes, just get through it" mindset. "Survival mode" for me meant eating whatever I wanted, because so-called comfort food was an integral part of my survival. Any week that included a lot of extra activity automatically triggered my "survival mode" mentality.

The funny thing is that I spent an awful lot of my time in a "survival mode", but I was barely surviving, and actually THRIVING was not even on my radar. What was happening was that I kept gaining weight and getting into a less and less healthy state, ending up diabetic and on medication for several different things. I kept thinking that when things slowed down, I'd try to make some lifestyle changes. When things weren't so busy, I just knew that I'd finally have time to focus on losing weight and getting healthy. The problem was, of course, that things never really slowed down and every week was filled with things that, in my thinking, mandated yet another "survival mode" week.

What a difference Take Shape for Life has made in my life! I have not only gone from surviving to really, truly thriving, but this healthy lifestyle now fits perfectly into even the busiest of days or weeks. In fact, when I'm really busy I tend to eat more Medifast meals just because they are SO convenient and inexpensive. I just grab and go and don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat or when - I don't even think about it. Instead of going into a "survival mode" and eating a lot of high-sugar, high-fat empty carbs that used to drain me of all energy, I now have high-nutrition mini-meals that provide the energy I need to keep going.

One of the things I've learned is that there will always be 101 excuses to not make healthy choices. Life is busy and life has a lot of built-in stresses, so if we are looking for excuses, we don't have to look far. However, if we really WANT to get healthy, if our eyes are fixed on what we really want, it's amazing how quickly those excuses evaporate.

Once we're focused on what we really want, we figure out how to make it happen. I heard someone recently say that if your dream is big enough, the facts don't matter. If your dream is to get to a healthy weight and live a life that truly exemplifies optimal health, then the "facts" don't matter: the fact that things are stressful, the fact that life is incredibly busy, the fact that you have twenty social events this month and all of them will involve food, the fact that your kids are making you crazy and your dog threw up and your boss makes Mr. Scrooge look like boss of the year, etc. etc.

I'm really not trying to sound insensitive to all of the issues that many of you are facing, and I really do understand that life can be incredibly difficult. What I have come to understand is that NOT taking care of ourselves won't make any of those things better or easier, and eating the wrong kind of food won't help, either. There may be a lot of things in your life that you can't control right now- but whether or not you stay on plan is something that you CAN control.

I hope that today is a wonderful, stress-free day and that you will have a wonderful, stress-free weekend, but even if it's going to be a crazy day and a crazy weekend, I hope it will be an on-plan crazy day and weekend! It's your choice, so choose wisely :-)

Navigating the Minefield of Maintenance

2011-09-16T07:00:00.002-04:00

Well, last night was certainly an interesting night in the food department! One of the challenges I face in Maintenance is deciding when I'm going to throw caution to the wind for a meal and when I'm not, and there are often several factors that I have to take into consideration.

On the one hand, I'm diligent about eating healthy and maintaining a healthy weight. I never, NEVER will go back to my former morbidly obese weight of 268 and risk reintroducing diabetes and a host of health issues into my life. As a result, I'm pretty picky about where and how I'll spend my calories. It really needs to be spectacular for me to spend those extra calories!

On the other hand, I don't always want to come across as the person who won't eat anything "fun" because I want other people to know that they can be "normal" once they reach a healthy weight. I want to be a good example of what balanced eating is all about, and sometimes that includes splurging on calories.

Last night was the fall kickoff for the women's ministries at my church. The announcement in the bulletin stated that dinner would be served at this kickoff. Because I am careful about what I eat, I e-mailed our church secretary and asked what was on the menu. She said that the theme was "Back to School" so the dinner menu would be a typical school lunch: sloppy joes, tater tots, jello with fruit cocktail, carrot sticks with ranch dressing, and pudding cups for dessert. YIKES!!! My first thought was, "no wonder our kids are getting fatter and fatter!"

I decided that I would eat at home (lean meat & a veggie!) and go for the fun and fellowship, not the food. I knew that the food would be really deficient in nutrition and frankly not that good - certainly not worth spending lots of calories on! My mom went with me and she also ate dinner at home, so we just sat and chatted while the others ate. Interestingly enough, nobody seemed to pay the least bit of attention to the fact that we weren't eating. Had anyone commented, I planned to simply say that I ate dinner at home and wasn't hungry - I certainly wouldn't have gone into a spiel about healthy versus unhealthy eating :-).

What I did determine before I went to the kickoff last night was that I wasn't going to eat that meal just to "fit in" with everyone else. I also knew that I've reached a point where I don't feel the need to justify or explain my choices to anyone else. Being comfortable with the choices I make is a wonderful - and very freeing - thing! I've learned to ask ahead of time what's on the menu so I know how to plan. Again, sometimes I'll make the decision to eat what's served and other times I'll opt out, as I did last night.

I'm sharing this today to let you know that Maintenance has its share of challenges and choices, and sometimes those choices are easier than others. Establishing healthy eating habits now and becoming confident in the choices you make now will serve you well as you reach your goal and begin the rest of your thin, healthy life. You'll get there one day, one meal, and one choice at a time. Begin now to choose wisely :-)

Facing the Facts

2011-09-15T07:54:00.000-04:00

According to a story posted yesterday on CNN.com, the world's heaviest woman (she's in the Guinness Book of World Records and weighs almost 700 pounds) now wants help to lose weight. That's incredibly good news, as she is a walking time bomb at her present weight. Her knees hurt all of the time and she is concerned that she will soon be dealing with serious health issues. In the video interview posted, she believes genetics has played a part in her obesity because her father weighs close to 600 pounds, her mother is nearly 400 pounds and several of her siblings weigh over 300 pounds. She stated that she's not blaming genetics, although she believes they are a factor, because she admits she has a sweet tooth.

The truth is that unless there is an underlying genetic endocrine disorder, her obesity and the obesity of her family members has nothing to do with genetics. And no matter how many of our own family members are overweight or obese, our weight issues have nothing to do with genetics either.

According to the latest America's Health RankingsTM report, which has tracked the health of the nation for over 20 years, "the average obesity rate for the United States is 26.9 percent of the adult population, up from 26.6 percent of the population in the 2009 Edition, 23.2 percent in the 2005 Edition, 19.6 percent in the 2000 Edition and substantially more than double the rate of 11.6 percent of the population in the 1990 Edition. In the United States, this means that more than one-in-four are obese - that is about 60 million adults with a body mass index of 30.0 or higher. If the population of the United States could return to the weight status of 1990, there would be 26 million fewer obese individuals - more than the entire population of the second most populous U.S. state, Texas."

In my own state, Michigan, the obesity rate grew from 14.1% in 1990 to 29.5% in 2009 and to 30.3% in 2010. In Mississippi, which ranked 50th, from 1990 to 2009 the obesity rate grew from 15.0% to 33.3% and increased to 35.3% in 2010. The fact that obesity more than doubled in twenty years in not only these two states, but many others as well, has ZERO to do with genetics and everything to do with lifestyle. There simply could not be enough change in the genetic makeup of the U.S. population in a short twenty years to account for this growing - and I do mean growing - epidemic.

I remember being at a family gathering several years ago and sitting at a table with several of my great aunts. They were all discussing how heavy almost everyone in the family was and wondered if it was genetics. In the middle of the discussion, someone announced that a family member had arrived and brought a certain dessert. This was a potluck and despite the fact that my aunts (and I) already had eaten our meal, including dessert, I immediately got up to get a piece of this newest addition to the meal and several of my aunts asked me to get a piece for them, too. Even at the time as I was struggling with my own obesity, I found it ironic that my dear aunts seemed to think we were all genetically predisposed to obesity when the answer was clearly found in our appetites and food choices.

At the conference I attended in Des Moines last weekend, Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, stated that studies have shown that we emulate the physical, emotional and mental health of our five closest friends. I think that's probably even more true of our family members. If our family members are overweight, we are much more likely to be overweight, too, because our habits and lifestyle choices tend to mirror what's around us. But it's not genetics!

Because it's not genetics, we aren't doomed to remain overweight. People who have been overweight for much or all of their lives are getting to a healthy weight on this program, sometimes reaching a healthy weight for the very first time in their lives. It's not that they changed or overcame their genetics - they changed their lifestyle. What's really exciting and amazing is that some of their family members decided to join them and they lost weight, too.

One of my friends and her husband went on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program a year ago and they have each lost just about 100 pounds. They son and his wife started on the program a couple of months later and they have each lost over 100 pounds, which has now inspired another family member to start her own journey. This entire family is changing their health future and laying a healthy legacy for future generations - what a truly fabulous transformation!

My own family has experienced the same thing. I lost 126 pounds, my husband lost 50, my parents have each lost over 30 pounds (and my mom's Type 2 diabetes is now better managed), my son lost 60, my son-in-law lost 60, and my sister is now on the program and has lost over 30 pounds so far. Several of my good friends have also lost a significant amount of weight and the circle of health continues to expand to their own family members and friends.

It's not genetics, it's our choices. As we make healthier choices, we will not only improve our own health and get to a healthy weight, we will also be a positive influence in our own circle of influence. The blame for our obesity isn't in our genes, it's in what's been on our plates. How encouraging to know that we aren't trapped by a set of faulty genes, and how exciting to know that we can radically change the future of our health by continuing on a different, healthier path. We will do so one day, one meal, and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Confident Hope

2011-09-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

One of the things that I love doing is spending time with people who are on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 plan. It's amazing to watch the transformation, not just physically as they lose weight, but emotionally and mentally as they begin to realize that they really WILL reach their goal. They move into the zone that I call "confident hope."

I blogged about "confident hope" back 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 on that November day almost four years ago:

One of the things I have gained over these past five months on 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 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 this program, 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 on-plan day and one choice at a time! Choose wisely :-)

Dream Big

2011-09-13T08:22:00.002-04:00

So often we think that what makes someone successful is determination or commitment or self-discipline. If we think that we just don't have that same level of commitment or self-discipline, we may end up deciding that we just can't be successful. But what if the key to success is something entirely different?

One of the things I've heard over and over again is "the most powerful force that drives people to success is the quality of their dream." What do you think about that? Do you agree with this statement? Is it possible that whether or not we're successful has less to do with our level of self-discipline and more to do with the quality of our dreams?

We often talk about reaching our goal, but do we really envision what that is going to look like? When you think about your goal, is it a fuzzy, nebulous thing out there, or have you fleshed it out in your dreams? If it's fuzzy, it's not very compelling and you may be more vulnerable to the lure of immediate gratification. On the other hand, if you are focused on a clear goal, it's much easier to stay on track because you know exactly where you're going.

How would you rate the quality of your dreams when it comes to reaching a healthy weight? Are you clear on where you're going? I'm not just talking about what the scale will say - I'm also talking about where you're headed in terms of how you will feel. What will it feel like physically to be at your goal? What will you be able to do and enjoy? What will it feel like mentally to have the struggle to lose weight finally over? How will you feel emotionally when you are no longer defined by your weight?

If your dream is powerful, it will become a driving force that will keep you moving toward your goal. If your dream is powerful enough, your choices will be clear because you will make the choices necessary to support that dream. So dream big, then choose wisely :-)

Training for a Marathon

2011-09-08T08:34:00.002-04:00

I read a story that I thought had great application for all of us (myself included!) who are committed to making changes in our lives. So often we have great intentions but get sidetracked - and sidelined - because we're so worried about what others might think of what we're doing. Here's the story:

Recently, when my wife and I wanted to meet our sons and their families for a quick bite to eat, we decided that, with everyone’s busy schedules, it would be easiest to meet at a nearby fast-food joint. When I called my son Joe to suggest the plan, his response was, “Well, I can meet you there, but I can’t eat that stuff. I’m training for a marathon.”

. . . Joe had a goal in mind—the successful completion of the marathon. He knew that reaching the goal was going to require months of disciplined choices, like waking up early to run longer and longer distances. And it meant that he would need to carefully guard and consider everything that he took into his body. Each meal—in fact, each snack—became an opportunity to choose to nourish and energize his body toward a successful marathon run.

One of the things that impressed me about this story was how matter of fact and unapologetic Joe was, and how accepting his family was of his statement that he would join them at the fast-food restaurant but not eat the food.

It's funny, but if a marathoner turns down food because they're training for a race, absolutely everybody understands and supports the decision, and most people won't try to undermine the decision. It's universally understood that you don't mess with an athlete in training, and people training for a marathon (or other athletic activity) are amazingly disciplined because they are focused on the ultimate reward.

Why are we so often reluctant to make the same declaration? We are in training, too, only this isn't just a race, this is our lives and our health. Yet we find ourselves apologetic when we're in social situations if we don't eat what everyone else is eating, or we cave in because we don't want to offend anyone.

Today my challenge to you is to think and act like a marathoner - be focused on the ultimate outcome and be bold! This is the marathon of your life, and you are in training - learning new healthy habits that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Ready . . . set . . . go! There are choices to be made today, so choose wisely :-)

*****
I'm leaving tomorrow morning and driving to Des Moines, Iowa for a weekend conference. I will have limited access to the internet while I'm gone, so won't blog until I return home. Have a great rest of the week and a good weekend, and keep making wise choices!

The Choices We Make

2011-09-07T08:32:00.002-04:00

Every blog I write addresses, in one way or another, the opportunity we have every day to make choices that move us in one direction or another. I emphasize choices because I don't want any of us to ever lose sight of the fact that we don't have to be victims of our circumstances, and to also encourage you to be an active participant in making your future what you want it to be. We always have a choice.

So many of us have felt stuck for a long time, maybe trapped is even a better description. For me, I felt trapped inside a body that I hated. I hated how I looked and I hated how I felt. I hated the size I was in and resented the fact that designers seemed to think that plus-size women liked to dress in awful colors and patterns. For a long time I felt helpless to change my situation, but I kept trying - and failing. This seemingly endless cycle of trying and failing further fueled my despair and my belief that I couldn't change. It was a difficult situation to be in - hating where I was yet feeling powerless to change. I blamed my failure on being weak and undisciplined and I beat myself up mentally and emotionally on a regular basis.

When I was seriously considering weight loss surgery, and contemplating taking out a second mortgage to pay for it, I realized that I had somehow turned a corner in my thinking. I had reached a level of desperation with my weight that I hadn't experienced before, and that's when I was finally ready - finally - to change. Finally ready to admit that I couldn't do this on my own. Before mortgaging our home and our future, I decided to give Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try.

So my first choice on my journey was to order a month's worth of product. That first month was amazing for me because I not only saw weight beginning to melt and saw my blood sugar return to normal, but I also did something I'd never done before - I followed the plan as written and didn't cheat. Every day that I was on plan empowered me and propelled me forward to the next day. I'd heard that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old habit, so I made the choice to stay on plan for 21 days to see if it really would be possible to break old habits and begin to establish new ones.

I had no idea that those choices would set in motion a series of other choices that would finally bring me to my goal, and that the new habits that grew from those choices would keep me in my goal range more than two years later. The choices we get not only have their own set of consequences, but they beget other choices.

Do you want your future to include a healthier you? Choose to be an active participant in creating that future, because it's there if you want it. As always, choose wisely :-)

Choosing a New Direction

2011-09-06T08:34:00.002-04:00

As little children, many of us were encouraged to believe we could do anything we wanted to do. Once I became a parent, I tried hard to instill in my children the belief and confidence that, with God's help, they could become whatever they wanted to be. I read my children a fair number of Dr. Seuss books, where they not only learned that they just might like green eggs and ham, but they also learned other things like: "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go."

But what happens to us when we become adults? We may have brains in our head and (most of the time!) we have feet in our shoes, but we often shift from believing that we can decide where to go to thinking that we're trapped where we are. The disappointments many of us gather along the way to becoming adults, and the failures we experience as adults slowly drain away that "can do" attitude we had as children and we allow other things, people and circumstances, to decide where we'll go and who we will be.

But the reality is that we still have brains in our head and feet in our shoes and we can still steer ourselves in any direction we choose. We just have to choose.

We may have to shake off those concepts we've accumulated over the years, and that's not always easy to do, but we are never really trapped. We can begin to move in a different direction the moment we decide to do so.

For many or most of us here, we may have felt trapped for year inside of a body we didn't want and some of you, like me, may have felt pretty hopeless at one point. Repeated failure as losing weight had worn me down and reinforced my concept that I couldn't do this. Part of me just wanted to throw in the towel and stop trying because every attempt ended in failure and a deeper sense of frustration and despair.

I'm so thankful that there was another part of me that kept trying, that refused to accept that I would live out my life in a 260+ pound body. As health issues related to my obesity began to emerge, I finally realized that my obesity threatened to shorten my life. That reality gave me the focus I needed to make the choices necessary to go in a new, healthy direction.

The good news is that my experience isn't unique - I've seen countless others make the fundamental decision to get healthy and then turn around years, even decades, of unhealthy habits. The same can be true for everyone here. You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Choose wisely :-)

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

2011-09-03T08:50:00.000-04:00

It is unbelievable that summer is winding down and we are now kicking off Labor Day weekend! For many, this weekend includes cookouts and get-togethers with family members and friends.

In the midst of whatever plans you have this weekend, don't lose sight of your goal! Cookouts can include grilled chicken breasts or a lean steak or piece of fish - add a fresh salad or grilled veggies and you'll have a delicious and on-plan meal. If the cookout is at someone else's house, bring along a crunch bar (or make a Medifast brownie and bring it with you) so you'll have your own "dessert." Medifast pretzels, cheese puffs or one of the new bites (BBQ or cheese pizza) are great options if you find yourself tempted by potato chips or nachos.

Pre-planning will make all the difference. Know this: if you plan carefully and work your plan, you won't be regretting your decisions on Tuesday morning! Before you head out for your weekend activities, spend some time focusing on why you want to reach your goal. Write down your reasons. Write a short paragraph describing what it will be like when you reach your goal - how will you look? how will you feel? Focusing on your goal will make it much easier to stay on plan when you face those inevitable food temptations this weekend. Being focused on what you really want will enable you to recognize those food temptations for what they really are: obstacles.

One of the things I learned on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 plan was to focus on the people and the fun, not the food. By doing so, I was able to have a great time at all of the social events I attended (and I went to a lot of social events!) and still stay on plan.

There may be a lot of reasons to go off plan this weekend, but if you know what you really want, you'll have the only reason you'll need to stay on plan. The choice, of course, is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Time to Take Stock

2011-09-01T08:27:00.001-04:00

Welcome to September! I am in disbelief that it's September, even as I type the word!

September is a great time to take stock of where we're at. Remember those New Year's resolutions we last January? How are you doing? Do you even remember most of them?

I'm guessing that one of the resolutions you made was to lose weight and get healthy, right? For the over 20 years that I spent being obese, losing weight was ALWAYS on my list of New Year's resolutions. No surprise that each September inevitably found me no closer to my goal than I was when I made that resolution. That all changed, of course, when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast in June of 2007. 2009 was the first year in over two decades that didn't include "losing weight" as one of my resolutions (I reached my goal in May of 2008).

If you're continuing to make steady progress towards your goal, keep up the great work! Even if you aren't where you wanted to be, look at how far you've come and celebrate that. You're on track to end 2011 strong, so pat yourself on the back and keep your eyes on the prize.

If you've been struggling, especially over the summer, now is a perfect time to get back on plan and back on track. There are four months left in this year, plenty of time to make real progress towards (or maybe even to reach!) your goal.

Time is going to pass, whether you're on plan or not. The question is, where do you want to be four months from today when we ring in 2012? Getting where you want to be starts with the choices you'll make today. Choose wisely :-)

Good Intentions

2011-08-31T08:20:00.002-04:00

I am the queen of good intentions - really I am. Over the years I've found that my follow-through often falls apart, but wow, my intentions are SO good and so sincere!

A while back I finally tackled a long-ignored pile of papers that was in the bottom drawer of my desk. This pile accumulated over several months as I would throw papers in there (usually just before somebody came over in an attempt to quickly straighten up my office), always promising myself that I would get to the paper pile "soon." Then things would get busy and soon more papers would be added to the growing pile.

As I finally got through that pile of papers, interestingly, one of the things buried in my paper pile was a book entitled (and I'm not kidding!), "100 Ways to Simplify Your Life." When I bought the book, I obviously had good intentions at the time about getting more organized and simplifying things!

The problem is that good intentions or even the right tools (like my book) aren't enough. Without follow through, good intentions pile up like the papers in my desk drawer. Tools that remain used are useless, or worse, add to our guilt because they remind us of what we intended to do but never quite got around to doing.

Everyone who started on this program began with good intentions - the BEST intentions. This was IT - it was time to lose weight and get healthy once and for all. This program comes with a variety of tools for us to use, and with the tools available and the ease of the meal replacements, there really isn't any reason why everyone doesn't reach goal, right? Or ???

The missing ingredient to success for many is the follow through. We get off plan for one reason or another (the reasons don't matter), and we mean to get back on, really we do. We have good intentions . . . but our follow through is lacking. Sometimes we sabotage ourselves for a variety of reasons, and sometimes we're too quick to settle for less than what we really want because we're distracted by the lure of immediate gratification.

We have the right program, we have the right tools, and we have good intentions. The only thing we need to be successful is follow through. That is the choice facing us today . . . choose wisely :-)

Celebrating Obesity

2011-08-30T08:49:00.002-04:00

There is a new program premiering on TLC tonight, "Big Sexy." The promotional clips for it are concerning, because they appear to be promoting obesity as fun and viable lifestyle choice.

Because I was morbidly obese for over twenty years, I am painfully aware of the prejudice obese individuals face. I am also aware of the need to accept ourselves where we are - self-loathing is damaging on so many levels. Regardless of our weight, we are valuable people who are loved by God and we deserve the love and respect of the people around us.

However, this program looks like it goes far beyond acceptance to celebration, and being morbidly obese wasn't something I ever wanted to celebrate. The promotional clips show obese women having fun and strutting their style and several women seemed to dismiss the idea of ever being thin. They are obese and proud of it and fully intend to stay that way.

I've only seen the promotional clips, so I don't know how the show will play out, but in the clips all of the women are young. They are having fun and celebrating, perhaps even flaunting, their plus sizes, definitely living in the moment.

What disturbs me about the clips I've seen is that the emphasis seems to be on obesity as an acceptable - and fun - lifestyle. What won't be shown is the long-term effects of this obesity. These young women who are out partying and living an excessive lifestyle now haven't yet encountered the almost-inevitable health consequences of their obesity.

Obesity greatly increases the chances that someone will end up with Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, joint problems, and obesity is linked as a risk factor for several types of cancer. Obesity is about far more than what size we wear or how we look in a swimsuit - obesity impacts our health. Those health risks may be in the background for someone in their 20's or 30's, but they will eventually catch up with the majority of overweight and obese individuals.

What would be interesting to know is how many of the women on this new show have tried and failed so many times to lose weight that they've given up and lost hope. How many of them secretly long to be at a healthy weight but have opted for a tough, in-your-face attitude about their obesity to hide the pain and despair they feel?

My heart goes out to these women because I know life is challenging for them at their weight. I also know that many of them are facing serious health issues in the future if they don't make changes to their lifestyle. They may have given up hope, but we know there IS hope, and we know what it is :-).

Many of us had just about given up ourselves and had very little hope that we could ever turn things around until, one way or another, we found our way to Take Shape for Life/Medifast. One day at a time, one meal at a time, things began to turn around for us and we ended up getting our lives - and our health - back, and some of us ended up with an entirely new life. I'm so thankful for the ways this program has changed my life and it's exciting to see the way it's changing others' lives, too. Those changes happen with the individual choices we make, so choose wisely :-)