We're heading home this morning from our weekend of Take Shape for Life health coach training in St. Louis and will stop to visit New Salem, Illinois, a reconstruction of the village where Lincoln spent his early adulthood. I visited New Salem as part of my 8th grade school trip, so it's been *just* a few years since I've been there. I'm glad we'll have a chance for a side trip on our way home. We should get home sometime between 6 and 7 tonight, in time to finish packing for our trip to Washington state tomorrow! In preparation for these two back-to-back trips, we ordered lots of crunch bars and a case of ready-to-drink Dutch chocolate shakes, so we're ready to go! (Note: if you plan to fly, make sure your RTD shakes are in your checked luggage, not your carry on, as they won't allow them through security. Nothing is more sad than having your RTD shakes thrown in the trash!!)
One of the questions Dr. Andersen asked this weekend was, "if you could choose optimal health in your life, would you want it?" That seems like such an obvious question at first glance, doesn't it? I mean, who wouldn't want optimal health? Given the choice, who wouldn't want to be healthy - or even more than healthy, optimally healthy?
The reality is that we CAN choose optimal health, but some of us won't. It's not that we can't have it, but that we'll choose to not have it. We have all we need to create optimal health in our lives right now: we have the product (Medifast), which has a proven track record of almost 30 years, and we have the support we need to be successful. But some of us will choose to get in the way of our own success by allowing our past failures or our own concepts or fears to get in the way. The only thing standing between us and achieving optimal health is, well, us.
Some of us will choose the path of immediate gratification, sucumbing to numerous triggers along the way. We have good intentions, but vacations, celebrations, parties, stress, a busy schedule, etc. etc. get us off track and we make choices that won't keep us moving in the direction of optimal health.
One of the things I heard this weekend is that if we want something bad enough, we'll figure out what we need to do to get it. My question for you this morning is simple: What do you really want? Do you really want optimal health - living as long as you can as healthy as you can? If so, you have in your hands all of the tools that you need to get it. There really isn't anything to even figure out, because all of the figuring out has already been done! All we have to do is commit to eating every 3 hours and we will get to our goal, which is an important milestone on our optimal health journey. From there, we continue to add other healthy habits that keep us moving in the direction we want to go. It's pretty simple if we just take it one step at a time.
The good news this morning is that you don't have to commit to doing this for
a lifetime - you just have to commit to making healthy choices today. Can you do that? If so, maybe you can do that tomorrow, too, and then maybe even the day after that! But this morning, you don't have to worry about whether you can do this tomorrow or the day after that, you just have to commit to today.
Are you committed to pursuing optimal health in your life today? My hand is in the air - how about yours?
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Three Critical Components
I'm in St. Louis today, attending a day-long Take Shape for Life health coach training session. We drove almost 7 hours yesterday and got in in time to go see the Arch (but didn't have time to go to the top) before getting ready for the evening session.
Dr. Andersen (Medical Director for Take Shape for Life and Medifast and co-founder of Take Shape for Life) talked about the need for eating right, moving our bodies, and getting enough rest as being critical components to helping us live in optimal health. If any of these components are missing, or are out of balance, we are living in a state of something less than optimal health.
Right now, most of you are focused on the first component, eating right to lose weight, but we were reminded again tonight that reaching our goal is an important step in our journey towards optimal health - reaching goal is not the end of the road.
There's a lot more that I want to stay about all of this, but it will have to wait for another blog, so stay tuned :-).
In the meantime, who's committed to an on-plan day today?
Dr. Andersen (Medical Director for Take Shape for Life and Medifast and co-founder of Take Shape for Life) talked about the need for eating right, moving our bodies, and getting enough rest as being critical components to helping us live in optimal health. If any of these components are missing, or are out of balance, we are living in a state of something less than optimal health.
Right now, most of you are focused on the first component, eating right to lose weight, but we were reminded again tonight that reaching our goal is an important step in our journey towards optimal health - reaching goal is not the end of the road.
There's a lot more that I want to stay about all of this, but it will have to wait for another blog, so stay tuned :-).
In the meantime, who's committed to an on-plan day today?
Friday, June 5, 2009
On the Road Again
By the time this posts, my husband and I will hopefully be on our way to our Take Shape for Life health coach conference in St. Louis (about a 6-hr. drive from my home). We've packed lots of water and Medifast meals for the road, which will save us a lot of time and money - time because we won't have to take time to stop for meals on the road, and money because you can't find a better nutritional value for the price than Medifast meals! Part of our trip planning is always figuring out how many Medifast meals to bring (and we always bring extra "just in case"). Since we're not snacking on junk food all along the way, we arrive at our destination feeling great instead of sluggish And because of all the money we save by briinging our own food with us, we're also able to enjoy great meals once we arrive - we love it!
Planning remains a key component in maintaining our weight, just as it was critical for each day of our weight loss journey. Our motto is: Medifast, don't leave home without it! :-)
Planning remains a key component in maintaining our weight, just as it was critical for each day of our weight loss journey. Our motto is: Medifast, don't leave home without it! :-)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Full Speed Ahead!
Guess what I learned the other day? A rhinoceros can run 30 miles an hour! Given it's size, 30 mph is an amazing speed (a squirrel can run 27 mph). Do you know what's even more amazing than how fast a rhinoceros can run? Rhinos can only see 30 feet ahead. Think about it! The animal can only see 30 feet in front of him and he's running 30 mph.
I actually learned all of this in church last Sunday (and yes, my pastor did have a point!) :-). He made the statement that rhinos run full speed ahead, even though they can only see 30 feet in front of them, figuring that what ever is at 31 feet better be afraid of what's coming!
Now what does this have to do with losing weight and getting healthy?
So often we're afraid to move full-speed ahead with getting to our goal because we can't see what's ahead. We want to see the entire path laid out before us before we're ready to just go for it. We think we need to know exactly how transition will look and we especially want to be able to envision life in maintenance. When some of those things are a bit fuzzy, we can find ourselves putting on the brakes because venturing into the unknown can be scary.
This can be particularly true for those of you who have struggled with weight your entire life. If you've always been overweight, heading towards a healthy weight really CAN feel like you're the near-sighted rhino running full speed towards who-knows-what, because you're heading to a place you've never been before. You may not like what's in your near view, but it's familiar, and that can be enough to keep you in a cycle of self-sabotage.
If this sounds like you, here's my best suggestion: run as fast as you can towards your goal, even if you don't have a clue what it will look like when you get there! This requires a certain amount of courage, to be sure, and it requires some trust. However, with each step you take, you'll see one more step ahead, so don't worry about the steps you can't yet see - they will become clear when you get there.
And the destination - a healthy, thin body - is worth every step of the journey. And YOU'RE worth it!
I actually learned all of this in church last Sunday (and yes, my pastor did have a point!) :-). He made the statement that rhinos run full speed ahead, even though they can only see 30 feet in front of them, figuring that what ever is at 31 feet better be afraid of what's coming!
Now what does this have to do with losing weight and getting healthy?
So often we're afraid to move full-speed ahead with getting to our goal because we can't see what's ahead. We want to see the entire path laid out before us before we're ready to just go for it. We think we need to know exactly how transition will look and we especially want to be able to envision life in maintenance. When some of those things are a bit fuzzy, we can find ourselves putting on the brakes because venturing into the unknown can be scary.
This can be particularly true for those of you who have struggled with weight your entire life. If you've always been overweight, heading towards a healthy weight really CAN feel like you're the near-sighted rhino running full speed towards who-knows-what, because you're heading to a place you've never been before. You may not like what's in your near view, but it's familiar, and that can be enough to keep you in a cycle of self-sabotage.
If this sounds like you, here's my best suggestion: run as fast as you can towards your goal, even if you don't have a clue what it will look like when you get there! This requires a certain amount of courage, to be sure, and it requires some trust. However, with each step you take, you'll see one more step ahead, so don't worry about the steps you can't yet see - they will become clear when you get there.
And the destination - a healthy, thin body - is worth every step of the journey. And YOU'RE worth it!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Burning Ships and Bridges
Last week I read a blog someone wrote about the importance of
"burning the ships" as a way of forcing us to move forward towards our weight loss goal. The blog got me thinking, and I ended up doing an internet search to learn a little more about the whole concept of burning ships. Here's what I found:
“The ancient Greek warriors were both feared and respected by their enemies. In battle, the Greeks established a well-deserved reputation for their unsurpassed bravery and unshakable commitment to victory. The key to their overwhelming success on the battlefield had far more to do with how the Greek commanders motivated the warriors than it did with issues of tactics or training. The Greeks were master motivators who understood how to use a "dramatic demonstration" to infuse a spirit of commitment into the heart of every warrior. Once the warriors had been offloaded from their boats onto their enemy's shore, the Greek commanders would shout out their first order…"burn the boats!" The sight of burning boats removed any notion of retreat from their hearts and any thoughts of surrender from their heads. Imagine the tremendous psychological impact on the soldiers as they watched their boats being set to the torch. As the boats turned to ash and slipped quietly out of sight into the water, each man understood there was no turning back and the only way home was through victory.”
No retreat and no turning back – I like it! In all of my past attempts at losing weight, I never quite burned the ships. Whether it was keeping bigger sizes “just in case” or maintaining a mindset that gave me permission to return to my old way of eating, I kept glancing backward even as I tried to move ahead. I’d see the scale drop a few pounds, but never quite believed it would be permanent, even thought I hoped it would. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the very fact that I kept looking back factored in to the inevitable failure I experienced.
When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I finally decided that this was “it” – my last diet forever. To that end, I got rid of my other diet books. I also got rid of my clothes as I shrank out of them – there was no saving of any bigger sizes “just in case.” I burned my bridges and I burned my ships, because neither the bridges or the ships would bring me to a place I wanted to be.
Because I kept burning the ships and the bridges as I continued on my journey, I had no choice but to keep moving forward – retreating was not an option. It was scary. Make that: it was very scary! I had never been successful in losing any significant amount of weight, and I certainly hadn’t been successful at keeping it off, so burning bridges and ships felt reckless. As it turned out, it was a real step of faith. However, taking a step of faith – one step at a time – makes all the difference! Once you know there is no turning back, it’s amazing what that does to your attitude and your motivation :-).
So who’s committed to an on-plan, ship-burning day today?
"burning the ships" as a way of forcing us to move forward towards our weight loss goal. The blog got me thinking, and I ended up doing an internet search to learn a little more about the whole concept of burning ships. Here's what I found:
“The ancient Greek warriors were both feared and respected by their enemies. In battle, the Greeks established a well-deserved reputation for their unsurpassed bravery and unshakable commitment to victory. The key to their overwhelming success on the battlefield had far more to do with how the Greek commanders motivated the warriors than it did with issues of tactics or training. The Greeks were master motivators who understood how to use a "dramatic demonstration" to infuse a spirit of commitment into the heart of every warrior. Once the warriors had been offloaded from their boats onto their enemy's shore, the Greek commanders would shout out their first order…"burn the boats!" The sight of burning boats removed any notion of retreat from their hearts and any thoughts of surrender from their heads. Imagine the tremendous psychological impact on the soldiers as they watched their boats being set to the torch. As the boats turned to ash and slipped quietly out of sight into the water, each man understood there was no turning back and the only way home was through victory.”
No retreat and no turning back – I like it! In all of my past attempts at losing weight, I never quite burned the ships. Whether it was keeping bigger sizes “just in case” or maintaining a mindset that gave me permission to return to my old way of eating, I kept glancing backward even as I tried to move ahead. I’d see the scale drop a few pounds, but never quite believed it would be permanent, even thought I hoped it would. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the very fact that I kept looking back factored in to the inevitable failure I experienced.
When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I finally decided that this was “it” – my last diet forever. To that end, I got rid of my other diet books. I also got rid of my clothes as I shrank out of them – there was no saving of any bigger sizes “just in case.” I burned my bridges and I burned my ships, because neither the bridges or the ships would bring me to a place I wanted to be.
Because I kept burning the ships and the bridges as I continued on my journey, I had no choice but to keep moving forward – retreating was not an option. It was scary. Make that: it was very scary! I had never been successful in losing any significant amount of weight, and I certainly hadn’t been successful at keeping it off, so burning bridges and ships felt reckless. As it turned out, it was a real step of faith. However, taking a step of faith – one step at a time – makes all the difference! Once you know there is no turning back, it’s amazing what that does to your attitude and your motivation :-).
So who’s committed to an on-plan, ship-burning day today?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Happy Anniversary!
Today is my 36th wedding anniversary, so I want to wish a Happy Anniversary to my dear husband, John. This is a man who has literally loved me through thick and thin (during the many years of "thick," he never, ever once made a negative comment to me about my weight) and who has supported me every day and in every way - I am SO blessed!
Two years ago, when I found information on about Take Shape for Life/Medifast and told him I was thinking about placing a 4-week order, he had every right to roll his eyes and say "not another diet. " He had watched as I went on diet after diet, subjecting myself and him (and, when they were younger, our children) to the crankiness that accompanied every diet (mostly due to the fact that I was always hungry and felt deprived). I have no idea how much money I spent on failed diet attempts over the years, but I had a library of diet books, diet cookbooks, audiotapes, videotapes, and even one infamous exercise DVD entitled "Big Butts on the Beach" which featured plus-sized women working out on the beach. I never stopped trying, but nothing ever worked, yet he encouraged me to place an order.
When my order arrived, I explained to him how the program worked and told him about my daily lean & green. He immediately said that he would eat whatever I ate, which made it SO much easier to stay on plan! Lest you think he is a total saint, I will mention that when we'd go out for dinner, he'd eat rolls, potatoes and even onion rings - right in front of me! But since he was so good at home, I had no choice but to forgive him :-). When we weighed out my lean every night, he always made sure that I had the amount I needed, even if it left him short on protein. That was really hard for me and flew in the face of everything I was taught about being a "good wife," but he made sure I had what I needed and if he didn't have enough meat, he'd make himself a peanut butter sandwich.
As I lost weight, he was supportive and encouraging, and I started to see how proud he was of me, especially when other people started noticing.
My big surprise came in January of 2008, seven months after I went on the program, when he told me he was ready to start on his own journey. He lost 50 pounds in 3-1/2 months, reaching his goal about a month before I reached my own. We celebrated our anniversary last year at our goal weights, and a year later, we're STILL at our goal weights!
Thirty-six years into this adventure, we're still having fun together, and now we're working together to help others get healthy, too - something that we couldn't have done two years ago. We are so thankful for all that God has done, and continues to do, in our lives!
My hope for each of you is that you have someone in your life, whether it's a spouse or a good friend, who is supporting you on your own weight loss journey. You deserve it!
Two years ago, when I found information on about Take Shape for Life/Medifast and told him I was thinking about placing a 4-week order, he had every right to roll his eyes and say "not another diet. " He had watched as I went on diet after diet, subjecting myself and him (and, when they were younger, our children) to the crankiness that accompanied every diet (mostly due to the fact that I was always hungry and felt deprived). I have no idea how much money I spent on failed diet attempts over the years, but I had a library of diet books, diet cookbooks, audiotapes, videotapes, and even one infamous exercise DVD entitled "Big Butts on the Beach" which featured plus-sized women working out on the beach. I never stopped trying, but nothing ever worked, yet he encouraged me to place an order.
When my order arrived, I explained to him how the program worked and told him about my daily lean & green. He immediately said that he would eat whatever I ate, which made it SO much easier to stay on plan! Lest you think he is a total saint, I will mention that when we'd go out for dinner, he'd eat rolls, potatoes and even onion rings - right in front of me! But since he was so good at home, I had no choice but to forgive him :-). When we weighed out my lean every night, he always made sure that I had the amount I needed, even if it left him short on protein. That was really hard for me and flew in the face of everything I was taught about being a "good wife," but he made sure I had what I needed and if he didn't have enough meat, he'd make himself a peanut butter sandwich.
As I lost weight, he was supportive and encouraging, and I started to see how proud he was of me, especially when other people started noticing.
My big surprise came in January of 2008, seven months after I went on the program, when he told me he was ready to start on his own journey. He lost 50 pounds in 3-1/2 months, reaching his goal about a month before I reached my own. We celebrated our anniversary last year at our goal weights, and a year later, we're STILL at our goal weights!
Thirty-six years into this adventure, we're still having fun together, and now we're working together to help others get healthy, too - something that we couldn't have done two years ago. We are so thankful for all that God has done, and continues to do, in our lives!
My hope for each of you is that you have someone in your life, whether it's a spouse or a good friend, who is supporting you on your own weight loss journey. You deserve it!
Monday, June 1, 2009
How Are You Feeling This Morning?
I think I'm in disbelief this morning as I flipped my calendar over to June - we're into the sixth month of the year already!!
Some of you started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast right after the holidays in anticipation of being ready for summer and wearing your goal size (or at least several sizes smaller) shorts and swimsuits. How are you doing? Hopefully you've seen great progress and are continuing to move towards your goal! Others started on the program fairly recently and won't see their goal until fall or winter, or perhaps not until next spring, while others have been on the plan a long time and have seen their hoped-for at-goal dates come and go, sometimes more than once.
Regardless of where you are on your journey, the fact that you're here is a good sign - really it is! Are you feeling strong and ready to take on the world of food challenges today, or are you feeling weak and unsure of yourself?
If you're feeling weak, I want to suggest something that may sound surprising to you: feeling weak is a good thing! In fact, feeling weak and vulnerable may actually better work to your advantage than feeling strong and able to take on the food world.
Before you think I've lost my mind and gotten it totally wrong, here's my thinking on this. When we are feeling weak and vulnerable, two important things can happen. First of all, we're on guard. We know we're weak, so we're more likely to put on some armor. We'll avoid the things that tempt us; perhaps we'll take a different route on our way to work so we don't pass by our former favorite food stop; we clean out our cupboards and get rid of the things that aren't on plan. If we're wise, we'll also seek out the support of trusted family members and friends (including our health coach). When we're feeling weak, we tend to take things a day at a time and we're thankful when we get to the end of the day on plan - we don't take it for granted because we know how easy it would have been to mess up.
Strength isn't a bad thing, of course, and if you're feeling strong today, good for you! I just want to gently caution you to not let your guard down. Slips can come when we least expect them, and they can be especially upsetting to us when we think they can't happen and then they do. Sometimes when we're feeling strong, we're more likely to allow ourselves to get into situations where we'll be tempted because we're confident we can handle it, and we're less likely to reach out to others for support because we think we can do this on our own.
For all of my prior [failed] dieting efforts, I pretty much did them on my own. I didn't think I needed any support, and I wasn't about to allow myself to become vulnerable in this very difficult and embarrassing area of my life. Did I mention this was true of all of my previous FAILED attempts at losing weight? :-)
One of the things that changed for me when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast was finally admitting that I couldn't do this on my own. Twenty years of failed dieting attempts had proved that to me beyond any shadow of a doubt. I started this program feeling about as weak as a person could feel, and I decided to reach out to the Take Shape for Life/Medifast on-line community for support. Doing that was a huge step for me, because being vulnerable doesn't come easily. As I shared my struggles and reached out for help, I received an unbelievable level of support. I was weak, but many came alongside me and walked the journey with me, and I drew strength from them. Because I felt weak in my own ability, I also set up guards and made the decision to not put myself in places where I might be tempted. I cleaned out my cabinets and got rid of anything that might tempt me. I recognized my own weakness and took action accordingly.
As you know because I've blogged about this often, I also realized that the strength I needed for the journey had to come from the Lord, and I went to Him daily asking for the strength I needed. I really hadn't done that faithfully on my other diets; I'd start out asking for His help, but would usually reach a point where I felt (or at least acted) like I could do it on my own - kind of a "thanks, God, but I think I can handle it going forward." This time I kept my hand tightly in His and never let go - and neither did He!
So if you're feeling weak this morning, if you're not sure you have in you what you need to do this plan, take heart! That may be exactly where you need to be in order to reach your goal!
Some of you started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast right after the holidays in anticipation of being ready for summer and wearing your goal size (or at least several sizes smaller) shorts and swimsuits. How are you doing? Hopefully you've seen great progress and are continuing to move towards your goal! Others started on the program fairly recently and won't see their goal until fall or winter, or perhaps not until next spring, while others have been on the plan a long time and have seen their hoped-for at-goal dates come and go, sometimes more than once.
Regardless of where you are on your journey, the fact that you're here is a good sign - really it is! Are you feeling strong and ready to take on the world of food challenges today, or are you feeling weak and unsure of yourself?
If you're feeling weak, I want to suggest something that may sound surprising to you: feeling weak is a good thing! In fact, feeling weak and vulnerable may actually better work to your advantage than feeling strong and able to take on the food world.
Before you think I've lost my mind and gotten it totally wrong, here's my thinking on this. When we are feeling weak and vulnerable, two important things can happen. First of all, we're on guard. We know we're weak, so we're more likely to put on some armor. We'll avoid the things that tempt us; perhaps we'll take a different route on our way to work so we don't pass by our former favorite food stop; we clean out our cupboards and get rid of the things that aren't on plan. If we're wise, we'll also seek out the support of trusted family members and friends (including our health coach). When we're feeling weak, we tend to take things a day at a time and we're thankful when we get to the end of the day on plan - we don't take it for granted because we know how easy it would have been to mess up.
Strength isn't a bad thing, of course, and if you're feeling strong today, good for you! I just want to gently caution you to not let your guard down. Slips can come when we least expect them, and they can be especially upsetting to us when we think they can't happen and then they do. Sometimes when we're feeling strong, we're more likely to allow ourselves to get into situations where we'll be tempted because we're confident we can handle it, and we're less likely to reach out to others for support because we think we can do this on our own.
For all of my prior [failed] dieting efforts, I pretty much did them on my own. I didn't think I needed any support, and I wasn't about to allow myself to become vulnerable in this very difficult and embarrassing area of my life. Did I mention this was true of all of my previous FAILED attempts at losing weight? :-)
One of the things that changed for me when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast was finally admitting that I couldn't do this on my own. Twenty years of failed dieting attempts had proved that to me beyond any shadow of a doubt. I started this program feeling about as weak as a person could feel, and I decided to reach out to the Take Shape for Life/Medifast on-line community for support. Doing that was a huge step for me, because being vulnerable doesn't come easily. As I shared my struggles and reached out for help, I received an unbelievable level of support. I was weak, but many came alongside me and walked the journey with me, and I drew strength from them. Because I felt weak in my own ability, I also set up guards and made the decision to not put myself in places where I might be tempted. I cleaned out my cabinets and got rid of anything that might tempt me. I recognized my own weakness and took action accordingly.
As you know because I've blogged about this often, I also realized that the strength I needed for the journey had to come from the Lord, and I went to Him daily asking for the strength I needed. I really hadn't done that faithfully on my other diets; I'd start out asking for His help, but would usually reach a point where I felt (or at least acted) like I could do it on my own - kind of a "thanks, God, but I think I can handle it going forward." This time I kept my hand tightly in His and never let go - and neither did He!
So if you're feeling weak this morning, if you're not sure you have in you what you need to do this plan, take heart! That may be exactly where you need to be in order to reach your goal!
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