Not Feeling It Today?

Did you wake up this morning feeling strong and ready to reach your goal today, or did you pull (or feel like pulling) the covers over your head while groaning at the thought of facing 5 more Medifast meals? I don't know about you, but I will honestly tell you that there were many days when I was on 5&1 where the LAST thing I felt like doing was spend a day eating only Medifast meals and a simple lean & green. That may surprise a few of you who may assume that I woke up every day joyful at facing another on-plan day, but I can assure you that that was NOT the case.

During the almost-11 months on Take Shape for Life that it took me to lose 120 pounds and reach my goal, I managed to hold a few private pity parties for myself. I had days when I was mad at myself for eating myself into a situation where I had to be on this weight loss plan to begin with, and there were days when I resented the fact that the rest of the world seemed free to eat whatever they wanted - and everything they ate look a LOT better than the food I was eating.

Yep, I didn't always have a positive, can-do attitude, but for once in my life I didn't allow how I FELT to influence what I actually DID. I finally realized that it didn't really matter if I felt like staying on plan or not, I knew that I HAD to stay on plan because I HAD to get to my weight loss goal - my health depended on it. I knew that NOT staying on plan and NOT reaching my goal meant reverting back to being a diabetic, it meant getting back on medication, and it meant heading back down a path that was filled with self-recrimination, guilt and disgust, and I didn't want to go there. I got sick of the food and sick of being on plan, but I was also was sick of being fat, sick of comparing myself to everyone else, sick of having a limited choice of clothes when I shopped.

Now before anyone thinks that I spent those 11 months being miserable on plan, I want to make sure you know that I was pretty happy and even excited for most of those months. I felt great and I was seeing consistent results, so I stayed pretty motivated. Most of the time, staying on plan was a no-brainer for me, and I tell people all the time that this was the easiest plan I ever went on - and it was the only one that worked. However, there WERE "those days", and sometimes "those days" lasted several days in a row.

We all have "those days", and "those days" can make the critical difference between whether we reach our goal or not. It's easy to stay on plan when we've feeling motivated, there's no problem eating a Medifast meal when we're having a good day. The reality is that everyone one of us will have a day, or two, or three when this is absolutely NOT what we feel like doing. If we decide that how we feel is irrelevant - this is what we HAVE to do - we'll stay on plan. The wonderful thing is that when we make the decision to stay on plan, our feelings will eventually catch up.

I heard someone make a comparison that is pretty radical, but it made me think. This person talked about the cancer patient who shows up for chemotherapy, not because they want to do it or because it's going to be enjoyable - they do it because their life depends on it. Whether or not they feel like showing up isn't even a consideration, because they know that the treatment is what's needed to cure their disease.

Our disease is obesity, and it is making us sick and it will kill us - taking years off our lives and sucking the quality out of our lives. Our "cure" is staying on 5&1. Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a program with a long and proven track record, and if you follow it you WILL reach your weight loss goal. You will undoubtedly have days when you don't feel like doing this plan, but you will never regret doing it anyway.

Who's committed to an on-plan day today?