Weight Loss Forecast

Happy Monday! We're waking up to a chilly morning with predictions of rain and damaging winds for much of the day. The temptation to stay in bed and pull the covers over my head was overwhelming, but my schedule is full and, whether I felt like it or not, it was definitely "up and at 'em" :-).

Maybe you woke up this morning feeling as motivated as you ever have to stay on plan and reach your goal. Your weight loss forecast for today is warm and sunny and you feel energized as you face your day. Good for you - you're off to a great start!

But maybe you woke up this morning and faced a weather forecast much like mine and found that your motivation was about as chilly and soggy as the weather. Are you tempted to pull the covers over your head and wait for a more sunny day? My encouragement to you is to take a deep breath and get "up and at 'em" with your weight loss.

I talked with a friend last week who is struggling quite a bit with staying on plan right now. She's had wonderful success, so she knows the plan works, but a busy scheduled and some added stress resulted in her getting off plan and she is really having a hard time getting back on. She is hopeful that once things settle down for her, she'll have an easier time and can begin to focus again on getting to her goal.

It's tempting to make the decision to not follow the program when things are busy and stressful, because we may think that we just don't have time to stay on plan. I understand that thinking, because that pretty much summed up the mindset I had with every other weight loss plan I'd ever been on. My commitment to staying on any given plan was dependent upon my schedule, the weather, how tired I was, whether or not my nose was drippy . . . there wasn't really any level of commitment. I was a "fair weather dieter" of the worst kind. That wishy-washy approach kept me in an oscillating pattern of lose-gain-lose-gain for over twenty years, never making any real progress.

Because the 5 Take Shape for Life/Medifast meals are prepacked and require little to no preparation, I have actually found them to be ideal for busy days. When I'm feeling stressed, it's a relief to not have to think about what I'm going to eat - I just grab my food and go. Eating Medifast meals UNcomplicates my life, plus they give me the energy and nutrition I need to keep going.

Bottom line is that busy schedules and stress aren't really barriers to this plan unless we choose to make them barriers. The food part is the easy part of the program - it's the head and heart stuff that makes us or breaks us. It ultimately doesn't matter if the sky is sunny or cloudy, if the temperature outside is warm and balmy or cold and rainy; it doesn't matter if we feel on top of the world or feel like we have the weight of the world on our shoulders. What matters is whether or not we're committed to reaching a healthy weight. If we aren't committed, then a million and one things will come up that will seem like reasonable excuses to go off plan, and it's likely that we will. But if we're focused on reaching our goal, then none of those external things will matter.

I hope that you're committed to an on-plan day and that you won't allow anything to stand in the way! Have a great Monday!