Engaging in the Process

After a fun and busy day in Park City, Utah with friends, I'm flying to Los Angeles today and my husband is flying back to Chicago. I'm excited to spend time with an aunt I haven't seen in 8 years, and I'll also spend time with a cousin and his wife whom I haven't seen since July of 1990.

My aunt has battled weight her entire life. She had her stomach stapled over 20 years ago in an effort to lose weight, and when a lot of the weight came back on, she had an esophageal ring placed to restrict the circumference of her esophagus. The intent was to force her to carefully chew and swallow her food and eat slowly, but what really happened was that the restricted circumference of her esophagus causes her to choke. As a result, she opts for a lot of food that goes down easy - like ice cream, etc. She has tried just about every weight loss plan you can think of and has even been on and off Take Shape for Life/Medifast.

My aunt, more than anyone else, taught me by example that unless you change how you fundamentally think and feel about food, it's impossible to take weight off and keep it off. She relied on two different surgical procedures to "fix" the problem, but they didn't. She is now 71 years old and still struggling with weight. She told me that the epitaph on her tombstone will read "The battle is finally over;" and the battle she's referring to is her life-long struggle with food. She is incredibly happy for me with my weight loss, but doesn't think she'll ever be free from her own food addition until she's dead and buried. I'm hoping to change her mind - wish me luck!

Her son is in his mid-40's, over 300 pounds and diabetic, so I also plan to talk to him about Take Shape for Life/Medifast. Because he's seen his mom struggle her entire life with weight, I don't think he believes it's possible to ever have victory. I plan to show him some of the success photos posted here and am hopeful that he will be as inspired as I was when I found this program (I'm still incredibly inspired by all of the success photos, as each one represents a changed life!).

Permanent change begins with making the choice to change. People talk all the time about wanting to change, but so often they only want change if the change doesn't cost them anything. If they can lose the weight they need to lose and still eat and drink the same things they've always had, they're all for change. We want the result but refuse to engage in the process, but without engaging in the process, we'll never get the result we want.

On this program, the process is far more than just eating 5&1. These are important and effective tools, but if that's all we do, then we're treating this like a diet and diets don't work. We have to choose to be healthy. We have to choose to change how we relate to food. This isn't easy, and it doesn't happen overnight, but one day and one choice at a time, the change WILL happen!

I hope that you are choosing to stay on plan today, and that you are also choosing to work this program and fully engage in the process. You won't ever regret it!