A Great System

Happy Columbus Day! For those of you fortunate enough to work for a governmental agency, you probably have the day off - enjoy!

I came across a quote that I thought has GREAT application to the Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1 plan: "A good system shortens the road to the goal."

There are times when taking a leisurely, scenic route makes sense. When I have lots of time and am not in a hurry, I love getting off the expressway and taking a more scenic drive. If I see something that interests me, I enjoy stopping the car and grabbing my camera to snap a few pictures.

I don't know about you, but once I finally decided (REALLY decided) to lose weight, I wanted to reach my goal as quickly as possible. I wasn't interested in taking the scenic route - I wanted the autobahn. I'd done the "count points" program three different times, none of them particularly successfully, and the thought of doing a lot of work and getting maybe a half-pound loss per week for the effort didn't appeal to me at all.

I didn't want a "make it up as I go along" plan, either - I'd done that a zillion times. You know - the "I'll just eat less, watch my portions and make better choices" plan, completely unstructured and for me, completely unsuccessful.

This last and final time (thank the Lord, it really WAS the last time!) that I decided to lose weight, I wanted a proven system. I wanted something that was fast AND safe, and I wanted something that would not just get me thinner, but also healthier. Take Shape for Life/Medifast totally met the criteria and then some!

A good system shortens the road to the goal, but that is only true if we actually USE the system :-). The beauty of the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program is that all of the thinking and the figuring out has been done for us. As long as we follow the system, it really is goof-proof, and it the shortest way to goal.

If we were going on a trip and time was of the essence, we'd study a map and find the shortest route from Point A to Point B, or we'd plug the destination into our GPS and select the "shortest route" option. Once we had our route in place, we'd stick to the route and ignore the signs that advertised attractions ten miles off an exit en route. It's not that the attractions aren't interesting, but we have a destination to get to and we're focused on getting there as soon as we can.

Those off-plan foods are the attractions ten miles off the exit . . . if we veer off course and take the side-trip, we're going to waste a lot of time and delay getting to our destination. When it comes to getting to a healthy weight, we need to stay in the express lane with no exits between the time we get on and our goal.

Who's committed to staying the course today?