Good Intentions or Thought-Through Strategies?

Happy Monday! We're just about half-way through December and just a couple of weeks away from the start of a new year. Whew!

Yesterday I read an article on perseverance - doing the right thing "until the stars fall." The writer said, We’d all agree that “Do right” is a terrific piece of advice. But coming to grips with that advice may be a challenge. I usually feel pretty good about what I do. And I rarely think I am wrong. But my best-intentioned moves in life are more like ready, fire, aim, instead of well-thought-through strategies on how to do what is truly right. Emotions have a way of pulling the trigger before I fully think the moment through. Rationalizations and excuses have a way of fogging my perspectives so that things that are clearly wrong look like pretty good options."

When it comes to staying on plan through the holidays, this is definitely the time for well-thought-through strategies instead of just good intentions. Good intentions tend to bite the cookie dust this time of year if we don't take the time (or make the time) to really plan our day. Many of us will attend one or more party between now and the end of the year, and there is no such thing as a party without food. While we're on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, most of the party food will not be on plan. If we walk into those situations with good intentions, but no plan, there is a good chance that we'll leave the event off plan. We walk in with good intentions, but then we see something that looks good and we rationalize that we'll just have one bite. Several bites later, as we realize that we've probably kicked ourselves out of the fat-burning state, we may then decide to just go for it with the food and get back on plan tomorrow. We've allowed emotions to pull the trigger before we've thought it through.

I have two suggestions as you face your own food challenges over the next couple of weeks. The first suggestion will probably come as no surprise: commit to stay on plan and view this as just one holiday season that you're sitting out (food-wise) in order to celebrate holidays the rest of your life at a healthy weight. Two years ago, that's exactly what I did and I have NO regrets for doing so. Some of you will do the same and will start the new year at a new, low weight.

The second suggestion is for those of you who have made the decision to "take a break" until the holidays are over. My purpose here isn't to try and talk you out of it, nor do I want to debate the wisdom of your decision. What I DO want to do is make a suggestion or two that will hopefully help you get through the next couple of weeks with minimal damage.

My second suggestion is to carefully plan the how, when and what of eating off plan. For the days when you don't have a holiday event, I would encourage you to stay on plan. On the days you have a holiday event, eat several Medifast meals leading up to the event to help manage your calories, and make sure that you have a Medifast meal before you leave for the party so you don't arrive famished. When you get to your event, figure out exactly what it is that you really want to eat and take a small portion of just those things. If you view these next couple of weeks as a food free-for-all, you can potentially lose a lot of hard-fought ground and wake up on January 1 up several pounds. If you've already decided to go off plan, I'm encouraging you to set a goal of not gaining any weight between now and the first of the year. By planning carefully now, and by not losing sight of what you really want, you will do some controlled off-plan eating and be ready to pick up where you left off after the holidays.

The choice to stay on plan or not stay on plan is yours, so think about the choice you want to make and think about how you'll feel on January 2 as a result of that choice. Then choose wisely :-)