Back to Regular Programming

Happy Monday morning! For most of us, today means the holidays are finally - really - over. Children are back in school, people are back to work, and things will begin to settle into a normal routine pretty quickly.

My own plan to return to my regular routine was delayed by a day when my daughter called me this past Saturday and proposed a day trip to Chicago (2-1/2 hours from my house) yesterday. The destination was a surprise visit to the American Girl store for my two oldest granddaughters (6-1/2 and almost 5), where the youngest was able to pick out her American Girl doll as an early birthday present (she turns 5 at the end of this month). Following our time at the store, we went to one of our favorite Chicago casual restaurants before heading back to Michigan.

Whether you are already back into your own regular routine or dealing with re-entry into reality today, sooner or later things settle down for all of us. The renewed burst of enthusiasm and resolve that kicks off the new year for us will probably be gone before the month is over.

How do you keep going when it's not fun anymore? That is a huge challenge for many of us. When things are new and exciting and we're seeing results, staying motivated isn't hard. Staying motivated when it isn't fun is a whole 'nother matter entirely.

When I was on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, there were many days when staying on plan definitely wasn't fun any more. I got tired of staying on plan and I got really tired of eating Medifast food for 5 of my 6 meals a day. I grew weary of being restricted to lean and green for my dinner options. On those "not fun" days, what kept me motivated wasn't the thrill of the moment, but a vision of creating something wonderful in my life. I kept focused on where I was going and thought about how amazing it would be to actually be at my goal. I also would allow myself to look back at the progress I'd made and celebrate how far I'd come. I tell people that although I got tired of being on plan, I never got tired of seeing the scale go down and watching myself drop another size.

Ultimately, I realized that it didn't really matter if I was tired of doing this or not - it was simply what I HAD to do. My health depended on it, and I knew I was sick to death of feeling lousy about myself (I was also sick of feeling lousy). I told myself over and over again that being on 5&1 wasn't forever - that it was a season in my life that I'd set aside to get to a healthy weight. I really wanted this season to be as short as possible and I knew the only way to keep it a short season was to stay on plan and get to my goal as quickly as possible.

The other thing I did each and every day was ask God for the strength I needed to stay on plan one more day. Some days I had to ask Him to give me the strength I needed to just get through the next meal, but He was faithful to provide what I needed, one day and one meal at a time.

Today I hope you're excited to be on plan and making progress towards your goal, but even if this isn't one of your "fun days," there are still choices to be made. Your choices today will either move you in the direction you want to go, or they will take you a step or two backwards. Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-).