Better Together

Happy Friday! It's hard to believe we're at the end of not only another week, but also another month!

Yesterday my husband and I did something that we've talked about for months. After months of talking about it and putting it off, I finally added him to my health club membership. The procrastination we practiced from the time we first talked about this until yesterday was multi-faceted - he was busy, it was additional expense, he's never worked out in his life (other than occasionally getting on our elliptical at home), etc. etc. There were always reasons to put it off (when we get through the holidays, when we get back from this trip . . . ), but yesterday we decided to finally follow through.

I'm really excited about this because, as anyone who reads my blogs on a regular basis already knows, getting in regular exercise is an ongoing struggle for me. There are always things to do, and there are ALWAYS things I'd rather do than exercise :-). Some people love to work themselves into a dripping sweat and find regular exercise to be the easy part of maintaining their weight loss, but it's much easier for me to monitor my eating than hit the gym.

Adding my husband to my health club membership was important for two reasons. First of all, although my husband lost 50 pounds and is maintaining his weight loss two years later, he understands that getting into a regular exercise routine that includes both cardio and strength training, is important as he continues his own journey towards optimal health. We both understand that being healthy is about much more than just being at a good weight or in a healthy BMI range, and we can't be optimally healthy without regular exercise. Secondly, there is something powerful about the accountability that comes when we do something together. We've put the health club on our calendars as appointments, and while I might be tempted to talk myself out of going there on my own, I know that since we've said we'll do this together, we will hold each other accountable.

My husband meets with one of the health club's personal trainers on Monday (he gets two free sessions with a trainer as part of his membership), so the new phase of our adventure begins next week. Stay tuned!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, in part, "Two are better than one . . . if one falls down, his friend can help him up." This is true in life, and it is certainly true on our journey towards optimal health. It's hard doing this alone, and having the support and encouragement of others can make all the difference for us. The wonderful thing is that we not only receive support and encouragement from those who share this journey with us, but we are also able to provide that same support and encouragement to others who need it. We really do need each other!

My encouragement for you today is to make sure that you are getting the support you need, and that you have an opportunity to encourage someone else. Doing that, and staying on plan today, will bring you one step closer to your goal. The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

Tactical or Strategic?

Yesterday I blogged about the dangers of fad diets and emphasized the need to embrace a long-term strategy. I received an e-mail from a friend of mine, who made this comment about my blog, "In the business world, what you are describing is referred to as 'strategic vs tactical'. In military terms, a quick fix 'fad' diet is possibly winning the battle but losing the war. It's a matter of where your attention is focused. Are you heads down and only looking at the short-term tactical situation or is your head up looking at the long-term strategic goal of optimal health?"

I love that! This friend has obviously adopted a mindset that is focused on winning the war - and this is most certainly a war. We are in a life-and-death battle for our health. It's tempting to keep our heads down and focus on the short-term fix, but that's a tactical error that will keep us in a yo-yo dieting pattern.

Sometimes winning the battle can feel like an impossible task, especially if we have a lot of weight to lose. I set a lot of mini-goals for myself to ensure that I could celebrate success all along the way. The prospect of losing 120 pounds was daunting, so, staying with today's theme, I broke it down into a series of "small battles." What was important was that I saw each "battle" and each victory as part of a bigger picture - getting to my goal weight and winning the war - and not as an end in and of itself. Each victory, each celebration reignited my enthusiasm as it was evidence that I was moving closer to my goal and the end of this stage of the war.

This is still a war for me, because I don't think there will ever be a time when I can declare a once-and-for-all victory and lay down my weapons. I am aware that obesity is still out there, wounded but not down for the count. Everyday I have to plan my strategy and stay mindful. I have won the battle to reach a healthy weight and I am winning the war against obesity, but I know that the enemy is still out there and I know that I am still vulnerable. That isn't depressing, it's just an acknowledgment of reality, and forewarned is forearmed.

Today we have a battle to wage and a war to win, and the choices we make will influence the outcome. Pick up your weapons, and choose wisely :-)

Fad Diet or Something More?

I always cringe a bit when I see an article posted about the "dieting secrets" of Hollywood stars, because I am sure that most of the "secrets" are just a collection of fad, even dangerous, diets, and because I know that somebody somewhere will decide to give it a try.

Whether it's a Hollywood star or just an average person, people are looking for a way to lose weight, and many are focused on the results and not the process. When a person is focused only on the results, and when those results are short-term, they can do some pretty foolish things. I read an article yesterday about a Hollywood star who wanted to lose twenty pounds quickly for a movie role. She said, "I lived on water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup for 14 days. It was tough; everyone was eating and I was dying." Can you guess what she did after she lost the weight? "After that I ate waffles, fried chicken, cheeseburgers, french fries, everything I could find. That was the best time of my life. I've gained twelve pounds."

Here's what happened: she went on a dangerous crash diet, endangering her health, in order to drop some weight very quickly. She lost muscle as part of her weight loss, then went back to very unhealthy eating and gained twelve pounds of fat. What she did was increase her percentage of fat, decrease her percentage of muscle, slowing down her metabolism and making it more difficult to lose weight the next time.

For us to be successful for the long term, we obviously need a very different strategy :-). When I finally acknowledged that I had to lose weight for my health, I wasn't looking for another fad diet (I'd done plenty of those). I didn't want to make myself more ill in the process of trying to lose weight, and I wanted a program that would help me to safely lose weight AND help me keep it off. That is exactly what Take Shape for Life/Medifast is designed to do, and that's exactly what this program did for me! Thirty years of successfully helping people lose weight, with the safety and efficacy proven through multiple independent clinical studies, reassured me that this program was solid.

I don't know if you started this program because you were looking for a short-term, quick fix, or if you started because you were ready to make a permanent change in your weight and your health. Regardless of what prompted you to start, you made a wise choice when you chose Take Shape for Life/Medifast! Even if you were looking for a quick fix to get you into your swimsuit in a few weeks, please know that by embracing this program and following the protocols, you can not only safely get the weight off quickly, but you can keep it off. Better than that, you have begun a journey that will help you stay healthier for the rest of your life!

That journey continues today, with the choices that you'll make. Choose wisely :-)

Becoming an"After"

How do you put a price on joy?  How do you put a price on getting your life back? 

I'm asking these questions because I received an e-mail yesterday from a friend of mine who's lost over 100 pounds in the past eight months.  She has about 30 more pounds to go, but as you can imagine, she looks and feels like a different person.  She sent me a couple of "before" photos of her, then a couple of photos that were taken in the past couple of weeks.  I'm always amazed to see the difference in the before and after photos - not just in the weight loss, which is remarkable, but also in the eyes.

Not only in my friend's pictures, but also in my own before photos (as well as in many of the before photos I've seen of others), there is a sadness in the eyes that's unmistakable.  I hated having my picture taken, and it's obvious when I look at my before photos that I wanted to be somewhere - anywhere - other than standing in front of a camera.  The after photos are an entirely different story, as a certain confidence comes through - there is a light in the eyes and joy on the face.  It really is remarkable!

I called this friend to celebrate her 100-pound lost milestone with her, and she was practically giggling as she told me that she had to purchase a new dresser in order to hold all of her new clothes.  She is not a materialistic person at all, but she is finding delight in realizing that it's finally fun to shop, and even more fun to find clothes that look good on her.

All of this change happened in eight short months - eight short months to change a person's life.  Amazing!  We joked that the cost of this program is pretty nominal since it replaces the grocery store, but that the REAL cost is the post-goal shopping trip to purchase an entirely new wardrobe - and I wasn't even factoring in the necessity of new furniture to hold it!

Like all of us, my friend has had to make tough choices all along the way.  She went on a cruise, she got through the holidays, and she deals with all of the stresses of a full-time job and caring for an aging parent.  Life continues to happen for her, but because she knows what she wants - getting to a healthy weight - she has figured out every step of the way what she needs to do to stay on plan.

It hasn't been easy, but I can promise you that as I look at her most recent pictures and as I listen to her joyfully talking about how wonderful she feels and how much fun she's having, I know that knows it was worth it.

What's really special for me is knowing that my own weight loss story encouraged her to begin her own journey, and now she is inspiring others.  How amazing!

Do you believe that your life can change?  Do you believe that a few months from now you could be in a very different place than you are right now?  You can be - just ask my friend!  It all begins with the choices you make today, so choose wisely :-)

Feeling a Bit Caged In?

Happy Monday!  I'm staying at my daughter's house, caring for her two girls (7 and 5) while she and her husband are visiting some of his family in Portland, OR for a few days.  It's been a few years since I've been in an active "mom" role, getting small children ready for school, so it's a busy morning for me!

Because there are a lot of people reading my blog today who weren't around a year ago, I thought I'd share a blog I first wrote almost a year ago.  I hope it will be an encouragement to someone today!

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Does this program feel a bit restrictive to you?  Do you sometimes feel like you've put yourself in a very small cage, with all of your favorite foods just outside your reach (even when you stretch and reach between the bars)?  When we've been on other plans that had us counting calories or carbs or points, most of us had more food options than we have while we're on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1.  I've encountered a couple of people who ended up leaving this plan and opting to go back to the "points" program because they wanted more options in their daily menu.

I recently read a story that made me think about our self-imposed Take Shape for Life/Medifast "cage" and it gave me an entirely new perspective on this.  The story told about an individual who rescues chimpanzees.  These chimps were orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle; many of the chimps have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell.  When the man who rescues them arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls "Chimp Eden," he finds that many of the chimps are hostile and untrusting, not understanding that he is trying to help them.  When he tried to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, the chimps put up quite a fight - they don't realize that the crate is temporary and that its purpose is to bring them to a much better place.

Hmmm . . . anybody see any application here?  :-)

When we start on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, most of us are motivated because we've felt trapped in a body we don't want to be in.  We don't feel well, we don't like what the scale says, we don't like the size label on our clothes.  We're in a prison of obesity from which we're desperate to break free. 

It's almost ironic, isn't it, that the vehicle that will eventually bring us to a freedom that we can't even imagine can, temporarily, feel like a yet another cage.  Like the chimps that are being transported from their prison-like cell to "Chimp Eden", we may find ourselves fighting the very vehicle that is designed to bring us to a much better and happier place.

The Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1 program is a tool - this is not the rest of your life!  It is carefully designed to bring you from where you are to where you want to be, and to get you there as quickly and safely as possible.  To do that, it takes all of the guesswork out and, to keep it as simple as possible, removes most of our food choices.  The problem is that sometimes we stop viewing this as a vehicle that's taking us to our goal and we begin to resent the restrictions.  If we don't take a deep breath and get back our perspective, our resentment and feelings of deprivation can ultimately be our undoing. 

If we're feeling frustrated and restricted by the limitations of 5&1, we may be vulnerable to the food temptations that come our way.  However, if we view 5&1 as a secure transport vehicle to get us to our goal, we will be in a much stronger position to stand firm and "just say no."

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Cage or safe transport?  How you choose to view this program may well influence other choices you make today.  Choose wisely :-)

Feeding the Dogs

One of the realities that I'd prefer to not acknowledge is that there is no cure for obesity.  Losing weight is one thing (and it is a WONDERFUL thing!), but losing weight in and of itself does not "cure" obesity.  Staying at a healthy weight requires a lifestyle change for the rest of my life, and even though it's been almost two years since I reached my goal, I find myself having to grapple with that reality anew from time to time. 

At one point, I had hoped - I really, really hoped - that doing Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1 would have forever cured me of my desire to eat sludge.  I was really hoping that I would have totally lost my taste for any of it.  But that's not the case.  The Take Shape for Live/Medifast program did a lot of wonderful things for me, and I'm continuing to reap so many of the benefits, but it did not cure my obesity.  The plan enabled me to return to a healthy weight and put me on a path towards optimal health, but it did not cure my obesity.  That beast is there, always there, ready, willing and able to rear its ugly head and take over my life if I choose to become mindless about what I eat and do. 

Everyday that I make healthy choices is another day that develops the healthy habits I want to keep and develop for the rest of my life.  However, I am aware that the beast is alive - just hungry and underfed at the moment :-).  I'd like to think I could starve it to death, but that's not likely to happen.

I once heard a story about a man who talked about the internal struggle he was having and likened it to a fight between two dogs.  Someone asked him which dog was winning and the man replied, "Whichever one I feed."

Everyday each and every one of us has to face the dog fight yet again.  We're in a battle for our health, and one of the dogs in the fight is named obesity.  This dog may be a little skeletal at the moment because it hasn't been fed in a while, but it's watching in the corner, waiting for an opportune moment.

So every day we plan, and we commit to NOT feeding that dog today!  Every day I realize all over again that I CANNOT do this on my own and ask my Heavenly Father for a fresh measure of His grace and strength.  And every day that I do that - and every day that each of us makes a commitment to making the sometimes hard choices - is another day that moves us a bit closer to a healthier you and me.

Which dog are you going to feed today?  The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

Four Little Reasons

This is a busy weekend for me as I'm taking care of my two oldest granddaughters (ages 7 and 5), plus a granddog, while my daughter and her husband are away visiting his family in Portland, OR.  For the next five days, I will be back in the role of "mom" to a couple of little girls.  It's going to be fun but also very busy!

I can't help but wonder how much stamina I'd have for these next few days if I was still hauling around an extra 126 pounds.  I'm a bit tired by the end of a day with my grandchildren (both these two and our 3-1/2 yr. old twins), but I'm sure I'd be completely exhausted if I was still at my top weight of 268.  My four grandchildren were one of the reasons I was finally motivated to get to a healthy weight.  I realized that if I didn't do something, and soon, there was a good chance I might not be around to enjoy them growing up.  As much as I hated being overweight, what I hated even more was the thought of cutting my time with them short because I couldn't stop eating.  I wanted to be healthy and active and not just a sideline observer of their growing up - I wanted to be an active (and fun!) participant.

Yesterday I spent time with the twins, including a fair amount of time sitting on the floor playing dollhouse.  That seems like such a simple thing to do now, but three years ago I never sat on the floor.  My back hurt most of the time, so sitting on the floor was very uncomfortable, and at my top weight, getting up off the floor was no easy task.  Yesterday I didn't think twice about it, and I was up and down multiple times and never gave it a second thought.

So many wonderful things have happened since I reached my goal almost two years ago, and being a fun, active grandmother to my four precious grandchildren is one of the best - and the most fun.

So it will be a busy few days for me and I will love every minute of it.  I'm so thankful that I can truly enjoy this time, that I have the health and energy to savor the moments and not just survive them.  There were a lot of things I didn't eat while I was on my weight loss journey and staying on plan, but as I look at the faces of my four little ones, I can say without hesitation that it was absolutely worth it.

What motivates you to get to a healthy weight?  Stay focused, then choose wisely :-)

Breaking Through Barriers

I am continually amazed by the power we have to change what we do simply (or not so simply) by changing how we think. This was brought home to me again as someone related the story of the 4-minute mile. Because I'm not a runner, I wasn't familiar with this story until recently, but I found it absolutely fascinating.

For many years it was widely believed to be impossible for a human to run a mile (1609 meters) in under four minutes. In fact, for many years, it was believed that the four minute mile was a physical barrier that no man could break without causing significant damage to the runners health. The achievement of a four minute mile seemed beyond human possibility, like climbing Mount Everest or walking on the moon.

It was a windy spring day, on the 6th of May 1954, during an athletic meeting between the British AAA and Oxford University, that Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds. He crossed the finish line with a time of 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds, and broke through the “four minute mile” psychological barrier. John Landy a great runner of that day never run faster than within 1.5 seconds of the four minute barrier. Then 56 days after Roger Banniste'rs breakthrough, John Landy ran the four minute mile in 3 minutes and 57.9 seconds in Finland. Later Bannister and Landy raced in the Mile of the Century where Bannister won in 3 minutes and 58.8 seconds.
In commenting on this event, writer George Ambler observed, "So what happened to the physical barrier that prevented humans from running the four minute mile? Was there a sudden leap in human evolution? No. It was the change in thinking that made the difference, Bannister had shown that breaking four minute mile was possible. Often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds. Previous runners had been held back by their beliefs and mindsets. When the barrier was broken other runners saw that is was possible and then 16 runners went on to do they same."


Did you catch the sentence, "often the barriers we perceived are only barriers in our own minds"? That statement really struck me because I can think of many barriers that I've put up over the years, telling myself that I can't do this or that.

One of the things I told myself for years was that I couldn't lose weight. Goodness knows I'd tried just about every program out there. I'd heard the conventional wisdom about women "of a certain age" not being able to lose weight, and I believed it. Because I didn't believe I really could lose weight, I expected to fail, so I failed.

What changed this time was that Medifast gave me immediate results - I lost 9 pounds my first week and my blood glucose readings returned to normal. The results were so amazing and so fast that a crack appeared in the mental barrier I'd put up. I'd never seen anything work so fast, and I'd never felt good before on any program I'd been on. At the end of the first week, I certainly wasn't confident in my ability to be successful, but that small crack in the mental barrier allowed a glimmer of hope to shine through. I was sure that my first week's success was just a fluke, but I pressed on through a second week, then a third. Even at the end of the first month and 18 pounds lighter, I didn't really believe this was sustainable over time, but I placed a second 4-week order anyway. And you know the rest of the story!

On this program, we not only have the opportunity to make a positive change in our health and our weight, we also have the opportunity to change how we think. We have the opportunity to break down some barriers we've erected in our minds that are keeping us in a place we no longer want to be. Making those changes happens one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Dream a Little Dream With Me

If you were at your ideal weight, what would be different for you? How would your life be different - how would YOU be different - if you were living life at your ideal weight?

For some of you, answering this question may really stretch your imagination to its limits because you've never been at your ideal weight. Some of you have struggled with your weight for your entire life, so embarking on this journey has involved an unbelievable amount of hope and no small measure of faith as you take one step after another towards a place you've never been. It may feel very scary at times to be heading into unknown territory, but go ahead, dream big - what would your life look like?

For others, this question evokes memories of a time when you WERE at, or near, your ideal weight. You remember what it was like to feel pretty good about looking in the mirror, you know what it's like to have fun shopping and remember a time when you didn't feel weighed down by extra pounds. You are on a journey to return to something familiar, and you may have a sense that you are in the midst of reclaiming the "real" you.

Someone shared with me that they created a storyboard filled with pictures of things they wanted to do when they reached their goal. The story board included pictures of people hiking and swimming, pictures of outfits that this person looked forward to wearing, etc. The storyboard provided a tangible, visible reminder of what they anticipated their life looking like at goal.

What would be on your storyboard? I'm asking this question today because I think it's important to have a clear vision in our mind of where we're heading. There are too many days when being on plan just isn't a lot of fun, and if we aren't focused on where we're going - if we aren't excited about what we're creating in our lives - it can be easy to get bogged down and lose our focus. Thinking about where we want to go keeps us moving forward, in the direction of what we're creating.

My challenge today is to spend some time thinking about what like will look like for you at goal. Once you have a clear vision in your mind, take the steps you need to take to get there. And you WILL get there, one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Today's Forecast

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great (and on-plan!) week.

One of the first things I do every morning is check the weather forecast. Especially this time of year, when temperatures can wildly fluctuate from the 70's one day to below freezing, I don't know what to wear until I know what the forecast is. Today is starting out in the low 30's, but temps are predicted to get into the low 60's, so I'll dress in layers and be ready for whatever the day holds.

I have another forecast for you this morning, and it doesn't matter if you live in Alaska or Florida, California or New York. It's the same forecast. It's the forecast for your chance of success on this program.
Regardless of where you live, regardless of how long you've been on the program or how much you currently weigh, no matter how much weight you have to lose or how long you've been overweight, I have the forecast for your success on this program. Ready?

Your chance of success on this program is 100% . . . if you decide to be successful. I know your chance of success is 100% because this program works. It's been around for 30 years and has been recommended by more than 20,000 doctors. People who follow the protocols of this program lose weight and reach their goal. You are on a program that has been proven safe and effective and the are innumerable success stories from people who never thought they could lose weight, including myself. You can have full confidence that as long as you follow the program, you will reach your goal.

The caveat for this forecast, of course, is that you have to decide. Ultimately, the success of this program depends on whether or not you've made the fundamental choice to be successful. Once we've made the fundamental choice to be successful and get to a healthy weight, we figure out what we need to do to make it happen. I'm not saying that it's always easy, because it's not, but it's possible. If we haven't made the fundamental choice to get to a healthy weight, we will allow circumstances to determine whether or not we're going to stay on plan. Traveling, stress, celebrations and social events - there are always events that can and will get us off plan if we haven't made the fundamental choice to get healthy. If we haven't made that choice, then the forecast for success is 50/50 at best, because life is always happening and there are always things that threaten to interfere with our program.

The forecast for success is 100% dependent on the choices we make. Choose wisely :-)

Putting On My Oxygen Mask

I’ve done a fair amount of flying lately, including our most recent trip to a conference in Orlando. The flight attendant always instructs us that, in the unlikely event of loss of cabin pressure, we are to put on our own oxygen masks before we help someone else. Most people are busy reading or sending off a last-minute text message and pay no attention to any of the instructions, but I wonder how many of them - us - would wish we’d paid closer attention if those yellow masks actually dropped down in the middle of a flight.

As I was listening to the pre-flight instructions before we left for Florida, it struck me that recently I have forgotten to put on my own oxygen mask. What got me thinking about my own neglect was the night before we left for Orlando, when I began packing for our trip. I dragged up from storage all of my spring and summer business clothes that have been packed away since last September. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to bring, so I started trying on a few things only to find that some of the skirts and slacks were snug. Everything zipped and snapped, but I found myself more than a little dismayed to realize that some of these things looked a lot better on me when I packed them away than they did now. Ugh! I’m still in my goal range and still at a healthy BMI, although the scale shows I’m up a few pounds.

What has changed over the past few months is that I have not been consistently working out. Regular exercise is definitely my biggest challenge, and I have allowed the tyranny of the urgent to get in the way for far too long. I have “health club” set up as a recurring appointment every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning on my Outlook calendar, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning a little reminder pops up, so it’s not that I forget. What has happened is that I keep hitting “ignore” because I think I’m too busy “today.” I have good intentions, to be sure. I fully recognize the need the incorporate regular exercise into my life and understand that this is an integral part of living a healthy lifestyle. But when it all boils down, I haven’t made this a priority. We are very busy with our business, and as a small business owner, there is always something to do. There is always an e-mail to send or respond to, there is always a phone call that needs to be made, there is always a meeting of one kind or another on my calendar. I love the work that we do so I’m thankful and incredibly blessed to be busy, but that busyness has been allowed to crowd out taking care of myself. When I add in family and church responsibilities, it’s far too easy for me to decide day after day that I’m just too busy to exercise “today.”

Realizing that I have some really nice things that are fairly snug at the moment has been the wake-up call that I needed. It’s time to MAKE the time to do the things I need to do to take care of myself and my health. This is about a lot more than just fitting comfortably into my clothes - it’s about continuing my own journey towards optimal health. It’s time for me to get back to the health club on a regular basis and also take a closer look at my own food plan (and, most likely, rein things in a bit to address those few pounds).

It’s so easy for me, and I’m guessing most of us, to allow other things to get in the way of doing what we need to do. Life is busy and rarely slows down to make it convenient for us to make the choices we need to make. Today I’m committed to doing what I encourage you to do - choose wisely J

Time to Pay

Good morning, everyone!

It's the eve of everyone's favorite day of the year - April 15 - tax day ;-). Since we owe money this year, guess when we're paying our taxes? Yep - the check is going in the mail today :-) When we've been entitled to a refund, we've filed our taxes as soon as we could, but when we owe, well, that's a different story!

When it comes to our health, a day of reckoning generally comes, too, because our bodies, like Uncle Sam, have a way of keeping track of what's coming in and what's going out. When I was diagnosed with diabetes in September of 2005, I realized that my years of morbid obesity, bad habits, and a genetic predisposition had finally caught up with me. I had been "investing" in this for years, and the bill finally came due.

Sometime we think we can avoid the long-term ramifications of bad habits, but most of the time they eventually catch up with us. To be sure, there are always the exceptions - people who live healthy and die prematurely of a heart attack, someone who smokes 2 packs a day and lives to be 100 - but those are exceptions, not the rule.

The good news is that our bodies were created with a wonderful ability to heal, and it's amazing to see how fast concerning health conditions can begin to reverse themselves when we begin to take care of ourselves. Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol - conditions often resulting from being overweight - can and are being reversed as people get on this program and begin to lose weight. It's exciting!

You're here because you've made a commitment to invest in your health, so keep up the great work and don't let anything get in the way of getting healthy, because you're worth it! Take it one day, one meal, and one choice at a time - and choose wisely :-)

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I am going to be at a conference in Orlando tomorrow through Monday. I won't be posting blogs while I'm gone. Have a great and on-plan week!

It's All About the Attitude

I was recently reminded again of the importance of choosing my attitude. There are so many things in life that we have absolutely no control over, but we can always choose how we respond.

Attitude makes all the difference. Chuck Swindoll, a well-known author and pastor, has a quote about attitude that pretty much sums it up (you may be familiar with this):

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

There were certainly days when I was on 5&1 when I wasn't particularly having fun. I got tired of the food (and without crunch bars, pretzels, cheese puffs or brownies there was less variety then) and I got tired of having to pass up some of my favorite foods. What I quickly realized was the fact that nobody was making me do this - I had the freedom to quit anytime I wanted to. It was my choice to do the plan or not, and it was also my choice to either do it with joy or be miserable the whole time (and make everyone around me miserable, too).

Part of choosing our attitude is choosing what we're going to focus on. If we're focused on what we're giving up, if we allow ourselves to live in the land of the deprived, we're more likely to struggle with our attitude. On the other hand, if we shift our focus from what we're temporarily giving up to all that we are gaining - improved health, smaller sizes, better self-esteem, etc. etc., maintaining a positive attitude becomes much easier. My pastor's wife summed up her own way of choosing her attitude, saying she could either "practice the presence of problems or practice the presence of Jesus." I like that!

The challenges we face may remain the same, the problems may still be there, and we may still be facing many more days, weeks or months of being on 5&1. We may or may not be able to change the situation, but we can always choose our attitude - choose wisely :-)

Plan and Be Prepared

Happy Monday! How did your weekend go? My weekend ended up being a lot different than planned . . . what an understatement!

I picked up my two oldest granddaughters (age 7 and 5) Friday morning and brought them back to my house, with the plan that they would stay until sometime Saturday afternoon. Friday went pretty much as planned - we spent a couple of hours at our local aquatic center, which has a wonderful children's area, then went back to my house for snuggles, stories, games, and a tea party. Saturday, however, was an entirely different story. My oldest granddaughter, Amanda, woke me up a little before 7 AM crying and telling me that her tummy hurt. Before the (very long) day was over, we'd spent about 12 hours in two separate visits to the emergency room for a series of tests, all of which ended up being inconclusive. Thankfully, Amanda seemed fine yesterday and we have no idea what caused her pain and fever, other than possibly some odd virus. We didn't get home from the second ER trip until after 2 AM Sunday, so my daughter and her husband (who drove the 30 minutes to my house when Amanda got sick) ended up spending what was left of the night at our house. Their entire family, including their dog, stayed until after dinner last night, making for a very busy weekend!

Why I'm sharing all of this on my daily "choice blog" is because the last thing my daughter and I did before we left for the hospital on Saturday was grab several Medifast meals - bars, cheese puffs and pretzels, along with a few bottles of water. We had no idea what we were in for or how long we'd be there, but we both knew enough to be prepared. Neither one of us was willing to wait until we were at the hospital and hungry to figure out what we were going to do for meals. Prior to Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I would have made sure I had money on me and would have paid whatever I had to pay to get whatever I could find to eat. It wasn't much of a plan, and since I was 260 pounds, it obviously wasn't a very good plan!

Planning ahead, and planning for the unexpected, is so important for us both when we're on the weight loss portion of this program and also when we're in maintenance. Waiting to catch something somewhere almost always means that we'll pay too much money for marginal-at-best food. My daughter and I checked out the vending machine at the hospital, curious to see what our options would have been without our Medifast meals. It was a pretty sad selection, high priced and most of the food choices fell into the high calorie/high fat processed food category. Needless to say, we were happy that we saved a lot of money and got much better nutrition with the Medifast products we had with us.

I never leave the house without at least a couple of Medifast meals with me, and I usually have a bag of chili nacho cheese puffs in my car as an additional back up. It's not that I'm obsessive about eating (at least I hope I'm not!), but I don't want to be caught unprepared. Life happens, and sometimes it happens when we're least expecting it. When the unexpected comes, it saves not only money and calories but also stress to know that what to eat isn't one of the things I have to worry about.

Have a great Monday! Plan ahead, and choose wisely :-)

Happy Saturday!

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday! My two oldest granddaughters spent last night with us and will be here all day today. Having two little girls here makes blog writing a challenge :-), so I'm going to just wish every a great and on-plan Saturday. Whatever you're doing today and whatever the choices you face, choose wisely :-).

Making Hard Changes

Happy Friday! It's amazing that we've come to the end of another work week, and I imagine most of you are ready for the weekend to start (I know I am!).

I'm picking up our two oldest granddaughters this morning and they'll spend most of the weekend with us. I'm looking forward to a lot of fun, snuggles, giggles and at least one tea party this weekend :-). Kayla, the younger of the two girls, is on a trial gluten-free diet to determine if some of the physical issues she's been having are due to a gluten allergy, so we will be eating carefully this weekend. So that she doesn't feel excluded from anything, we will ALL be eating a gluten-free diet this weekend. My daughter (the mom of our oldest grandchildren) said there have been a few tears this week as Kayla has adjusted to the changes, and since they have already seen some improvement, she may end up being on this permanently. This will be hard for a little girl who loves her mommy's homemade bread (my recipe!) and lots of other things that contain gluten. However, if these things are making her sick, she won't be eating them anymore.

I've seen other people drastically change their diets when they find out that they're allergic to gluten or something else, and they feel so much better that they scrupulously avoid the offending item at all costs. They remember how they felt before their diagnosis, so even though they have to change their diet, they know the change is worth it because they feel so much better.

Why is it that people are willing to make drastic changes in their diet because of a food allergy, yet many of us struggle with the changes we need to make for our own health? I've often wondered if it would be easier for me if every time I ate unhealthy food I'd have an immediate adverse reaction. Would it be easier to avoid the high fat/high carb/high sugar foods if I immediately broke out in a rash or doubled over in pain? Sometimes I think it would be a blessing in disguise . . .

The truth is that I'm not allergic to any of those things, at least not allergic in a way that produces immediate, adverse reactions. I AM allergic to them over time, however, because excess consumption will make me break out in fat :-).

Seriously, we may not have a food allergy that mandates drastic changes to what we eat, but our health is still very much at risk. The choices we make do have consequences, for good or for bad. We have to choose whether or not we're going to stay on plan, and choosing to stay on plan means we are choosing to temporarily NOT eat some things. When I was on 5&1, I often told myself "this isn't forever, this is just a season in my life that I've set aside to get healthy." What a blessing that this IS only temporary - once we reach goal and transition, we can get on with our lives, and that includes occasionally (and in proper portions) enjoying anything that we want to eat. But we have to get to goal first :-)

In the meantime, there are some temporary changes we're making that will help us reach our goal quickly. Are you ready and willing to make those changes? The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

Successful People

Successful people do what is right no matter how they feel, and by doing right they feel good – John C. Maxwell

I read this quote yesterday and found it to be thought-provoking. I don't know about you, but so often I want to feel good FIRST and allow the good feeling to give me the oomph I need to do what I need to do. Sometimes that works for me, but sometimes it doesn't. If I'm in the mood to clean out a closet, I can get to work and turn chaos into order in a short period of time. If I wake up with energy to spare, heading to the health club is easy. If the scale gives me a number I'm happy with, making healthy choices is a natural.

Like I said, sometimes waiting for the feeling works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Unfortunately, there are times the closet needs cleaning, or I need to exercise, or the scale is up a couple of pounds and I just don't feel like doing what I know I need to do. It's not easy to always make the choices I need to make when I'm just not feeling it. The problem is that when I don't do what I know I need to do, the inaction doesn't generate a good feeling - it produces guilt. I pass by the closet and look at the mess and know I really SHOULD get at it . . . I decide not to head out the door to work out and then, when it's too late to go to the health club, wish I had . . .

Inaction doesn't produce positive feelings and can put us into a downward spiral where the longer we don't take action, the harder it is to get started. I've seen this over and over again with people on this program. They start our enthusiastic and strong, then for a variety of reasons find themselves off plan. That's when the challenge comes, because many wait to get started again until they feel motivated - they wait for the good feeling so that they'll do what they need to do. Sometimes the good feeling comes and they're ready to get started again, but sometimes it doesn't. People who went off plan over the holidays are still struggling to get back on plan 100% today, almost four months later. They're frustrated and mad at themselves for what they think is their lack of willpower, and each day that passes only increases their frustration at themselves.

When we can take a giant step forward and do the right thing, whether we feel like it or not, an amazing thing happens. The good feelings we've been waiting for finally show up! They don't always show up right away (wouldn't it be great if they did?), but they do show up!

When I tackle a messy closet even when I don't feel like it, good feelings kick in. As I continue working and organizing, a surge of energy usually comes and carries me to completion. Whether or not the good feelings come during the project, they sure do show up when I'm finished and admiring the order I created! I may not feel like working out, but when I push through the "don't feel like it" and do it anyway, I'm always - always - glad that I did.

And when we get back on plan and do what we need to do, whether we feel like it or not, the good feelings eventually show up, too :-). There is a sense of relief that washes over us when we take control and do what we know we need to do, and the scale usually rewards us in short order, which brings more good feelings :-).

The good news is that by doing the right thing, we not only end up feeling better about ourselves, but that action brings the success we're hoping for. It all begins with the choice to move forward, whether we feel like it or not. Choose wisely :-)

Time for Windex

Happy Wednesday!

I have a question for you today: is this a windshield day for you, or it is a rearview mirror day?

Translation: are you focused today on where you're going, or are you spending your time looking back?

I think this is a question worth asking, because the answer can strongly influence how successful you'll ultimately be in getting to and staying at your goal.

If this is a windshield day for you, then you're focused ahead on where you're going. Just like when you drive, 99% of the time you're focused on the road in front of you (at least I hope you are!). You periodically take a quick glance in the rearview mirror and take a look at your outside mirrors, but you only avert your eyes from the road for a fraction of a second. Averting your eyes any longer than that risks crashing.

A rearview mirror perspective happens when our focus is on what's behind us. Maybe we're focused on all of the things that occurred that caused us to gain weight to begin with. Maybe we're focused on our past failures and thinking about how we could have been at our goal by now if only we'd stayed on plan. Whatever is in your rearview mirror is in the past, and focusing on it won't get you where you want to be - it will only keep you stuck in a place you don't want to be.

It can be hard learning to focus forward when we've spent so many years staring into that rearview mirror, but practice definitely makes perfect :-). Having a windshield day begins with identifying what you want - what you REALLY want - and then committing to focus on that. When you find your gaze shifting back to the rearview mirror (and you will, especially at first), consciously shift your focus to looking forward again. You can do this by writing down your goal - be specific and don't be afraid to dream - and posting it where you'll see it often. When you find your mind drifting back to the past, take a deep breath and let it go! Take a minute to re-read your written goal and think for a minute about it. Envision yourself actually seeing those goals come to reality. Then move forward!

So what kind of a day are you having today? I'm hoping that you're going to get out the Windex and polish that windshield so that there's nothing obscuring your vision as you move forward! The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

48 Years Ago Today

I was ready to blog about something else this morning, but as I typed today's date - 4/6/ - I remembered that it was on this day many years ago, when I was nine years old, that my grandma passed away. She was my dad's mom and lived in California, and since we lived in Chicago, I only saw her a couple of times. She wrote us letters (nobody made long-distance calls in those days unless it was a dire emergency) and sent gifts for birthdays and Christmas, and I loved her. She passed away at age 68 due to complications of diabetes.

Why I'm blogging about this today is because now that I'm almost 58, I realize that 68 is way too young to die of a preventable disease. My grandma was a hard worker her entire life, my dad tells me that she was a good cook and a wonderful mother, and she was also obese. Because she had diabetes so many years ago, I don't know if they knew then what we know now - that diabetes and obesity are closely linked. I know that she only took her diabetic medication when she was feeling "bad" and skipped it when she was feeling "well," and this ultimately contributed to her early death.

Diabetes runs rampant in my family on both my mom and my dad's side and it has wreaked havoc in the lives of so many of my family members. In addition to losing my grandma way too early due to diabetes, my mom's brother lost a leg due to diabetic complications six years before he passed away, almost all of my mom's cousins have diabetes and several of them have had complications leading to amputation, blindness, kidney failure and dialysis, stroke, and early death. My mom is diabetic and has lost part of her vision and kidney function due to complications of her disease and my younger sister is diabetic.

My mom's diabetes has dramatically improved since she went on Take Shape for Life/Take Medifast almost two years ago and she has all but eliminated her daily insulin (she takes a unit or two on occasion if she eats too many carbs), and her vision and kidney function have both stabilized. My sister won't go on the program despite both my parents and me begging her to do so, and while her diabetes is well-managed at the moment, she is 51 and morbidly obese, putting her at great risk for future complications.

My family history of diabetes always scared me, and knowing it is strong on both sides of my family made me genetically more vulnerable. Even though I've been aware of this for most of my life, I continued to play Russian roulette with my own health until diabetes finally caught up with me in September of 2004.

One of the things that ultimately brought me to the point of giving Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try was my desire to be around to see my grandchildren grow up, and my desire to be actively involved in their lives. Lord willing, I will be there to see them graduate from high school and college, get married, and someday hold their own children. My life is in God's hands, of course, but I know that I won't die prematurely of obesity or obesity-related disease. That is a wonderful thing to know!

My dear grandma didn't know that she had choices back in 1961, as anyone with diabetes was told that this was just the way it was and was going to be. We know better today, and by making the choices we need to make today, we can and will live healthier, longer lives. Perhaps diabetes isn't on your list of things to be worried about, and if not, that's a blessing. However, carrying around even 30 extra pounds puts us at risk for disease, not only diabetes, but also heart disease and some types of cancer. By changing what we do and by making different - better - choices, we have the potential to change our future. Do it for yourself and do it for the people you love - and who love you.

The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

New Day, New Choices

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great (and on-plan!) Easter weekend. If you did, congratulations! I'm guessing it wasn't easy, but you stayed focused on your goal and figured out what you needed to do. As a result, you're one day closer to your goal.

Perhaps you planned to take the day off, carefully chose the foods you were going to eat, and had a very controlled step off plan. If that describes you, congratulations for making a plan and then working it. By planning ahead, you stayed in charge and, even if the scale isn't encouraging today, you're back on plan and one day closer to your goal, too.

I'm guessing that there are a few people reading this who don't fall into either of the categories I just described. This group intended to stay on plan, but when they got around some of their favorite food and were surrounded by family members and friends, they decided that a bite or two wouldn't hurt. But the bite turned into much more, and you woke up today mad at yourself for going off plan, and the scale may even be up a couple of pounds :-(. If I just described you, take heart :-).

This program isn't easy. If you've read my blogs for any length of time, you've heard me say this over and over again. The food part of the program is extremely easy, but changing how we think and emotionally relate to food is incredibly difficult.

Holidays are a time when the best intentions of many take a tumble. When we're surrounded by a lot of rich food, some of which may only be served once a year, and/or when we're surrounded by family members and friends, which may evoke a host of emotions, good intentions often don't stand a chance if we aren't clearly focused on our goal. That may briefly explain the "why" of what happened yesterday, but now what?

If you ended up eating things yesterday you didn't intend to eat and are now dealing with Monday morning regret, it's a new day! The only way that yesterday's off-plan eating will hurt you is if you allow it to influence the choices you make today. What happened yesterday doesn't matter today, but the choices you make today will impact tomorrow. I've seen people who've done really well on plan for months go off plan on a holiday, overeat, and begin a downward spiral that results in regaining a lot of their weight. They were mad at themselves for going off plan, but instead of getting right back on, they allowed a host of negative feelings ("I'm so weak," "I shouldn't have done that", etc.) to get in the way of their goal.

If you "blew it" yesterday, welcome to Day 1 of the program! It will take you three or four days to get back into the fat-burning state, but you already know the drill: drink lots of water and hang in there :-). Three or four days from now, you will be back in the groove, feeling great and I'm guessing the holiday eating weight gain will be gone and you'll be on track towards your goal again.

Don't allow a momentary slip to keep you from getting where you want to go. You have the opportunity today to make choices that will impact where you'll be tomorrow and next month. Choose wisely :-)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Sunday! It's going to be a busy day for me from start to finish, so I'm going to simply wish everyone a wonderful (and on-plan!) day. If you're celebrating with family and friends, there will undoubtedly be food that is off plan, and hopefully there will be some on-plan things, too. If in doubt, I encourage you to bring something you CAN eat. This is one holiday out of your life, and staying on plan now means that tomorrow you'll be one day closer to your goal :-).

The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

***

He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

It's Saturday, But Sunday's Coming!

Happy Saturday! I know this will be a busy day for many of you as you prepare for Easter tomorrow. It's a busy one for me, too, as I'm get ready to have Easter dinner at my house tomorrow. Since most of my family has lost weight on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, we try to eat healthier these days, even on holidays, which is a good thing! We are also trying to model healthy eating for our four grandchildren, but that's not to say there won't be a chocolate bunny for each! :-)

On this day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I can’t help but wonder what Jesus’ disciples were feeling that Saturday morning. Their beloved leader and teacher was dead and buried, and all of their hopes and dreams died with him. They had left their fishing nets, their families – everything – to follow Him, and now He was dead. I don’t think words can even begin to describe the depths of their despair and sense of hopelessness. They didn’t know that Sunday was coming, and that with the sunrise their entire lives, and the world, would change forever. Their reality on that Saturday was one of no future, and they may have wondered if they would be the next ones nailed to a cross.

But Sunday DID come, and they heard the words they never expected: “He is not here, He is risen as He said!” What a difference 24 hours made in their lives! Jesus was alive – and is alive forevermore!

We all have Saturdays – days when it feels like there is no hope and we can’t envision a brighter tomorrow. We can find ourselves trapped in circumstances and it feels like there’s no way out and we lose hope. We may be discouraged by the economy, family situations, health issues, or even a frustratingly slow scale.

Hang in there! It may be Saturday, but Sunday IS coming!

Are You Ready?

The daffodils are in bloom, trees are budding and the grass is greening up in Michigan - all signs that winter is finally over :-). Since this IS Michigan, it certainly doesn't mean that we won't see anymore snow this season, because Michigan is famous for April snow storms. But, as my husband likes to say, time is on our side and warm weather will soon settle in for a while.

Warmer weather is often a time when people start to panic, as the reality hits them that swimsuit season is just around the corner and they aren't ready. For those of us who live in states with long, cold winters, warmer weather means we haul up all of the spring and summer clothes we packed away last fall and start putting away the heaviest of our sweaters and wool clothes. The problem is that about this time of year, people try on some of last year's summer things and find out that they're too tight.

That's the situation I found myself in for years. I ate my way through the cold, gray days of a Michigan winter, then went on the latest crash diet to get back into my spring and summer clothes. There was never a thought of changing my lifestyle permanently - the thought was just to get back into my clothes. Because I was always more active in the spring and summer, and because I was more inclined to eat light in the summer (grilled meats and salads), I weighed less in the summer and was usually a size smaller in the summer than I was in the winter. As soon as colder weather returned, the carb loading and sedentary lifestyle returned, along with extra pounds and a larger size. It's amazing to me now that I actually accepted the fact that I was a size larger in the winter than I was in the summer.

That diet mentality and all of the yo-yoing finally caught up with me and I found that the weight didn't come off one spring. Then fall came and I gained more weight, then didn't lose it the following spring. The yo-yo dieting finally resulted in an ongoing upward spiral of weight gain that brought me to my all-time high of 268. Yep, I dieted my way all the way to closing in on 300 pounds.

There were a lot of things that factored into my weight gain, and I won't take the time today to go into all of that since I've blogged extensively about this in the past. However, I do believe that one of the problems was that I had a diet mentality that was focused on the very short-term goal of getting into a size by a certain date. Once I was back in that size (even if it wasn't the size I wanted to be in), the motivation was gone. Or once the date had passed, even if I hadn't reached my goal of getting into the size, the motivation was also gone.

I remember trying to lose weight before each of my daughter's weddings. I waited as long as I could to order my dress, then ordered the dress in a size that was snug as a motivation to lose weight. Both times I ended up having the dress altered and let out, because I never lost any weight. When my second daughter got married, I was really worried that they wouldn't be able to let it out enough for the dress to not be tight, and I was incredibly mad at myself that I had once again failed to do what I'd hoped to do. But once the dress was altered and I knew I was going to look as good as I possibly could in the dress, the pressure was once again off.

Four years ago, prior to a trip we took to the Pacific Northwest, I actually managed to lose 36 pounds and drop two sizes. I felt great and was so happy to not be at my top weight for the trip, but once we were home and the pressure was off, the weight came right back on.

What was different for me when I began on Take Shape for Life/Medifast was that, for once, I wasn't trying to lose weight for an event. I started on the program on June 24, 2007, a most inconvenient time of the year for me. Fresh fruit was just coming into season and we tend to do a lot of socializing over the summer, and I knew both of these things (plus a host of other things) would make it a challenge. I started on the program five weeks before we left for two weeks at a lake cottage we rent, and I knew we usually threw caution to the wind when we were at the cottage and snacked and ate with abandon. It was a most inconvenient time for sure, but that finally didn't matter. I wasn't dieting for an event or to get into a pair of summer slacks, I was on a journey to get healthy. I knew it was going to be a long journey and I realized that there wasn't a better time than that minute because I was finally ready.

The reality is that when you're ready to make a permanent change in your life, what's happening around you doesn't matter so much any more. There will always be events, there will always be stress, there will always be people who will do their best to encourage you to take "just a bite, just this once." If we aren't ready to make permanent changes, it's likely that any and all of these types of things will derail us just as they derailed me over and over again. But if you're ready to make a permanent change - if you are really, truly sick to death of being overweight - you will figure out what you need to do to stay on plan.

When we're ready to start creating something wonderful and new in our lives, it's amazing to see the transformation that begins to happen in our hearts and minds. I've seen it over and over again in the people I work with. Some are more ready than they even realize and they embrace this program in its entirety and experience amazing and life-changing results, while others dabble with the program and find themselves on and off every time it's not convenient to stay on plan.

How we approach this program and how we choose to work it is up to us and depends on what we ultimately want. Choose wisely :-)

Don't Be Fooled!

Happy April Fools' Day :-) I posted this blog last year on April 1, but since there are a lot of new people reading my blog, I thought I'd share it again.

***

When I was a kid, our family enjoyed playing tricks on each other on April Fools' Day. It was always in good fun and never mean-spirited, but it meant we needed to be on toes if we didn't want to get caught in the prankster's trap.

On this April Fools' Day, we need to be on our toes once again if we want to avoid falling into the food traps out there. Food is out there - everywhere! If we don't know what our personal triggers are and if we aren't prepared and know in advance how we'll deal with those triggers, we're vulnerable.

When I say "triggers," I'm talking about foods, situations or feelings that prompt us to overeat.



Trigger foods: candy, chocolate, salty foods, etc.

Trigger situations: watching TV, going to the movies, reading, being home alone

Trigger feelings: anger, stress, loneliness, boredom, anxiety



** Once you begin eating in response to a trigger, your ability stop is very limited.

Identify the triggers – the foods, situations and feelings.

Decide that you’re going to learn to control them. You can do this!

* Choose only one or two triggers at a time
* Pick the triggers that exert the most control and those that do the most damage (number of calories, frequency)


Stop the trigger – don’t try to bargain with it! True control means that you—not the trigger—decides where, when, and what you will eat.

Ø Don’t go into a trigger zone on an empty stomach!



Practice controlling triggers.

· For situational triggers:

o Write a statement describing the trigger situation; use past tense

o Write a statement in the present tense describing the change

o Write down a list of alternatives

· For food triggers:

o Write down your favorite foods at different stages of your life

o Prepare to change your food preferences

o Eliminate the trigger food completely for at least two months

o Write down your decisions, e.g., “I no longer eat this food” or “I can now eat this because it longer has control over me.” Be honest with yourself :-)

· For feelings triggers:

o Write down several of your trigger feelings and state why you respond to the food in that way

o Describe how you feel after you eat in response to a trigger feeling

o Write down alternatives to eating when you get that feeling

I hope these ideas will help to keep you from being tricked into off-plan eating today. The foods are out there, but the choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)