There is a common misconception that somehow the individuals who stay on plan and reach their goal are stronger or more self-disciplined than everybody else. Every time I hear that, I just have to smile, because I know how much I struggled, and still struggle, to have discipline in my life. When individuals decide that they just don't have the discipline that others have and attribute the lack of discipline to the reason they aren't staying on plan, they've really set themselves up for failure.
If you're telling yourself that you just aren't disciplined, that you aren't as strong as someone else, you've given yourself permission to fail, and you probably will. If you are waiting for some day in the future when you will somehow get the discipline you need to stay on program, you'll be waiting a long, long time.
"Discipline is making the choice between what you want now and what you want most!" I read that quote a couple of days ago and it's been rattling around in my brain ever since. Discipline isn't a matter of being stronger, it's a matter of deciding what it is that you want.
There are always things competing for our attention and if we aren't focused on what we want, we will grab whatever is closest, opting for immediate gratification. The problem with that strategy is that there is often a difference between what we want now, in this instant, and what we want most. If we are choosing what we want in this instant, that choice may be pushing us farther away from what we want most.
So what DO you want most today? Fix your eyes on it, then choose wisely :-)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Finish Well
How is your weight loss journey progressing? Are you making steady progress? Perhaps you're struggling to get on plan and stay on plan, questioning whether this is the right program for you and wondering if the success that others have had will somehow elude you. If this last sentence describes where you are right now, take heart.
It doesn't matter where you are or how the program has gone thus far. What does matter is how you finish. I read a quote this morning that said, "The measure of a person is not how well they start, but how well they finish." You haven't finished yet, unless you've decided to quit.
Struggling isn't any fun and in the midst of the struggle we can sometimes wonder if the end result will be worth the effort. We are geared to want and expect fast results, immediate gratification, so when the positive feedback we're looking for isn't immediately forthcoming, it's tempting to throw in the towel.
I'm encouraging you today to keep going. You don't have to believe that this program works, but if you continue to work the program, you WILL reach your goal. If you embrace this as a lifestyle change, you WILL be able to maintain a healthy weight. Even if you're struggling, even if you are getting back on plan for the umpteenth time, you aren't finished yet!
When we're struggling, it's easy to believe that the outcome will ultimately be failure, but that's not true. I've seen too many people who've had several "practice" attempts on this program before things finally clicked for them and they made it to goal.
Success on this program is directly tied to the daily choices we make. Even if we don't feel like making those choices, and even if we don't believe those choices will ultimately make any difference, if we make them anyway, we will finish well. You may have gotten off to a rocky start, or you may have started strong and now find yourself struggling, but where you are or have been doesn't determine the finish. The choices you make today will. Choose wisely :-)
It doesn't matter where you are or how the program has gone thus far. What does matter is how you finish. I read a quote this morning that said, "The measure of a person is not how well they start, but how well they finish." You haven't finished yet, unless you've decided to quit.
Struggling isn't any fun and in the midst of the struggle we can sometimes wonder if the end result will be worth the effort. We are geared to want and expect fast results, immediate gratification, so when the positive feedback we're looking for isn't immediately forthcoming, it's tempting to throw in the towel.
I'm encouraging you today to keep going. You don't have to believe that this program works, but if you continue to work the program, you WILL reach your goal. If you embrace this as a lifestyle change, you WILL be able to maintain a healthy weight. Even if you're struggling, even if you are getting back on plan for the umpteenth time, you aren't finished yet!
When we're struggling, it's easy to believe that the outcome will ultimately be failure, but that's not true. I've seen too many people who've had several "practice" attempts on this program before things finally clicked for them and they made it to goal.
Success on this program is directly tied to the daily choices we make. Even if we don't feel like making those choices, and even if we don't believe those choices will ultimately make any difference, if we make them anyway, we will finish well. You may have gotten off to a rocky start, or you may have started strong and now find yourself struggling, but where you are or have been doesn't determine the finish. The choices you make today will. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Shifting Focus
"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you CAN do!"
I love that quote, because it calls for us to make a fundamental shift in how we think about things. For most of us, we tend to focus on what we can't do. When looking at a black dot in the center of a white sheet of paper, we see only the black dot, not the vast white open space surrounding it. Far too often we focus on the obstacle and allow that focus to blur our vision for anything that lies just beyond the obstacle.
There are so many things we think we cannot do, and most of what we think we can't do is just a faulty concept. We have the ability to do so much more than we give ourselves credit for! Sometimes we're afraid to even try because the "can't" is so deeply embedded. If we start doing what we know we CAN do, and if we are willing to keep trying and stretching, we will go a lot farther than we ever dreamed possible. We will see many of our "can'ts" transformed into "CANS!"
We may have failed on other weight loss plans, so the "I can't lose weight" concept may be deeply embedded - but it's a false concept. Maybe you think you can't lose weight, but you CAN choose to eat 5 Medifast meals today and have a lean & green :-).
Don't allow what you think you can't do interfere with what you CAN do, and more importantly, don't let those false concepts keep you from what you REALLY want - getting to your goal. You will get there doing what you CAN do, one day, one meal, and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
I love that quote, because it calls for us to make a fundamental shift in how we think about things. For most of us, we tend to focus on what we can't do. When looking at a black dot in the center of a white sheet of paper, we see only the black dot, not the vast white open space surrounding it. Far too often we focus on the obstacle and allow that focus to blur our vision for anything that lies just beyond the obstacle.
There are so many things we think we cannot do, and most of what we think we can't do is just a faulty concept. We have the ability to do so much more than we give ourselves credit for! Sometimes we're afraid to even try because the "can't" is so deeply embedded. If we start doing what we know we CAN do, and if we are willing to keep trying and stretching, we will go a lot farther than we ever dreamed possible. We will see many of our "can'ts" transformed into "CANS!"
We may have failed on other weight loss plans, so the "I can't lose weight" concept may be deeply embedded - but it's a false concept. Maybe you think you can't lose weight, but you CAN choose to eat 5 Medifast meals today and have a lean & green :-).
Don't allow what you think you can't do interfere with what you CAN do, and more importantly, don't let those false concepts keep you from what you REALLY want - getting to your goal. You will get there doing what you CAN do, one day, one meal, and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Getting Cheated
We're getting cheated, and we're cheating ourselves, and we don't even realize it. That realization hit me this morning as I read an article in our local newspaper. The article was entitled, "Portion Distortion" and it talked about the fact that the average American consumes 100-200 calories a day more than we need.
Part of this reason, according to the writer, is that portion sizes are often over-sized. Since people are programmed to eat whatever is on their plate, it's easy to fall into mindless eating. The writer cited a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University in 2003 that tested how the portion size of a package of potato chips affects the amount the subject eats of that snack and a meal following the snack. Snack intake increased significantly as the package size increased. On average, when served the largest package compared to the smallest, subjects consumed an additional 143 calories at snack and dinner combined.
The next paragraph in this morning's newspaper article is what really got my attention. The writer noted that since the foods we tend to overeat aren’t healthy, high- quality foods, they can be offered at a very cheap price because they cost very little to produce.
“Once you start getting to more refined restaurants, the quality of food goes up, and they can’t afford to slap so much food on your plate.
But for the restaurants that load up plates and double or triple portion sizes, if their customers bulge a little at the waistline, it’s no sweat off their backs. It’s costing the businesses pennies to increase the size a little bit, and from the consumer’s perspective, biggie-sizing seems like a huge value. Then, of course, we feel obligated to eat it."
The writer makes a good point. You never see "super-sized value meals" on the menu at a 4 or 5-star restaurant. The emphasis there is on the quality of the food (which is NOT mass-produced as it is in chain restaurants) and on the presentation. Portion sizes seem small when compared to other restaurants, but those portions are much more in line with what we should actually be eating. Most of us (myself included!) can't afford to eat at expensive restaurants very often, but we can learn to make wise choices when we do go out.
The question is, why does "biggie-sizing" seem like such a huge value to most Americans? This is a question worth asking, because those of us on a journey to health are learning to recognize proper portion sizes and training ourselves to recognize our body's hunger and full signals. After we've adjusted to the portion sizes of our meals on this program, it's shocking to go to most restaurants and see what comes out of the kitchen. People feel like they're getting a "good deal" because they're getting a lot of food for relatively little money; "biggie-sizing" only seems like a huge value to someone who is looking at quantity only.
In the process of going after the "biggie-sized" meals, Americans are being woefully short-changed on nutrition (check out the nutrition stats for calories, fat, carbs and sodium, as well as vitamins and minerals if you don't believe me). There is a mindset that says "more is more", but when it comes to what's being served in most restaurants, the only "more" we're getting is more of us as the obesity rate continues to spiral out of control.
One of the things we have the opportunity to change on this program is our mindset when it comes to food. By embracing this as a lifestyle change, by learning to eat differently - in more frequent intervals and much smaller portions - we can develop healthier habits that will not only get us to a healthy weight, but will also keep us there. We have to be vigilant, particularly when we eat at restaurant, and we have to become picky eaters and look for the most nutrition we can get for our money. By doing that, and by paying attention to both portion sizes and our hunger/full signals, we will be getting true value in every sense of the word. It's not always easy to make those choices, but those choices make the difference in the long run. Choose wisely :-)
Part of this reason, according to the writer, is that portion sizes are often over-sized. Since people are programmed to eat whatever is on their plate, it's easy to fall into mindless eating. The writer cited a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University in 2003 that tested how the portion size of a package of potato chips affects the amount the subject eats of that snack and a meal following the snack. Snack intake increased significantly as the package size increased. On average, when served the largest package compared to the smallest, subjects consumed an additional 143 calories at snack and dinner combined.
The next paragraph in this morning's newspaper article is what really got my attention. The writer noted that since the foods we tend to overeat aren’t healthy, high- quality foods, they can be offered at a very cheap price because they cost very little to produce.
“Once you start getting to more refined restaurants, the quality of food goes up, and they can’t afford to slap so much food on your plate.
But for the restaurants that load up plates and double or triple portion sizes, if their customers bulge a little at the waistline, it’s no sweat off their backs. It’s costing the businesses pennies to increase the size a little bit, and from the consumer’s perspective, biggie-sizing seems like a huge value. Then, of course, we feel obligated to eat it."
The writer makes a good point. You never see "super-sized value meals" on the menu at a 4 or 5-star restaurant. The emphasis there is on the quality of the food (which is NOT mass-produced as it is in chain restaurants) and on the presentation. Portion sizes seem small when compared to other restaurants, but those portions are much more in line with what we should actually be eating. Most of us (myself included!) can't afford to eat at expensive restaurants very often, but we can learn to make wise choices when we do go out.
The question is, why does "biggie-sizing" seem like such a huge value to most Americans? This is a question worth asking, because those of us on a journey to health are learning to recognize proper portion sizes and training ourselves to recognize our body's hunger and full signals. After we've adjusted to the portion sizes of our meals on this program, it's shocking to go to most restaurants and see what comes out of the kitchen. People feel like they're getting a "good deal" because they're getting a lot of food for relatively little money; "biggie-sizing" only seems like a huge value to someone who is looking at quantity only.
In the process of going after the "biggie-sized" meals, Americans are being woefully short-changed on nutrition (check out the nutrition stats for calories, fat, carbs and sodium, as well as vitamins and minerals if you don't believe me). There is a mindset that says "more is more", but when it comes to what's being served in most restaurants, the only "more" we're getting is more of us as the obesity rate continues to spiral out of control.
One of the things we have the opportunity to change on this program is our mindset when it comes to food. By embracing this as a lifestyle change, by learning to eat differently - in more frequent intervals and much smaller portions - we can develop healthier habits that will not only get us to a healthy weight, but will also keep us there. We have to be vigilant, particularly when we eat at restaurant, and we have to become picky eaters and look for the most nutrition we can get for our money. By doing that, and by paying attention to both portion sizes and our hunger/full signals, we will be getting true value in every sense of the word. It's not always easy to make those choices, but those choices make the difference in the long run. Choose wisely :-)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Avoiding Ditches
I read something yesterday that was an entirely new thought for me: for every mile of road, there are two miles of ditches. That's not necessarily a comforting thought, to be honest. Because I have repeatedly referred to my own weight loss experience and beyond as a journey, any metaphor that relates to a journey - like a road - catches my attention. Being aware that there are twice as many miles of ditches as there is road, the question is, how do we stay on the road and not end up in the ditch?
Some roads are broad and smooth and we can easily put ourselves on cruise control and travel a good distance without giving it much thought. When traveling down these roads, we're almost oblivious to the ditches because there's a good margin on both sides and we never veer near the edge. There are times when staying on plan is easy - you feel great, the scale is moving nicely, and you may feel like you're on cruise control because you're making great progress and don't have to think about what you're doing. You just aren't tempted to stray and you feel like you could do 5&1 indefinitely. It's a good place to be!
It's those other roads that are scary to navigate - narrow, bumpy roads that keep us gripping the steering wheel and fighting to stay away from the ditches that loom on either side. Those bumpy roads often show up unexpectedly and can stretch on for what seems like endless miles. Perhaps it's a busy schedule or stress that makes the road bumpy, or maybe it's something else. Maybe the scale gets stuck at the same time that life throws us a curve or two. Regardless of what finds us on a bumpy, narrow road, our challenge is to keep moving forward.
How do we do that? Simply, it's by keeping our focus straight ahead and gripping the steering wheel. (I said it's simple, not easy!) When things are difficult, that's when it's most difficult to keep focused on where we're going and not allow other things to distract us. That's also when we're most prone to veer straight for a ditch. Knowing where we want to go and keeping our eyes fixed on our destination is key to staying out of ditches. Gripping both hands on the steering wheel is also critical, and this requires full attention and determination. Sometimes it's just plain hard and the effort required to stay focused is exhausting. What I know is that as exhausting as it is to keep going when it's hard, that is far easier than trying to get ourselves out of a ditch. It is ALWAYS easier to stay on plan than it is to restart again - and again - after spending time in a ditch.
Staying on course when the road is bumpy comes down to the choices we make. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Keep your eyes on the road, keep gripping the steering wheel, and choose wisely :-).
Some roads are broad and smooth and we can easily put ourselves on cruise control and travel a good distance without giving it much thought. When traveling down these roads, we're almost oblivious to the ditches because there's a good margin on both sides and we never veer near the edge. There are times when staying on plan is easy - you feel great, the scale is moving nicely, and you may feel like you're on cruise control because you're making great progress and don't have to think about what you're doing. You just aren't tempted to stray and you feel like you could do 5&1 indefinitely. It's a good place to be!
It's those other roads that are scary to navigate - narrow, bumpy roads that keep us gripping the steering wheel and fighting to stay away from the ditches that loom on either side. Those bumpy roads often show up unexpectedly and can stretch on for what seems like endless miles. Perhaps it's a busy schedule or stress that makes the road bumpy, or maybe it's something else. Maybe the scale gets stuck at the same time that life throws us a curve or two. Regardless of what finds us on a bumpy, narrow road, our challenge is to keep moving forward.
How do we do that? Simply, it's by keeping our focus straight ahead and gripping the steering wheel. (I said it's simple, not easy!) When things are difficult, that's when it's most difficult to keep focused on where we're going and not allow other things to distract us. That's also when we're most prone to veer straight for a ditch. Knowing where we want to go and keeping our eyes fixed on our destination is key to staying out of ditches. Gripping both hands on the steering wheel is also critical, and this requires full attention and determination. Sometimes it's just plain hard and the effort required to stay focused is exhausting. What I know is that as exhausting as it is to keep going when it's hard, that is far easier than trying to get ourselves out of a ditch. It is ALWAYS easier to stay on plan than it is to restart again - and again - after spending time in a ditch.
Staying on course when the road is bumpy comes down to the choices we make. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Keep your eyes on the road, keep gripping the steering wheel, and choose wisely :-).
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Just Another Reminder of Change
My weekend with my two oldest granddaughters continues today, and so does the fun :-). This afternoon we're going to an American Girl tea party that is being held at a local church. My granddaughters were excited to pick out the dresses they wanted to wear to the tea party, and of course they also had to pack just the right things for their American Girl doll to wear to the party, too.
Part of the fun will be taking pictures of our time there. Prior to losing 126 pounds, I was far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. Sadly, I realized after the fact that there isn't a single picture of me at one of my granddaughter's first birthday party. This granddaughter will be at this afternoon's tea party and I can promise you that there will be at least one photo of me there with the girls.
Obesity robbed me of so many things over the years, including being comfortable enough about myself to make sure I was included in family photos. Getting to a healthy weight has changed my life, and today's photo op at the tea party is just another reminder of that change.
Those changes and all of the wonderful things that follow begin with the choices we make today, so choose wisely :-)
Part of the fun will be taking pictures of our time there. Prior to losing 126 pounds, I was far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. Sadly, I realized after the fact that there isn't a single picture of me at one of my granddaughter's first birthday party. This granddaughter will be at this afternoon's tea party and I can promise you that there will be at least one photo of me there with the girls.
Obesity robbed me of so many things over the years, including being comfortable enough about myself to make sure I was included in family photos. Getting to a healthy weight has changed my life, and today's photo op at the tea party is just another reminder of that change.
Those changes and all of the wonderful things that follow begin with the choices we make today, so choose wisely :-)
Friday, September 24, 2010
Talk About NEAT!
I'm writing this from my daughter's house, where I'm staying to care for our granddaughters (and granddog) while my daughter and her husband spend a long weekend in New York City. Our two oldest granddaughters are 7 and 5-1/2 (in second grade and kindergarten, respectively), so they are at an easy and fun age to watch. This is also a busy age and I found myself on a very different schedule yesterday, as well as today. Thankfully my daughter left me a detailed list of each girl's schedule and also arranged her carpool so I don't have to get the girls to and from school. Whew! However, soccer practice and homework and practicing the piano are all on the girl's schedules, and when I throw in their three-story house - and the dog - yesterday late afternoon and evening was busy!
This is when I love the fact that Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen (Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life's co-founder) spends time in his book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health," talking about NEAT points. NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Basically, NEAT points are the calories we burn being active in our daily life, outside of formal, focused exercise. He spends the better part of an entire chapter in his book talking about the importance of NEAT points as well as giving very practical ideas on how to increase the number of points in a day without taking any additional time. I didn't have time today for a formal workout, but my activity level stayed pretty high. I try to burn about 1,900 calories a day through my regular activity level (I track this with my BodyBugg), and I didn't have any problem hitting this target yesterday (and I'm pretty sure I'll do well today, too!).
Dr. Andersen writes about increasing our NEAT points by doing simple things like parking way out in the parking lot at the mall, taking stairs instead of the elevator, standing (or even walking) while we talk on the phone. He give an example of tapping his foot in time to music on his iPod while he works - even that simple movement counts at NEAT points.
NEAT activity certainly doesn't replace EAT activity (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), but it absolutely complements it. EAT activity is relatively short-lived - most of us do "official" workouts for an hour at the most per day, 3-5 days per week. That leave a lot of untapped hours, which is where NEAT comes in. By making small changes in the way we do things, we can increase the amount of calories we burn every day. Even simple things like using a hand-operated can opener instead of an electric one, or washing dishes by hand instead of loading the dishwasher (I know that sounds like heresy to some of us!) are all ways to burn a few extra calories. When we look for opportunities throughout our day to move just a bit more, those bits of expended energy really add up!
So every time I ran up and down the stairs at my daughter's house, I reminded myself that I was earning NEAT points. At the soccer field for last night's practice, I parked in the far parking lot and we walked a good block to get to the field (true confession: I missed the turn for the closer parking lot!) - more NEAT points!
You may be facing a busy weekend that won't allow time for you to get to the health club for a good workout. However, you can still find ways to incorporate movement and activity into your day. Be creative! The choices we make to stay on plan and stay active will make all the difference over time, so choose wisely :-)
This is when I love the fact that Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen (Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life's co-founder) spends time in his book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health," talking about NEAT points. NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Basically, NEAT points are the calories we burn being active in our daily life, outside of formal, focused exercise. He spends the better part of an entire chapter in his book talking about the importance of NEAT points as well as giving very practical ideas on how to increase the number of points in a day without taking any additional time. I didn't have time today for a formal workout, but my activity level stayed pretty high. I try to burn about 1,900 calories a day through my regular activity level (I track this with my BodyBugg), and I didn't have any problem hitting this target yesterday (and I'm pretty sure I'll do well today, too!).
Dr. Andersen writes about increasing our NEAT points by doing simple things like parking way out in the parking lot at the mall, taking stairs instead of the elevator, standing (or even walking) while we talk on the phone. He give an example of tapping his foot in time to music on his iPod while he works - even that simple movement counts at NEAT points.
NEAT activity certainly doesn't replace EAT activity (Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), but it absolutely complements it. EAT activity is relatively short-lived - most of us do "official" workouts for an hour at the most per day, 3-5 days per week. That leave a lot of untapped hours, which is where NEAT comes in. By making small changes in the way we do things, we can increase the amount of calories we burn every day. Even simple things like using a hand-operated can opener instead of an electric one, or washing dishes by hand instead of loading the dishwasher (I know that sounds like heresy to some of us!) are all ways to burn a few extra calories. When we look for opportunities throughout our day to move just a bit more, those bits of expended energy really add up!
So every time I ran up and down the stairs at my daughter's house, I reminded myself that I was earning NEAT points. At the soccer field for last night's practice, I parked in the far parking lot and we walked a good block to get to the field (true confession: I missed the turn for the closer parking lot!) - more NEAT points!
You may be facing a busy weekend that won't allow time for you to get to the health club for a good workout. However, you can still find ways to incorporate movement and activity into your day. Be creative! The choices we make to stay on plan and stay active will make all the difference over time, so choose wisely :-)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
A Few More Thoughts
I have a couple more thoughts about Tuesday night's kick off of the new season of "Biggest Loser." I hope you'll humor me just one more day :-)
First of all, I couldn't help but notice the faces of the family members and friends as each contestant publicly weighed in and shared their store. Many of those faces were wet with tears as they shared the pain of their loved one who announced to the entire country their weight and their struggle. Sometimes we think our struggle with weight is ours alone, but the reality is that it really does impact those we love. Perhaps our weight keeps us from enjoying some activities with them (I was loathe to engage in any activity with my family if it required me to put on a swimsuit); perhaps they've heard us snore in our sleep or watched us huff and puff up a flight of stairs and they've worried in silence about our health. Some of us have family members and friends who've tried to be helpful and make suggestions (and congratulations to everyone reading this who resisted the urge to strangle them since you probably don't appreciate well-intentioned but unsolicited advice any more than I do!). Whether our family members have been silent or not, whether or not they've been co-conspirators in our unhealthy eating habits, they have been impacted by our own struggle.
What's amazing is that they can be impacted in an entirely different way as we continue to make the choices needed to get to a healthy weight. I've written before about the ripple effect that your weight loss will have on those around you and I've shared my own story, so I won't repeat it here. Just know that other people you know and love will get healthier as they begin to follow your own example.
The other thing I took note of was the sad story of one contestant who shared that her brother had tried out for a previous season of "Biggest Loser" and that sometime later (he wasn't chosen), he passed away in his sleep at a relatively young age due to complications of his obesity.
So many of us played mind games for years, telling ourselves that another day of unhealthy eating really didn't matter, promising that we'd start one diet or another "next Monday." We did that always assuming that we would somehow be able to get away with our unhealthy habits indefinitely, and also assuming that there would be a day when it would finally be convenient to lose weight. We basically gambled with our health, and some of us gambled with our lives. We are blessed to be here today with the opportunity in our hands to turn things around. It may not be easy, but thank God that we're here and have a program that can return us to a healthy state of being, even if we haven't been there in decades - or ever. This program is a gift (even if we feel like returning the gift sometimes!) and today is a good day to acknowledge this. We have been given the opportunity to add not only years to our lives, but to dramatically improve the quality of those years. Thank God that we didn't run out of time like the brother of the Biggest Loser contestant!
The choices we may today will set in motion choices we'll make tomorrow and the day after that. Those choices will have long-reaching consequences for not only ourselves, but also for those we love. Choose wisely :-)
First of all, I couldn't help but notice the faces of the family members and friends as each contestant publicly weighed in and shared their store. Many of those faces were wet with tears as they shared the pain of their loved one who announced to the entire country their weight and their struggle. Sometimes we think our struggle with weight is ours alone, but the reality is that it really does impact those we love. Perhaps our weight keeps us from enjoying some activities with them (I was loathe to engage in any activity with my family if it required me to put on a swimsuit); perhaps they've heard us snore in our sleep or watched us huff and puff up a flight of stairs and they've worried in silence about our health. Some of us have family members and friends who've tried to be helpful and make suggestions (and congratulations to everyone reading this who resisted the urge to strangle them since you probably don't appreciate well-intentioned but unsolicited advice any more than I do!). Whether our family members have been silent or not, whether or not they've been co-conspirators in our unhealthy eating habits, they have been impacted by our own struggle.
What's amazing is that they can be impacted in an entirely different way as we continue to make the choices needed to get to a healthy weight. I've written before about the ripple effect that your weight loss will have on those around you and I've shared my own story, so I won't repeat it here. Just know that other people you know and love will get healthier as they begin to follow your own example.
The other thing I took note of was the sad story of one contestant who shared that her brother had tried out for a previous season of "Biggest Loser" and that sometime later (he wasn't chosen), he passed away in his sleep at a relatively young age due to complications of his obesity.
So many of us played mind games for years, telling ourselves that another day of unhealthy eating really didn't matter, promising that we'd start one diet or another "next Monday." We did that always assuming that we would somehow be able to get away with our unhealthy habits indefinitely, and also assuming that there would be a day when it would finally be convenient to lose weight. We basically gambled with our health, and some of us gambled with our lives. We are blessed to be here today with the opportunity in our hands to turn things around. It may not be easy, but thank God that we're here and have a program that can return us to a healthy state of being, even if we haven't been there in decades - or ever. This program is a gift (even if we feel like returning the gift sometimes!) and today is a good day to acknowledge this. We have been given the opportunity to add not only years to our lives, but to dramatically improve the quality of those years. Thank God that we didn't run out of time like the brother of the Biggest Loser contestant!
The choices we may today will set in motion choices we'll make tomorrow and the day after that. Those choices will have long-reaching consequences for not only ourselves, but also for those we love. Choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Ready to be the Biggest Loser?
Last night was the season premier of "The Biggest Loser." Once again a group of morbidly obese individuals have embarked on an adventure that will hopefully bring all of them to their goal, and one lucky person will leave with some extra money in the bank.
I used to watch "The Biggest Loser" when I weighed 260 pounds, and the program always filled me with a mixture of hope and despair. As I watched individuals who were as heavy as me shrink week by week, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for me to drop weight like that, and it left me hopeful that it was possible. Unfortunately, watching the program also brought a lot of despair because I figured the only way to ever lose the better part of 130 pounds, short of surgery, was to put my life on hold and head to the Biggest Loser ranch. I have a bad knee so I knew that I could never do the level of exercise required by the TBL contestants. I also figured that the possibility that I'd ever be a contestant was less than "zero." Also, I couldn't imagine being on national TV wearing clothing that emphasized every bulge and roll, let alone step on an oversize scale for all the world to see. Honestly, a lot of times I'd end up eating cookies or chips while I watch "The Biggest Loser" - how sad is that?
While I'm now happy to see anybody lose weight, just about regardless of how they do it, I am so happy that WE have a MUCH better program right here than what we see on "The Biggest Loser." Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a medically safe, clinically proven program with almost 30 years of experience behind it, and it has been recommended by over 20,000 physicians. "The Biggest Loser" can't even come close to that! We are also losing weight while living our real lives, so we're learning how to do this in the same environment we'll live in after we reach our goal. Many of TBL contestants really struggle with their weight once they leave the ranch and return to their real lives, because they've lost weight in a completely artificial environment. Again, I'm always happy to see them lose and I'm cheering them on every step of the way. The difference is that I know that Take Shape for Life/Medifast is the real deal and will work for everyone, regardless of how much or how little they can exercise (and remember, we aren't even supposed to exercise more than 45 minutes a day while on 5&1).
Almost 2-1/2 years after reaching my goal, I'm still watching "The Biggest Loser" and thankful that I AM a biggest loser - all 126 pounds of it! I didn't win $250,000 in the process, but I got much more than that. I got my life and my health back, and I have the tools to maintain my weight loss for the rest of my life. That sure feels like a winner to me!
Who else plans to be a biggest loser? You'll do it one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
I used to watch "The Biggest Loser" when I weighed 260 pounds, and the program always filled me with a mixture of hope and despair. As I watched individuals who were as heavy as me shrink week by week, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for me to drop weight like that, and it left me hopeful that it was possible. Unfortunately, watching the program also brought a lot of despair because I figured the only way to ever lose the better part of 130 pounds, short of surgery, was to put my life on hold and head to the Biggest Loser ranch. I have a bad knee so I knew that I could never do the level of exercise required by the TBL contestants. I also figured that the possibility that I'd ever be a contestant was less than "zero." Also, I couldn't imagine being on national TV wearing clothing that emphasized every bulge and roll, let alone step on an oversize scale for all the world to see. Honestly, a lot of times I'd end up eating cookies or chips while I watch "The Biggest Loser" - how sad is that?
While I'm now happy to see anybody lose weight, just about regardless of how they do it, I am so happy that WE have a MUCH better program right here than what we see on "The Biggest Loser." Take Shape for Life/Medifast is a medically safe, clinically proven program with almost 30 years of experience behind it, and it has been recommended by over 20,000 physicians. "The Biggest Loser" can't even come close to that! We are also losing weight while living our real lives, so we're learning how to do this in the same environment we'll live in after we reach our goal. Many of TBL contestants really struggle with their weight once they leave the ranch and return to their real lives, because they've lost weight in a completely artificial environment. Again, I'm always happy to see them lose and I'm cheering them on every step of the way. The difference is that I know that Take Shape for Life/Medifast is the real deal and will work for everyone, regardless of how much or how little they can exercise (and remember, we aren't even supposed to exercise more than 45 minutes a day while on 5&1).
Almost 2-1/2 years after reaching my goal, I'm still watching "The Biggest Loser" and thankful that I AM a biggest loser - all 126 pounds of it! I didn't win $250,000 in the process, but I got much more than that. I got my life and my health back, and I have the tools to maintain my weight loss for the rest of my life. That sure feels like a winner to me!
Who else plans to be a biggest loser? You'll do it one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Building a Strong Infrastructure
About four hours north of where I live in Michigan, the Mackinac Bridge links the upper and lower peninsula of our state. The Discovery Channel's program, "Dirty Jobs," did a story a while back about a man who is an industrial painter on the Mackinac Bridge. He paints the inside of the bridge, a job that nobody sees - a job that doesn't at first glance appear to be very important.
However, this man understands the importance of what he does because the paint he carefully applies to the inside of the bridge ensures that the steel of this wonderful suspended bridge won't rust from the inside out, which would compromise the integrity and safety of the structure.
It's hard to do something, day after day, when the results may not always be visible. The scale doesn't always move as fast or as often as we'd like. People may not notice that we've lost weight. It can get discouraging! There were weeks when I only lost a pound, and I had several weeks when I didn't lose anything, even though I stayed on plan. It wasn't until I'd lost 30 pounds that a co-worker finally commented that my face looked a little thinner; after losing 60 pounds, a couple of people wanted to know if I'd changed my hairstyle. Finally, after losing close to 100 pounds, everybody finally starting commenting that it looked like I'd lost some weight :-). Feedback, either from the scale or others, just wasn't always there for me, and it may not always be there for you, either.
Moral of story? Hang in there! Stay on plan and do it, even if the scale is temporarily stuck (I say "temporarily stuck" because it WILL move, I promise). Stay on plan and do it, even if nobody notices. Eventually they will (I promise). As you're waiting for the affirmation you want (from the scale and others), you're building a strong infrastructure that won't rust out on you!
And while you're waiting, choose wisely :-)
However, this man understands the importance of what he does because the paint he carefully applies to the inside of the bridge ensures that the steel of this wonderful suspended bridge won't rust from the inside out, which would compromise the integrity and safety of the structure.
It's hard to do something, day after day, when the results may not always be visible. The scale doesn't always move as fast or as often as we'd like. People may not notice that we've lost weight. It can get discouraging! There were weeks when I only lost a pound, and I had several weeks when I didn't lose anything, even though I stayed on plan. It wasn't until I'd lost 30 pounds that a co-worker finally commented that my face looked a little thinner; after losing 60 pounds, a couple of people wanted to know if I'd changed my hairstyle. Finally, after losing close to 100 pounds, everybody finally starting commenting that it looked like I'd lost some weight :-). Feedback, either from the scale or others, just wasn't always there for me, and it may not always be there for you, either.
Moral of story? Hang in there! Stay on plan and do it, even if the scale is temporarily stuck (I say "temporarily stuck" because it WILL move, I promise). Stay on plan and do it, even if nobody notices. Eventually they will (I promise). As you're waiting for the affirmation you want (from the scale and others), you're building a strong infrastructure that won't rust out on you!
And while you're waiting, choose wisely :-)
Monday, September 20, 2010
Choosing Optimal Health
Happy Monday! As you start this new week, I have a question for you: "If you could choose optimal health in your life, would you want it?" That seems like such an obvious question at first glance, doesn't it? I mean, who wouldn't want optimal health? Given the choice, who wouldn't want to be healthy - or even more than healthy, optimally healthy?
The reality is that we CAN choose optimal health, but some of us won't. It's not that we can't have it, but that we'll choose to not have it. We have all we need to create optimal health in our lives right now: we have the product (Take Shape for Life/Medifast), which has a proven track record of over 30 years, and we have the support we need to be successful. But some of us will choose to get in the way of our own success by allowing our past failures or our own concepts or fears to get in the way. The only thing standing between us and achieving optimal health is, well, us.
Some of us will choose the path of immediate gratification, succumbing to numerous triggers along the way. We have good intentions, but vacations, celebrations, parties, stress, a busy schedule, etc. etc. get us off track and we make choices that won't keep us moving in the direction of optimal health.
One of the things I've heard over and over again is that if we want something bad enough, we'll figure out what we need to do to get it. My question for you this morning is simple: What do you really want? Do you really want optimal health - living as long as you can as healthy as you can? If so, you have in your hands all of the tools that you need to get it. There really isn't anything to even figure out, because all of the figuring out has already been done! All we have to do is commit to eating every 3 hours and we will get to our goal, which is an important milestone on our optimal health journey. From there, we continue to add other healthy habits that keep us moving in the direction we want to go. It's pretty simple if we just take it one step at a time.
The good news this morning is that you don't have to commit to doing this for a lifetime - you just have to commit to making healthy choices today. Can you do that? If so, maybe you can do that tomorrow, too, and then maybe even the day after that! But this morning, you don't have to worry about whether you can do this tomorrow or the day after that, you just have to commit to today. Once you do that, you just need to choose wisely :-)
The reality is that we CAN choose optimal health, but some of us won't. It's not that we can't have it, but that we'll choose to not have it. We have all we need to create optimal health in our lives right now: we have the product (Take Shape for Life/Medifast), which has a proven track record of over 30 years, and we have the support we need to be successful. But some of us will choose to get in the way of our own success by allowing our past failures or our own concepts or fears to get in the way. The only thing standing between us and achieving optimal health is, well, us.
Some of us will choose the path of immediate gratification, succumbing to numerous triggers along the way. We have good intentions, but vacations, celebrations, parties, stress, a busy schedule, etc. etc. get us off track and we make choices that won't keep us moving in the direction of optimal health.
One of the things I've heard over and over again is that if we want something bad enough, we'll figure out what we need to do to get it. My question for you this morning is simple: What do you really want? Do you really want optimal health - living as long as you can as healthy as you can? If so, you have in your hands all of the tools that you need to get it. There really isn't anything to even figure out, because all of the figuring out has already been done! All we have to do is commit to eating every 3 hours and we will get to our goal, which is an important milestone on our optimal health journey. From there, we continue to add other healthy habits that keep us moving in the direction we want to go. It's pretty simple if we just take it one step at a time.
The good news this morning is that you don't have to commit to doing this for a lifetime - you just have to commit to making healthy choices today. Can you do that? If so, maybe you can do that tomorrow, too, and then maybe even the day after that! But this morning, you don't have to worry about whether you can do this tomorrow or the day after that, you just have to commit to today. Once you do that, you just need to choose wisely :-)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Outside In or Inside Out?
I have a question for you this morning. Are you losing weight from the outside in or from the inside out? How you answer this question may ultimately be the determining factor in whether this is just another diet or the program that will permanently put you on a healthy path.
If we only lose weight on the outside and don't deal with our internal weight, we're likely to stay in an oscillating pattern of gain-lose-gain. I don't know about you, but that's not what I want to do for the rest of my life!
I talk about internal weight because I'm guessing that many of us showed up on our first day of this program with a fair amount of emotional baggage. I was an emotional eater and became an expert in burying my feelings under plates of food. I did a pretty good job hiding the emotional pain I experienced due to my morbid obesity; in fact, my closest friends and even some of my family members were flabbergasted when I finally began to share how awful I felt for so many years. I guess I should have been nominated for an Academy Award, because I gave a pretty good performance, acting like my weight was no big deal and didn't impede me in the slightest. Of course, inside I was miserable and spent over two decades feeling pretty disgusted with myself and so very defeated.
Dealing with that pain, and then going even deeper and dealing with the things that happened in my life that caused me to escape into food initially caused more pain. I'd made the decision to stay on plan, so turning to food to numb myself emotionally was no longer an option. But as I allowed God to gently begin to peel back the pain, one layer at a time, healing finally began to happen. That healing has made all the difference in not only enabling me to get to my goal, but to continue to maintain in my goal range for almost 2-1/2 years.
So, are you losing weight from the inside out today? It's not an easy process, but it happens one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
If we only lose weight on the outside and don't deal with our internal weight, we're likely to stay in an oscillating pattern of gain-lose-gain. I don't know about you, but that's not what I want to do for the rest of my life!
I talk about internal weight because I'm guessing that many of us showed up on our first day of this program with a fair amount of emotional baggage. I was an emotional eater and became an expert in burying my feelings under plates of food. I did a pretty good job hiding the emotional pain I experienced due to my morbid obesity; in fact, my closest friends and even some of my family members were flabbergasted when I finally began to share how awful I felt for so many years. I guess I should have been nominated for an Academy Award, because I gave a pretty good performance, acting like my weight was no big deal and didn't impede me in the slightest. Of course, inside I was miserable and spent over two decades feeling pretty disgusted with myself and so very defeated.
Dealing with that pain, and then going even deeper and dealing with the things that happened in my life that caused me to escape into food initially caused more pain. I'd made the decision to stay on plan, so turning to food to numb myself emotionally was no longer an option. But as I allowed God to gently begin to peel back the pain, one layer at a time, healing finally began to happen. That healing has made all the difference in not only enabling me to get to my goal, but to continue to maintain in my goal range for almost 2-1/2 years.
So, are you losing weight from the inside out today? It's not an easy process, but it happens one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Choose Your Hard
I read a great quote yesterday that I thought was worth sharing with you: "Losing weight is hard. Being overweight is hard. Choose your hard." That pretty much sums it up!
As much as we wish this was easy, the honest truth is that it's not. It wasn't easy for me to lose weight and it certainly isn't easy maintaining my 126 pound weight loss two and a half years later. But it was harder - a LOT harder - living life as a morbidly obese woman. The hardest day I had on plan and the hardest day I have in Maintenance pale in comparison to the day-by-day struggles I had living with my old body.
Every day is a day for us to choose our hard. Choose wisely :-)
As much as we wish this was easy, the honest truth is that it's not. It wasn't easy for me to lose weight and it certainly isn't easy maintaining my 126 pound weight loss two and a half years later. But it was harder - a LOT harder - living life as a morbidly obese woman. The hardest day I had on plan and the hardest day I have in Maintenance pale in comparison to the day-by-day struggles I had living with my old body.
Every day is a day for us to choose our hard. Choose wisely :-)
Friday, September 17, 2010
No Longer in 'Survival Mode"
Happy Friday! I can hardly believe we're at the end of another week! It's been an incredibly busy week for me - good, but really busy. I'm so thankful that healthy habits have become part of my lifestyle, because in my obese past, a busy week would be a lost week for me in terms of doing anything healthy. In my obese past, a busy week would be one where I went into what I called my "survival mode," which meant "don't even think about trying to make any changes, just get through it" mindset. "Survival mode" for me meant eating whatever I wanted, because so-called comfort food was an integral part of my survival. Any week that included a lot of extra activity automatically triggered my "survival mode" mentality.
The funny thing is that I spent an awful lot of my time in a "survival mode", but I was barely surviving - and actually THRIVING was not even on my radar. What was happening was that I kept gaining weight and getting into a less and less healthy state, ending up diabetic and on medication for several different things. I kept thinking that when things slowed down, I'd try to make some lifestyle changes. When things weren't so busy, I just knew that I'd finally have time to focus on losing weight and getting healthy. The problem was, of course, that things never really slowed down and every week was filled with things that, in my thinking, mandated yet another "survival mode" week.
What a difference Take Shape for Life/Medifast has made in my life! I have not only gone from surviving to really, truly thriving, but this healthy lifestyle now fits perfectly into even the busiest of days or weeks. In fact, when I'm really busy I tend to eat more Medifast meals just because they are SO convenient and inexpensive. I just grab and go and don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat or when - I don't even think about it. Instead of going into a "survival mode" and eating a lot of high-sugar, high-fat empty carbs that used to drain me of all energy, I now have high-nutrition mini-meals that provide the energy I need to keep going.
One of the things I've learned is that there will always be 101 excuses to not make healthy choices. Life is busy and life has a lot of built-in stresses, so if we are looking for excuses, we don't have to look far. However, if we really WANT to get healthy, if our eyes are fixed on what we really want, it's amazing how quickly those excuses evaporate.
Once we're focused on what we really want, we figure out how to make it happen. I heard someone recently say that if your dream is big enough, the facts don't matter. If your dream is to get to a healthy weight and live a life that truly exemplifies optimal health, then the "facts" don't matter: the fact that things are stressful, the fact that life is incredibly busy, the fact that you have twenty social events this month and all of them will involve food, the fact that your kids are making you crazy and your dog threw up and your boss makes Mr. Scrooge look like boss of the year, etc. etc.
I'm really not trying to sound insensitive to all of the issues that many of you are facing, and I really do understand that life can be incredibly difficult. What I have come to understand is that NOT taking care of ourselves won't make any of those things better or easier, and eating the wrong kind of food won't help, either. There may be a lot of things in your life that you can't control right now- but whether or not you stay on plan is something that you CAN control.
I hope that today is a wonderful, stress-free day that will kick off a wonderful, stress-free weekend, but even if it's going to be a crazy day and a crazy weekend, I hope it will be an on-plan crazy day and weekend! It's your choice, so choose wisely :-)
The funny thing is that I spent an awful lot of my time in a "survival mode", but I was barely surviving - and actually THRIVING was not even on my radar. What was happening was that I kept gaining weight and getting into a less and less healthy state, ending up diabetic and on medication for several different things. I kept thinking that when things slowed down, I'd try to make some lifestyle changes. When things weren't so busy, I just knew that I'd finally have time to focus on losing weight and getting healthy. The problem was, of course, that things never really slowed down and every week was filled with things that, in my thinking, mandated yet another "survival mode" week.
What a difference Take Shape for Life/Medifast has made in my life! I have not only gone from surviving to really, truly thriving, but this healthy lifestyle now fits perfectly into even the busiest of days or weeks. In fact, when I'm really busy I tend to eat more Medifast meals just because they are SO convenient and inexpensive. I just grab and go and don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat or when - I don't even think about it. Instead of going into a "survival mode" and eating a lot of high-sugar, high-fat empty carbs that used to drain me of all energy, I now have high-nutrition mini-meals that provide the energy I need to keep going.
One of the things I've learned is that there will always be 101 excuses to not make healthy choices. Life is busy and life has a lot of built-in stresses, so if we are looking for excuses, we don't have to look far. However, if we really WANT to get healthy, if our eyes are fixed on what we really want, it's amazing how quickly those excuses evaporate.
Once we're focused on what we really want, we figure out how to make it happen. I heard someone recently say that if your dream is big enough, the facts don't matter. If your dream is to get to a healthy weight and live a life that truly exemplifies optimal health, then the "facts" don't matter: the fact that things are stressful, the fact that life is incredibly busy, the fact that you have twenty social events this month and all of them will involve food, the fact that your kids are making you crazy and your dog threw up and your boss makes Mr. Scrooge look like boss of the year, etc. etc.
I'm really not trying to sound insensitive to all of the issues that many of you are facing, and I really do understand that life can be incredibly difficult. What I have come to understand is that NOT taking care of ourselves won't make any of those things better or easier, and eating the wrong kind of food won't help, either. There may be a lot of things in your life that you can't control right now- but whether or not you stay on plan is something that you CAN control.
I hope that today is a wonderful, stress-free day that will kick off a wonderful, stress-free weekend, but even if it's going to be a crazy day and a crazy weekend, I hope it will be an on-plan crazy day and weekend! It's your choice, so choose wisely :-)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Reversing A Growing Problem
While doing some research on the internet last night for a presentation I'm giving next month, I came across an article that made me do a double take. The headline read "In 1991 the Fattest U.S. States Were as Thin as the Leanest in 2009." The article quoted a study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which stated that "In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. In 1980, the national average of obese adults was 15 percent. Today our statistically thinnest state (Colorado) has a 19.1% obesity rate among adults. More than two-thirds of states (38) now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. Eight states have rates above 30 percent – Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia." The article went on to note that "you don't have to go back to the 1970s and 1980s to find a country of thinner people; you just have to go back to the early 1990s."
There is plenty of blame to go around and people are pointing fingers in all directions, from the fast-food industry to the dramatic increase in the use of high fructose corn syrup to the lack of activity as people spend more and more time in front of computers, TV and video games. I won't even try to figure out what percentage of blame should be attributed to these factors, but I do know one thing for sure.
While we're pointing at this reason or that with our index finger, the rest of our fingers are pointing right back at ourselves. Sure there are societal issues at work here, but as long as we're looking to affix blame in another area, we end up playing the victim, whether we mean to or not. If we're blaming something or someone else, we aren't really taking responsibility for ourselves.
Society certainly isn't helping, and fast food, etc. has contributed to the obesity epidemic, but we are the ones who've chosen to super-size everything. We've by-passed the regular hamburger for the jumbo "value meal." We've not paid attention to hungry/full signals, and we've chosen to deal with the stuff of life by overeating. We aren't victims - we are full participants in the habits that got us here.
That's really good news - really! Because if it was ultimately our own choices that got us overweight or obese, then making different choices can turn things around. We don't have to wait for the fast-food industry to change, we don't have to wait for the food industry to get rid of HFCS - we don't have to wait for anything external (and out of our control) to change. The power to change things is in our hands right now. We have the tools we need, we just have to choose to use them.
Choose wisely :-)
There is plenty of blame to go around and people are pointing fingers in all directions, from the fast-food industry to the dramatic increase in the use of high fructose corn syrup to the lack of activity as people spend more and more time in front of computers, TV and video games. I won't even try to figure out what percentage of blame should be attributed to these factors, but I do know one thing for sure.
While we're pointing at this reason or that with our index finger, the rest of our fingers are pointing right back at ourselves. Sure there are societal issues at work here, but as long as we're looking to affix blame in another area, we end up playing the victim, whether we mean to or not. If we're blaming something or someone else, we aren't really taking responsibility for ourselves.
Society certainly isn't helping, and fast food, etc. has contributed to the obesity epidemic, but we are the ones who've chosen to super-size everything. We've by-passed the regular hamburger for the jumbo "value meal." We've not paid attention to hungry/full signals, and we've chosen to deal with the stuff of life by overeating. We aren't victims - we are full participants in the habits that got us here.
That's really good news - really! Because if it was ultimately our own choices that got us overweight or obese, then making different choices can turn things around. We don't have to wait for the fast-food industry to change, we don't have to wait for the food industry to get rid of HFCS - we don't have to wait for anything external (and out of our control) to change. The power to change things is in our hands right now. We have the tools we need, we just have to choose to use them.
Choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
If We Only Had a Brain
A week or so ago I watched a program on TV that was horrifying. It would have been scary enough if it was fiction, but this was a true story featured on one of the news magazine programs (can't remember which one). The story talked about a possible new approach to dealing with obesity by implanting electrodes in the brain.
I blogged a few weeks ago about another type of brain surgery that is being explored as a way to help people lose weight, but the one featured on the program last week was yet another procedure. What made this fascinating to me was that the program followed the progress of a woman who had the electrodes implanted in her brain. They interviewed her before the surgery and showed her eating large amounts of unhealthy food while she explained that she just couldn't control her cravings. She viewed this surgery as a way for her to finally bring her food cravings under control. Prior to surgery, her head was shaved and the camera followed the procedure. What came next was amazing . . .
Once she recovered from the surgery, they activated the electrodes and voila! She lost weight! After three weeks of having the electrodes activated, she had lost THREE POUNDS!! Three pounds in three weeks and they view this as a positive result of brain surgery? Are you kidding me???? She happily talked about how her cravings were now manageable and noted that if the settings on the electrodes were turned up too high she'd end up sick to her stomach, and if the settings were too low her cravings returned. Her hair was just starting to grow back and she was very happy with the results of her procedure.
I had so many thoughts running through my head as I watched this that I hardly knew which thought to deal with first. I couldn't help but wonder how many thousands of dollars had been spent on this procedure. This is research money, so even though it didn't cost this woman or her insurance company anything, somebody somewhere paid for this procedure. The very thought that this would ever - ever - be a treatment for obesity is, well, mind-boggling. The cost alone would make it out of the question for most, let alone the fact that it involves BRAIN SURGERY. With a full two-thirds of the U.S. population now overweight or obese, having electrodes implanted in the brain will never be a viable solution.
Writing as a woman who felt overwhelmed by cravings much of the time, and writing as a woman who spent over two decades morbidly obese, weighing as much as 268 and wearing a 24W/3X, I understand desperation. I understand feeling powerless to make the changes needed. I also understand being willing to do just about anything to get the weight off, as I was toying with mortgaging our home to pay for gastric bypass or lap band surgery when God graciously led me to this program. So I am not judging this woman - my heart goes out to her!
I am addressing the bigger issue here, the issue of looking for something to fix things for us with little or no effort on our part. I may be wrong, but that is how I view brain surgery to implant electrodes to deal with cravings - as opting for a passive, and dangerous, way to deal with cravings rather than address issues that drive those cravings.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: the food part of this program is the easy part - it's the head and heart part that's difficult. It's a no-brainer (pardon the pun!) to eat 5 Medifast meals and a lean & green every day - couldn't be more simple. What's hard is dealing with those old cravings, food triggers and ingrained emotional eating patterns. Those things don't disappear overnight, and I can honestly say at almost 2-1/2 years into maintenance, residual remnants crop up from time to time and must be readdressed.
We need both brain and heart surgery to not only get to a healthy weight, but to also embrace the healthy habits we need to maintain our weight loss and continue on our optimal health journey. But rather than seek out a surgeon's scalpel, changing how we think about and emotionally relate to food happens one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
I blogged a few weeks ago about another type of brain surgery that is being explored as a way to help people lose weight, but the one featured on the program last week was yet another procedure. What made this fascinating to me was that the program followed the progress of a woman who had the electrodes implanted in her brain. They interviewed her before the surgery and showed her eating large amounts of unhealthy food while she explained that she just couldn't control her cravings. She viewed this surgery as a way for her to finally bring her food cravings under control. Prior to surgery, her head was shaved and the camera followed the procedure. What came next was amazing . . .
Once she recovered from the surgery, they activated the electrodes and voila! She lost weight! After three weeks of having the electrodes activated, she had lost THREE POUNDS!! Three pounds in three weeks and they view this as a positive result of brain surgery? Are you kidding me???? She happily talked about how her cravings were now manageable and noted that if the settings on the electrodes were turned up too high she'd end up sick to her stomach, and if the settings were too low her cravings returned. Her hair was just starting to grow back and she was very happy with the results of her procedure.
I had so many thoughts running through my head as I watched this that I hardly knew which thought to deal with first. I couldn't help but wonder how many thousands of dollars had been spent on this procedure. This is research money, so even though it didn't cost this woman or her insurance company anything, somebody somewhere paid for this procedure. The very thought that this would ever - ever - be a treatment for obesity is, well, mind-boggling. The cost alone would make it out of the question for most, let alone the fact that it involves BRAIN SURGERY. With a full two-thirds of the U.S. population now overweight or obese, having electrodes implanted in the brain will never be a viable solution.
Writing as a woman who felt overwhelmed by cravings much of the time, and writing as a woman who spent over two decades morbidly obese, weighing as much as 268 and wearing a 24W/3X, I understand desperation. I understand feeling powerless to make the changes needed. I also understand being willing to do just about anything to get the weight off, as I was toying with mortgaging our home to pay for gastric bypass or lap band surgery when God graciously led me to this program. So I am not judging this woman - my heart goes out to her!
I am addressing the bigger issue here, the issue of looking for something to fix things for us with little or no effort on our part. I may be wrong, but that is how I view brain surgery to implant electrodes to deal with cravings - as opting for a passive, and dangerous, way to deal with cravings rather than address issues that drive those cravings.
I've said it before, but it bears repeating: the food part of this program is the easy part - it's the head and heart part that's difficult. It's a no-brainer (pardon the pun!) to eat 5 Medifast meals and a lean & green every day - couldn't be more simple. What's hard is dealing with those old cravings, food triggers and ingrained emotional eating patterns. Those things don't disappear overnight, and I can honestly say at almost 2-1/2 years into maintenance, residual remnants crop up from time to time and must be readdressed.
We need both brain and heart surgery to not only get to a healthy weight, but to also embrace the healthy habits we need to maintain our weight loss and continue on our optimal health journey. But rather than seek out a surgeon's scalpel, changing how we think about and emotionally relate to food happens one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Secret to Success
It's always fun for me to be away, but it's always wonderful to come home, too! We had a great and busy weekend in Annapolis and Pennsylvania. After the accident we had in Canada last month, I don't take safety for granted and was thankful to arrive home about 10 last night. Today is back to my regular routine, including blogging :-).
***
So often we think that what makes someone successful is determination or commitment or self-discipline. If we think that we just don't have that same level of commitment or self-discipline, we may end up deciding that we just can't be successful. But what if the key to success is something entirely different?
One of the speakers at the conference I attended said that "the most powerful force that drives people to success is the quality of their dream." What do you think about that? Do you agree with this statement? Is it possible that whether or not we're successful has less to do with our level of self-discipline and more to do with the quality of our dreams?
We often talk about reaching our goal, but do we really envision what that is going to look like? When you think about your goal, is it a fuzzy, nebulous thing out there, or have you fleshed it out in your dreams? If it's fuzzy, it's not very compelling and you may be more vulnerable to the lure of immediate gratification. On the other hand, if you are focused on a clear goal, it's much easier to stay on track because you know exactly where you're going.
How would you rate the quality of your dreams when it comes to reaching a healthy weight? Are you clear on where you're going? I'm not just talking about what the scale will say - I'm also talking about where you're headed in terms of how you will feel. What will it feel like physically to be at your goal? What will you be able to do and enjoy? What will it feel like mentally to have the struggle to lose weight finally over? How will you feel emotionally when you are no longer defined by your weight?
If your dream is powerful, it will become a driving force that will keep you moving toward your goal. If your dream is powerful enough, your choices will be clear because you will make the choices necessary to support that dream. So dream big, then choose wisely :-)
***
So often we think that what makes someone successful is determination or commitment or self-discipline. If we think that we just don't have that same level of commitment or self-discipline, we may end up deciding that we just can't be successful. But what if the key to success is something entirely different?
One of the speakers at the conference I attended said that "the most powerful force that drives people to success is the quality of their dream." What do you think about that? Do you agree with this statement? Is it possible that whether or not we're successful has less to do with our level of self-discipline and more to do with the quality of our dreams?
We often talk about reaching our goal, but do we really envision what that is going to look like? When you think about your goal, is it a fuzzy, nebulous thing out there, or have you fleshed it out in your dreams? If it's fuzzy, it's not very compelling and you may be more vulnerable to the lure of immediate gratification. On the other hand, if you are focused on a clear goal, it's much easier to stay on track because you know exactly where you're going.
How would you rate the quality of your dreams when it comes to reaching a healthy weight? Are you clear on where you're going? I'm not just talking about what the scale will say - I'm also talking about where you're headed in terms of how you will feel. What will it feel like physically to be at your goal? What will you be able to do and enjoy? What will it feel like mentally to have the struggle to lose weight finally over? How will you feel emotionally when you are no longer defined by your weight?
If your dream is powerful, it will become a driving force that will keep you moving toward your goal. If your dream is powerful enough, your choices will be clear because you will make the choices necessary to support that dream. So dream big, then choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
In Training
I read a story that I thought had great application for all of us (myself included!) who are committed to making changes in our lives. So often we have great intentions but get sidetracked - and sidelined - because we're so worried about what others might think of what we're doing. Here's the story:
Ready . . . set . . . go! There are choices to be made today, so choose wisely :-)
*****
I'm leaving tomorrow morning and driving to Annapolis, Maryland for a weekend conference, returning home Monday night. I will have limited access to the internet while I'm gone, so won't be blogging until I return home. Have a great rest of the week and keep making wise choices!
Recently, when my wife and I wanted to meet our sons and their families for a quick bite to eat, we decided that, with everyone’s busy schedules, it would be easiest to meet at a nearby fast-food joint. When I called my son Joe to suggest the plan, his response was, “Well, I can meet you there, but I can’t eat that stuff. I’m training for a marathon.”
. . . Joe had a goal in mind—the successful completion of the marathon. He knew that reaching the goal was going to require months of disciplined choices, like waking up early to run longer and longer distances. And it meant that he would need to carefully guard and consider everything that he took into his body. Each meal—in fact, each snack—became an opportunity to choose to nourish and energize his body toward a successful marathon run.
One of the things that impressed me about this story was how matter of fact and unapologetic Joe was, and how accepting his family was of his statement that he would join them at the fast-food restaurant but not eat the food.
It's funny, but if a marathoner turns down food because they're training for a race, absolutely everybody understands and supports the decision, and most people won't try to undermine the decision. It's universally understood that you don't mess with an athlete in training, and people training for a marathon (or other athletic activity) are amazingly disciplined because they are focused on the ultimate reward.
Why are we so often reluctant to make the same declaration? We are in training, too, only this isn't just a race, this is our lives and our health. Yet we find ourselves apologetic when we're in social situations if we don't eat what everyone else is eating, or we cave in because we don't want to offend anyone.
Today my challenge to you is to think and act like a marathoner - be focused on the ultimate outcome and be bold! This is the marathon of your life, and you are in training - learning new healthy habits that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
*****
I'm leaving tomorrow morning and driving to Annapolis, Maryland for a weekend conference, returning home Monday night. I will have limited access to the internet while I'm gone, so won't be blogging until I return home. Have a great rest of the week and keep making wise choices!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Summer's Over . . . Now What?
Labor Day is over, summer vacations are behind us and the kids are back in school. Some of you are breathing a sigh of relief today because even though you might have had a great summer, you're happy to be back into a routine. Others might be experiencing different emotions, as you've enjoyed having less structure for the past 2-3 months. Regardless of how you're viewing today, most of us have now moved from a "lazy, hazy days of summer" routine to "back to normal." Now what?
The day after Labor Day often feels like January 2 - a good time to get started, or restarted. Some people found that their best intentions to lose weight got sidelined over the summer between vacations and all those BBQs and have recommitted to going back on plan today. If that's you, welcome back!
It can be hard to get restarted again. Eating five Medifast meals and a lean and green is easy, but getting back into the right mindset can be an issue. If you've been off plan, it's tempting to spend time and energy playing the "should have, could have" mind game, especially if you aren't happy with what the scale is saying today. I would encourage you to not waste a second on regrets, because that will keep you looking back. It's time to look forward!
Where do you want to be by the holidays? How do you want to feel? What do you want to look like in all of the photos that will be taken on Christmas Day?
I'm not talking about "event dieting" - losing weight for the holidays, because I am not a proponent of that. This program is about getting you to a healthy weight and teaching you how to stay there, not about losing weight for one event or the other. That said, the holidays are 3-1/2 months away, and by making the choice today to stay on plan, you will be in a very different place by the time they get here. You might be at your goal, but even if you aren't there yet, you will have made significant progress by then.
Think past the holidays. What do you ultimately want? What will goal look like for you? Today is a good day to think about that, a good day to dream.
As you settle back into your normal routine again, today is a good day to begin to establish new, healthier habits that will become part of your routine. Establishing those new habits begins with the choices you make today. Choose wisely :-)
The day after Labor Day often feels like January 2 - a good time to get started, or restarted. Some people found that their best intentions to lose weight got sidelined over the summer between vacations and all those BBQs and have recommitted to going back on plan today. If that's you, welcome back!
It can be hard to get restarted again. Eating five Medifast meals and a lean and green is easy, but getting back into the right mindset can be an issue. If you've been off plan, it's tempting to spend time and energy playing the "should have, could have" mind game, especially if you aren't happy with what the scale is saying today. I would encourage you to not waste a second on regrets, because that will keep you looking back. It's time to look forward!
Where do you want to be by the holidays? How do you want to feel? What do you want to look like in all of the photos that will be taken on Christmas Day?
I'm not talking about "event dieting" - losing weight for the holidays, because I am not a proponent of that. This program is about getting you to a healthy weight and teaching you how to stay there, not about losing weight for one event or the other. That said, the holidays are 3-1/2 months away, and by making the choice today to stay on plan, you will be in a very different place by the time they get here. You might be at your goal, but even if you aren't there yet, you will have made significant progress by then.
Think past the holidays. What do you ultimately want? What will goal look like for you? Today is a good day to think about that, a good day to dream.
As you settle back into your normal routine again, today is a good day to begin to establish new, healthier habits that will become part of your routine. Establishing those new habits begins with the choices you make today. Choose wisely :-)
Monday, September 6, 2010
Happy Labor Day!
Happy Labor Day! I hope you're having a great day and enjoying this last summer holiday.
We're having some friends over for a cookout today. Chicken breasts are marinating, ready to throw on the grill this afternoon, and we'll have fresh vegetables, a salad, and fresh fruit for dessert. This is quite a change from the cookouts we used to have!
That's not to say that we haven't had cookouts with more traditional fare since we've reached goal, because we have. We just decided to not do that today. We've had a busy summer with a fair amount of traveling and when we've been home, several get-togethers with family and friends have included some of my husband's homemade ice cream, so we have certainly indulged on occasion. However, we really watch what we eat most of the time and decided to keep it simple today.
Part of what's different this side of goal is that we have the freedom to eat, or not eat, whatever we want. Getting together with friends is no longer all about the food, and a holiday cookout doesn't mandate a table loaded with high-fat, high calorie food. We can have a great time over light, healthy food, and we will do just that today.
Whatever your plans are on this Labor Day, I hope you have a great day and that you choose wisely :-)
We're having some friends over for a cookout today. Chicken breasts are marinating, ready to throw on the grill this afternoon, and we'll have fresh vegetables, a salad, and fresh fruit for dessert. This is quite a change from the cookouts we used to have!
That's not to say that we haven't had cookouts with more traditional fare since we've reached goal, because we have. We just decided to not do that today. We've had a busy summer with a fair amount of traveling and when we've been home, several get-togethers with family and friends have included some of my husband's homemade ice cream, so we have certainly indulged on occasion. However, we really watch what we eat most of the time and decided to keep it simple today.
Part of what's different this side of goal is that we have the freedom to eat, or not eat, whatever we want. Getting together with friends is no longer all about the food, and a holiday cookout doesn't mandate a table loaded with high-fat, high calorie food. We can have a great time over light, healthy food, and we will do just that today.
Whatever your plans are on this Labor Day, I hope you have a great day and that you choose wisely :-)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Power of Choices
Every blog I've written for quite some time has addressed, in one way or another, the opportunity we have every day to make choices that move us in one direction or another. I emphasize choices because I don't want any of us to ever lose sight of the fact that we don't have to be victims of our circumstances, and to also encourage you to be an active participant in making your future what you want it to be. We always have a choice.
So many of us have felt stuck for a long time, maybe trapped is even a better description. For me, I felt trapped inside a body that I hated. I hated how I looked and I hated how I felt. I hated the size I was in and resented the fact that designers seemed to think that plus-size women liked to dress in awful colors and patterns. For a long time I felt helpless to change my situation, but I kept trying - and failing. This seemingly endless cycle of trying and failing further fueled my despair and my belief that I couldn't change. It was a difficult situation to be in - hating where I was yet feeling powerless to change. I blamed my failure on being weak and undisciplined and I beat myself up mentally and emotionally on a regular basis.
When I was seriously considering weight loss surgery, and contemplating taking out a second mortgage to pay for it, I realized that I had somehow turned a corner in my thinking. I had reached a level of desperation with my weight that I hadn't experienced before, and that's when I was finally ready - finally - to change. Finally ready to admit that I couldn't do this on my own. Before mortgaging our home and our future, I decided to give Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try.
So my first choice on my journey was to order a month's worth of product. That first month was amazing for me because I not only saw weight beginning to melt and saw my blood sugar return to normal, but I also did something I'd never done before - I followed the plan as written and didn't cheat. Every day that I was on plan empowered me and propelled me forward to the next day. I'd heard that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old habit, so I made the choice to stay on plan for 21 days to see if it really would be possible to break old habits and begin to establish new ones.
I had no idea that those choices would set in motion a series of other choices that would finally bring me to my goal, and that the new habits that grew from those choices would keep me in my goal range more than two years later. The choices we get not only have their own set of consequences, but they beget other choices.
Do you want your future to include a healthier you? Choose to be an active participant in creating that future, because it's there if you want it. As always, choose wisely :-)
So many of us have felt stuck for a long time, maybe trapped is even a better description. For me, I felt trapped inside a body that I hated. I hated how I looked and I hated how I felt. I hated the size I was in and resented the fact that designers seemed to think that plus-size women liked to dress in awful colors and patterns. For a long time I felt helpless to change my situation, but I kept trying - and failing. This seemingly endless cycle of trying and failing further fueled my despair and my belief that I couldn't change. It was a difficult situation to be in - hating where I was yet feeling powerless to change. I blamed my failure on being weak and undisciplined and I beat myself up mentally and emotionally on a regular basis.
When I was seriously considering weight loss surgery, and contemplating taking out a second mortgage to pay for it, I realized that I had somehow turned a corner in my thinking. I had reached a level of desperation with my weight that I hadn't experienced before, and that's when I was finally ready - finally - to change. Finally ready to admit that I couldn't do this on my own. Before mortgaging our home and our future, I decided to give Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try.
So my first choice on my journey was to order a month's worth of product. That first month was amazing for me because I not only saw weight beginning to melt and saw my blood sugar return to normal, but I also did something I'd never done before - I followed the plan as written and didn't cheat. Every day that I was on plan empowered me and propelled me forward to the next day. I'd heard that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old habit, so I made the choice to stay on plan for 21 days to see if it really would be possible to break old habits and begin to establish new ones.
I had no idea that those choices would set in motion a series of other choices that would finally bring me to my goal, and that the new habits that grew from those choices would keep me in my goal range more than two years later. The choices we get not only have their own set of consequences, but they beget other choices.
Do you want your future to include a healthier you? Choose to be an active participant in creating that future, because it's there if you want it. As always, choose wisely :-)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Doing What We Want
Can you believe it's Labor Day weekend? The temperature has dropped 30 degrees from just a couple of days ago (it's only in the mid-50's), and with a stiff wind thrown in, I'll have to dig out a sweater and maybe even a jacket before I head to the farmer's market this morning. It's chilly enough and windy enough to make me want to stay home, but I won't because there are some things at the farmer's market that I want to pick up today.
We face competing choices on a daily basis. Some may be as relatively inconsequential as my choices to stay inside and stay warm versus getting blown around a bit at the market. Other choices may have more consequence. For many of these choices, neither one is really good or bad - it's not "bad" if I stay home this morning and it's not "good" if I leave the house. It's really a matter of me deciding what's most important to me this morning and then doing what I want to do. Sometimes, like this morning, doing what I really want to do is less comfortable than the alternative (staying home would be more comfortable), but if I'm motivated enough (and I am), I won't talk myself out of it (and I HAVE done that on occasion!).
I heard a speaker say that we move in the direction of our own self interest. In other words, we tend to end up doing what we want to do. If we haven't clarified in our minds what it is that we want, we will go for whatever is in front of us that provides immediate gratification. If, however, we know what we want and we are focused on it, we will do what we need to do to get it. In other words, we will make the secondary choices required to support our primary choice.
The choice to stay on plan or not today is not really a "good choice" or a "bad choice" - it's simply a choice you have to make. The choice is not inconsequential - you simply have to decide what it is that you want today. Decide, then choose wisely :-)
We face competing choices on a daily basis. Some may be as relatively inconsequential as my choices to stay inside and stay warm versus getting blown around a bit at the market. Other choices may have more consequence. For many of these choices, neither one is really good or bad - it's not "bad" if I stay home this morning and it's not "good" if I leave the house. It's really a matter of me deciding what's most important to me this morning and then doing what I want to do. Sometimes, like this morning, doing what I really want to do is less comfortable than the alternative (staying home would be more comfortable), but if I'm motivated enough (and I am), I won't talk myself out of it (and I HAVE done that on occasion!).
I heard a speaker say that we move in the direction of our own self interest. In other words, we tend to end up doing what we want to do. If we haven't clarified in our minds what it is that we want, we will go for whatever is in front of us that provides immediate gratification. If, however, we know what we want and we are focused on it, we will do what we need to do to get it. In other words, we will make the secondary choices required to support our primary choice.
The choice to stay on plan or not today is not really a "good choice" or a "bad choice" - it's simply a choice you have to make. The choice is not inconsequential - you simply have to decide what it is that you want today. Decide, then choose wisely :-)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Three Years Later
Every now and then, I enjoy re-reading some of my earliest blogs, the ones written when I was just starting on this program. Reading them again reminds me of where I was and I remember again the joys and the challenges of being on 5&1. This morning I read a blog that I wrote almost exactly three years ago, 11 weeks into what would become my new life.
I'm so glad I made the choice that day to stay on plan and not give up because of the scale. It's not easy to do the right thing when we aren't seeing an immediate reward, so the fact that I made that choice was evidence of God's grace and strength at work in my life. I had a couple of other weeks when I didn't lose a thing, and several one-pound weeks, but over time I DID lose 120 pounds (two days short of 11 months). I DID lose 6 more pounds in Transition. And, most important, over two years later, I'm still maintaining.
It's a daily choice, and each choice adds up over time. Choose wisely :-)
Well, it finally happened this morning. I've been on Take Shape for Life/Medifast long enough now (today starts my 11th week) to know that sooner or later, it happens to everyone. This morning was the dreaded "I stayed on plan all week and didn't lose any weight" weigh in. Ugh!
My first thought was, "You have GOT to be kidding!" So I stepped off and stepped back on, but there was no change. Then I decided I'd wait an hour or so to see if I'd weigh less then (no rationale to this, of course, just a desperate woman looking for a quick solution). Nope! I very grudgingly recorded my weight, very sad that I wouldn't get to write down a loss this week. I'm fighting a cold right now and feeling significantly less than 100%, so the general yuck feeling only added to my mood.
Then I realized I had a choice. I could either view the glass as half-empty (no weight loss) OR I could begin to review the successes I HAVE had, including purchasing - and wearing - a smaller size this week, and choose to see the glass as half-full. I chose half-full!
I also did what others have also suggested we do on a no-weight-loss week, I got out the measuring tape. The glass is now OVER half full :-) In the past two weeks, even though I've only lost 3 pounds, I've lost another 1.25" from my bust, 1.5" from my hips, .25" from my upper arms, .75" from my knees and .25" from my calves. So even though the scale wasn't very encouraging this morning, I AM shrinking! I've lost 29 pounds and over 14 inches since starting this program two months ago!!
The choice is always mine, whether to focus on the negatives and failures, or whether I'm going to look for and celebrate the positive things that are happening. If I choose to focus on the negative, I know that I will lose motivation and get discouraged, and I am committed to not allowing that to happen.
I knew when I started this journey that it would be a marathon, not a sprint. Seeing the scale move down every week made me feel like I was in a sprint, but this morning was a reminder that it is indeed a marathon. I will have encouraging weigh ins and discouraging ones, but I cannot allow my commitment to losing weight and getting healthy to rest on the feedback of my digital scale.
That said, here's hoping that the scale is kinder to me NEXT week!
I'm so glad I made the choice that day to stay on plan and not give up because of the scale. It's not easy to do the right thing when we aren't seeing an immediate reward, so the fact that I made that choice was evidence of God's grace and strength at work in my life. I had a couple of other weeks when I didn't lose a thing, and several one-pound weeks, but over time I DID lose 120 pounds (two days short of 11 months). I DID lose 6 more pounds in Transition. And, most important, over two years later, I'm still maintaining.
It's a daily choice, and each choice adds up over time. Choose wisely :-)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Rethinking Success . . . and Failure
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." ~ Michael Jordan
We aren't geared to think of failing our way to success, are we? When we think of successful people, we erroneously often believe that these people are somehow just born successful. We assume that they are somehow different than we are, that they are just blessed or lucky or whatever. The reality is that most successful people weren't born that way, and most had their fair share of failure, including Michael Jordan. What made them eventually successful was that they kept on trying, and failing, and never allowed their failure to define them.
Here's another example: When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.
Perseverance, and a vision of what is possible, even if it is not yet in our grasp, is what keeps us going when things are disappointing. We only truly fail when we give up and stop trying. Until that point, every failure is an opportunity to learn and grow.
Perhaps you've failed on every other weight loss program you've been on. Perhaps you're back on this program again for the second, third, or fourth time. It doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that you're here now and maybe, just maybe, this is your time. I believe it is, because I know this plan works, and I know that if you make the decision to just follow the program one meal at a time, you WILL reach your goal. Even if you've tried and failed a million times, this time can be different, if you make the choice. Choose wisely :-)
We aren't geared to think of failing our way to success, are we? When we think of successful people, we erroneously often believe that these people are somehow just born successful. We assume that they are somehow different than we are, that they are just blessed or lucky or whatever. The reality is that most successful people weren't born that way, and most had their fair share of failure, including Michael Jordan. What made them eventually successful was that they kept on trying, and failing, and never allowed their failure to define them.
Here's another example: When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.
Perseverance, and a vision of what is possible, even if it is not yet in our grasp, is what keeps us going when things are disappointing. We only truly fail when we give up and stop trying. Until that point, every failure is an opportunity to learn and grow.
Perhaps you've failed on every other weight loss program you've been on. Perhaps you're back on this program again for the second, third, or fourth time. It doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that you're here now and maybe, just maybe, this is your time. I believe it is, because I know this plan works, and I know that if you make the decision to just follow the program one meal at a time, you WILL reach your goal. Even if you've tried and failed a million times, this time can be different, if you make the choice. Choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
About Those Resolutions , . .
Welcome to September! I am in disbelief that it's September, even as I type the word!
September is a great time to take stock of where we're at. Remember those New Year's resolutions we made last January? How are you doing? Do you even remember most of them?
I'm guessing that one of the resolutions you made was to lose weight and get healthy, right? For the over 20 years that I spent being obese, losing weight was ALWAYS on my list of New Year's resolutions. No surprise that each September inevitably found me no closer to my goal than I was when I made that resolution. That all changed, of course, when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast in June of 2007. 2009 was the first year in over two decades that didn't include "losing weight" as one of my resolutions (I reached my goal in May of 2008).
If you're continuing to make steady progress towards your goal, keep up the great work! Even if you aren't where you wanted to be, look at how far you've come and celebrate that. You're on track to end 2010 strong, so pat yourself on the back and keep your eyes on the prize.
If you've been struggling, especially over the summer, now is a perfect time to get back on plan and back on track. There are four months left in this year, plenty of time to make real progress towards (or maybe even to reach!) your goal.
Time is going to pass, whether you're on plan or not. The question is, where do you want to be four months from today when we ring in 2011? Getting where you want to be starts with the choices you'll make today. Choose wisely :-)
September is a great time to take stock of where we're at. Remember those New Year's resolutions we made last January? How are you doing? Do you even remember most of them?
I'm guessing that one of the resolutions you made was to lose weight and get healthy, right? For the over 20 years that I spent being obese, losing weight was ALWAYS on my list of New Year's resolutions. No surprise that each September inevitably found me no closer to my goal than I was when I made that resolution. That all changed, of course, when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast in June of 2007. 2009 was the first year in over two decades that didn't include "losing weight" as one of my resolutions (I reached my goal in May of 2008).
If you're continuing to make steady progress towards your goal, keep up the great work! Even if you aren't where you wanted to be, look at how far you've come and celebrate that. You're on track to end 2010 strong, so pat yourself on the back and keep your eyes on the prize.
If you've been struggling, especially over the summer, now is a perfect time to get back on plan and back on track. There are four months left in this year, plenty of time to make real progress towards (or maybe even to reach!) your goal.
Time is going to pass, whether you're on plan or not. The question is, where do you want to be four months from today when we ring in 2011? Getting where you want to be starts with the choices you'll make today. Choose wisely :-)
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