I had a fun conversation yesterday morning with a friend of mine who's lost 26 pounds in the past six weeks on our program. Naturally she's excited about her progress, and she's also happy that she's sleeping better and no longer having problems with gastric reflux.
What was most interesting to me was her comment that she was really excited because her "mind is getting healthy." She explained that her thinking is changing and she is embracing this program as a permanent, healthy lifestyle change. Wow! She really gets it, and I'm so excited for her. Because her mind is getting healthy, she isn't viewing this program as a diet (because it's NOT a diet!).
I've said for a long time that the food part of this program is the easy part - the hard part is the head and heart part. Changing how we think and how we emotionally relate to food is essential if we're going to not only reach our goal, but have the healthy habits we need to maintain our weight loss and continue. These changes don't happen overnight, but they do happen over time IF we make the decision to truly change our lives.
In my opinion, one of the best tools available to guide us in making those changes is "Dr. A's Habits of Health," the book written by Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen. This is a comprehensive guide to helping us make permanent changes in our lives. Dr. A spends a lot of time talking about how to change our orientation and move from focusing on solving a problem (like being overweight) to creating something you want in your life.
I'm happy for my friend and also for others who realize that their minds are getting healthier right along with their bodies. There are so many tangible ways to measure our success on this program: the scale, the tape measure, what size we're in, etc. Measuring other, intangible improvements is more difficult, but the change is still happening and it makes all of the difference in the long run.
Getting healthy in both our bodies and our minds happens one day and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)
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