A Penny for Your Choice

Happy Monday!  It's hard to believe this is the last day of January already! 

I write a lot about making wise choices, so here's an interesting choice to contemplate:  I'll write you a check today for a million dollars or I'll give you a penny today and it every day for thirty-one days.  Two choices - a million dollars today or the sum of a penny doubled for one month.

Would it surprise you to know that if you chose to receive a penny a day for 31 days, you would end up with $10,737,418?  (This example is from page 17 of "Dr. A's Habits of Health".)

If we didn't pull out a calculator and figure out the difference, I think most of us would be inclined to take the million dollar check and run.  Waiting for something, even if it will be a lot better in the long run, isn't something we like to do.  Instant gratification is almost hard-wired into us.  I remember as a kid hearing my dad say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and I took that saying to heart.

The problem with that saying (and my dad is a wise person who didn't really live by that saying) is that we end up settling for the immediate gratification, and that often means we settle for less than the best.

Dr. Andersen uses this example in his book to illustrate the art of compounding.  One penny on day one doesn't seem like a big deal after all - how many of us will even stoop down to pick up a penny on the sidewalk?  But one penny doubled day after day eventually becomes something that's valuable indeed.

Those new, healthy habits that we're working to incorporate into our lives take time.  One day of eating right or exercising doesn't really make any difference one way or the other, like a lone penny lying on the sidewalk.  But when those healthy choices are repeated day after day, the compounded effect is profound - and it's life changing.  The challenge is to not expect instant results, because when it comes to making permanent changes, the results don't show up overnight.  But they will show up, I promise you, as you make one wise choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Happy Birthday to My Husband!

Today is my husband's 60th birthday and I am taking this opportunity to wish him a VERY happy birthday!  John and I met my freshman year in college - I was 18 and he was 19 - started dating a year later and married two years after that.  It is hard for me to believe that he is celebrating his 60th birthday . . . I am shaking my head in disbelief.  I told him that while our commitment was to grow old together, I just didn't expect to get here so fast :-).

While 60 starts another decade for John, he is healthier than he's been for most of his adult life.  When we got married in 1973, he was overweight - pudgy probably best described him at that time.  I cooked up a storm that first year of marriage and managed to pack another 20 pounds on him (and a few pounds on myself, too).  We did a couple of crazy diets together and while I dropped the weight and was fairly successful in keeping it off until my mid-30's, other than a brief period of time when he adopted a rigid diet and took up running to lose weight, John was overweight his entire adult life.

That all changed three years ago.  He watched me lose weight beginning in June of 2007 and by January of 2008, he was ready to try Take Shape for Life/Medifast for himself.  In three months' time he lost 50 pounds and has maintained his weight loss.  By losing weight, he was also able to get off his blood pressure and cholesterol medications.  Heart disease runs in his family and both his father and his older brother had heart attacks in their early 60's.  Had John not gotten healthy, he may well have been facing heart disease himself.

Three years ago he made the choice to get healthy, and I'm so thankful he did.  Because of that choice and all of the choices he's made since that time, Lord willing, I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him!

Have a great Sunday, and remember to choose wisely :-)

Dreams or Goals?

"Life is too short to waste.  Dreams are fulfilled only through action, not through endless planning to take action."  ~ David J. Schwartz

My husband tweeted this quote yesterday and it make me think.  Sometimes we spend a lot of time and energy getting ready to take action instead of pouring that energy into actually TAKING action.  We think and over-think things and wait for THE perfect moment, after every duck is in a row and every possible obstacle is removed.  In the meantime, time is passing - quickly.

While I certainly don't recommend starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast or an exercise program the day before a holiday or just before starting on a cruise, I also think it's a mistake to wait until life isn't busy or things settle down.  The reality is that life is ALWAYS busy and as soon as one thing settles down, something else bubbles up.  So many people wait for that perfect Monday to start (or restart), instead of just starting.  We tend to look at our busy schedules and multiple demands and think that we'll eat better and exercise more when life isn't so crazy . . . . months later, things are still crazy and we're still waiting.

I'm talking to myself here when it comes to exercise . . . it is NOT my favorite thing to do and there are ALWAYS other things that get in the way.  I have great intentions, really I do, but they too often fall into the "planning to take action" rather than the "take action" category. 

The reality is that we will move from planning to take action to taking action when we make the decision to move from something being a dream to something being a goal.  As long as what we want stays in the dream stage, we're unlikely to take definitive steps to actualize it and it stays in the "wouldn't it be nice someday" phase - and it can stay there indefinitely.  But once that dream becomes a goal, then those action steps we've mulled over in our minds become action steps that we're ready and willing to take.

When our dreams become our goals, we will also MAKE the time and figure out how to deal with the obstacles.  We won't wait for the perfect moment to get started, we'll just get started and take one action step at a time.

Is getting to a healthy weight your dream or your goal?  You can choose today to either keep planning to take action or you can take action.  The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)

Walking Away

I just re-read a blog that I wrote back on September 1, 2007,  just a little over two months after starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  The blog chronicled a real turning point in my thinking.  I hope it will be helpful to you today!

****
I read an interesting story not too long ago, and it's been rambling around in my brain until today, when I decided to blog about it.

Have you ever seen an elephant at the circus?  I don't know if they still do this, but years ago circus elephants could be seen standing next to a small wooden stake in the ground with a chain around one ankle. In the story I read, the writer became rather curious as to how one small wooden stake could hold a large elephant captive, so he did some investigating.  As it turns out, the trainer begins using the chain and stake when the elephant is just a baby.  The baby elephant is unable to pull free and, over time, gradually accepts the chain and the restriction it provides.  What the elephant never realizes is that as it grows stronger, it could easily pull the stake out of the ground and be free.  You see, the elephant adapts itself so completely to the chain that it loses sight of the fact that it could free itself in a moment, if it only realized that the chain no longer had any power over it.

This is a powerful illustration for me!  I feel like I have been chained to unhealthy food choices for a long time, a prisoner of stress eating and unending cycles of yo-yo dieting.  I felt like I was trapped and would never be set free.  What I didn't realize, until recently, is that all I have ever had to do was gently but firmly pull and the chain would fall away.  I stood next to a weak wooden stake called "food addiction" and allowed myself to think that it held me captive - I gave it power it never had on its own.

As God continues to work in my life through this program and so many of the supportive people I've met, I have finally walked away from this chain and it no longer has the power to hold me captive.  I am learning to put food into its proper place and not run to it to deal with stress, smooth a hurt, or celebrate a victory.  This is so freeing!

One of my new favorite songs is called "Finally Free" by Nichole Nordeman. Here are the lyrics:

No chain is strong enough, no choice is wrong enough
No mountain high enough that He can't climb
No shadow dark enough, no night is black enough
No road is lost enough that He can't find

*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free

v.2
No pain is deep enough, no heart could bleed enough
Nothing but Jesus' love can make a way

*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free

****
That day, almost three and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom.  Today, over 2-1/2 years since reaching my goal, I'm still celebrating that freedom!  I tell people all the time that when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was just hoping to lose a little bit of weight - I had NO idea that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth in the process. 

The freedom from my long-standing food addition didn't happen in an instant, but each day as I made the choice to stay on plan and chose to find healthier ways to deal with stress and emotional issues (and for me, that healthier way was turning to my Heavenly Father), I took another step away from my food addiction and another step towards a healthier rest of my life.

I write this knowing that some of you are dealing with a lot of emotional eating issues.  I've been there, I've walked a similar path, and I understand probably more than you could ever know.  I also know that we can be set free, completely free, starting today.  Those chains will begin to fall, one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

What's It Worth?

How much money would it take to convince you to go back to your starting weight and remain there for the rest of your life?

I think about where I was four years ago, just before starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast and where I am now and how much my life has changed.  I asked myself, would a million dollars be worth going back (and staying at) 260 pounds?  Would two million?  How about a billion dollars?  Would I be willing to regain the weight and never take it off for that kind of money?

As I thought about this (and I didn't have to think very long), I realized that NO amount of money would ever entice me to gain back 126 pounds!  Regaining the weight would be undoubtedly put me back into a diabetic state, I'd be back on meds for cholesterol and GERD (and probably an anti-depressant as well).  My self-esteem would be back in toilet, and my back and knee would hurt all the time.  I would be back to facing the myriad of health risks associated with diabetes and obesity and I would surely have a shorter life span.  Since I'll be 59 in July, I know how fast these years go and that we have no guarantee for the future.  There is NO WAY I'd be willing to spend another minute, let along the rest of my life, morbidly obese!!

While most of us wouldn't take money to deliberately regain the weight, the risk is there for all of us to do that IF we don't really, permanently change our thinking about food, our emotional issues with food, and our lifestyle.  We might not take the money to regain the weight, but we could end up doing that very thing for "free" if we aren't diligent.  That is a very sobering thought for me!

Take Shape for Life/Medifast has a wonderful plan for not only losing the weight, but helping us to slowly transition back to "regular foods" when we've completed the weight loss portion of this journey, and there is ongoing help for us when we're in maintenance.  Most of us are focused on the weight loss part right now, but that is only the first half of the journey.  The other, and more difficult part, will be to successfully transition and then maintain our weight loss.

As I thought about all of the reasons that I NEVER want to regain the weight, I realized all over again that I will need to be alert and thinking about what I eat and why I eat for the rest of my life.  Almost three years since reaching goal, there are days when being alert and mindful is pretty easy, and other days when it's not.  Maintenance isn't easy, but the alternative is unthinkable to me.

I wouldn't take a billion dollars to regain the weight, so I sure don't want to do it for free, one mindless forkful at a time! 

Getting to a healthy weight and incorporating the healthy habits needed to stay there is a series of daily choices.  Choose wisely :-)

The Butterfly Effect

Sometimes we wonder if the simple choices we make today really matter.  When faced with temptation, it may be easy to think that going off plan won't hurt "just this once."  We may tend to think of our choices as disjointed, not really having much of an impact on the overall picture.  An article I read about a so-called "Butterfly Effect" made me realize that nothing is truly inconsequential.

In 1960, an MIT meteorologist made an accidental discovery while he was trying to develop a computer program that could simulate and forecast weather conditions.  One day he was in a hurry, and instead of entering .506127, the number he had used in an earlier trial, he rounded to the nearest thousandth, or .506, figuring that rounding the number to the nearest thousandth would be inconsequential, then left his lab.  When he returned, he found a radical change in the weather conditions.  He estimated that the numerical difference between the original number and the rounded number was the equivalent of a puff of wind created by a butterfly's wing, concluding that an event as minor as the flapping of a butterfly's wing could conceivable alter wind currents sufficiently to eventually change weather conditions thousands of miles away.  "Tiny differences in input can quickly become overwhelming differences in output."

After describing the "butterfly effect," the author went on to write that "small changes and small choices become magnified over time, and have major consequences . . . Too often we fail to connect the dots between choices and consequences.  Every choice has a domino effect that can alter our destiny."

It may seem like such a small and inconsequential thing today to choose to stay on plan, and you may have a dozen different really good reasons to step off.  What you decide today matters - it really does - and not just today.  If you choose to stay on plan, you are reinforcing your decision to get healthy, to delay immediate gratification for something far more important.  Your decision to stay on plan today will increase the likelihood that you'll stay on plan tomorrow as well.  For me, every time I successfully faced and conquered a temptation, it strengthened my resolve and my ability to withstand the next.

If you choose to step off plan today, it certainly doesn't mean that you won't ultimately be successful - please know that I'm not implying that at all!  What I am saying, however, is that it will be more challenging to stay the course tomorrow.  Once you take your eyes off of your goal and choose the instant gratification, it can be hard to get refocused.  The next time you face a similar choice to the one you face today, you won't have the successful outcome from today to boost your resolve tomorrow.  Again, you may well get to your goal (and I hope you do!), but you've increased the incline on the treadmill by a degree or two, making the climb from here to goal a bit more challenging. 

As I've shared on numerous occasions in past blogs, I don't take any credit - none - for the fact that I stayed on plan and didn't step off from the time I started until I reached my goal.  I know better than anyone how prone to failure I was and how utterly weak I felt in my own strength.  For me, the only way I was able to do this program successfully was because I admitted my need for help and turned to the Source of my strength, my Heavenly Father.  I also found a great deal of support from the on-line community here, and I'm eternally thankful!

The "butterfly effect" of the choices I made beginning with that first choice in June of 2007 to begin the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program continues to spread.  I had no idea that anything would come of that first choice - I didn't even believe that it would work for me.  However, because I lost 126 pounds and got healthy, I have directly or indirectly helped literally hundreds and hundreds of others lose thousands of pounds over the past three years, and those individuals are inspiring still others to do the same.  It amazes and humbles me every day.

The choices you make today matter far more than you may even realize.  Choose wisely :-)

Warning Lights

I know almost nothing about cars.  Most of my ignorance is frankly by choice, because I don't WANT to know how to change the oil or change a tire.  Our mechanic changes the oil every 3,000 miles and I keep my auto club card handy in case of an emergency on the road.  Despite my chosen ignorance when it comes to cars, I know that the warning lights are not to be ignored.  When the "check engine" light or another warning light comes on, I get it checked out immediately because I know that ignoring it will lead to bigger, more expensive problems.  The warning light tells me that something is interfering with the car's ability to run at peak performance, and ignoring the light won't make the problem go away.

I'm guessing you're probably the same way when it comes to warning lights on your car.  Whether you're a mechanic, just like to tinker under the hood or are as clueless as I am about the whole thing, you know that warning lights are nothing to ignore.

It's ironic that while we pay close attention and spring into action the minute a warning light comes on in our car, we will go years (or in my case decades) ignoring the warning lights in our bodies.  We see a few (or many) extra pounds reflected on the scale, our clothes get tight so we go out and buy a bigger size, our cholesterol and blood pressure go up and we start taking medication, and perhaps our blood sugar rises and we find ourselves on oral medications or even insulin. 

Instead of seeing each and every one of these things are warning lights flashing in front of us, some of us may have just assumed that these things were part of getting older.  After all, doesn't just about every person over 40 take medication for something or another?  By the time people are in their 60's or 70's, we marvel at those rare individuals who "only take an aspirin for a headache," because we assume that taking prescription medication is just part of the aging process.  Instead of springing into action when the scale goes up or our clothes get tight, we've acquiesced to the inevitable and reluctantly purchased a larger size. 

As we've ignored our warning lights, we've continued to function, just as a car will continue to run for a while (most of the time).  However, over time we find that our own "engines" are running less and less effectively - we lack the energy and stamina we need so we take the escalator instead of the stairs and we look for the closest parking spot.  We come home at the end of the day completely depleted of energy and spend our evenings eating in front of the TV.  Our lab work sends another warning light that things aren't running internally as designed and we begin taking medication.  And all the while the warning light keeps flashing faster and faster.

That description may or may not have described where you've been, and those warning lights may have been the catalyst for you starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  The good news is that you are now taking definite, positive steps to address and potentially reverse many of the things that triggered your own warning lights.  It's amazing to see how quickly blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar readings often stabilize and even normalize once people get started on this program.  Even before significant weight is lost, many of these readings improve dramatically.  Eating six small, nutritious meals evenly spaced throughout the day has a profound impact on our health.  Take Shape for Life/Medifast's medical director and Take Shape for Life co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, refers to these six small meals as "fuelings."  Think of each meal as putting the highest quality fuel into your own tank, because that's exactly what you're doing!

So congratulations on choosing to respond to your warning lights!  Each time you make the choice to fuel your body appropriately, you are doing what you can to ensure that your "engine" will run at peak efficiency for years to come.  The choices you make today really do count, so choose wisely :-).

Holding On and Letting Go

What are you holding on to today?  I'm asking this question because I've realized that sometimes we desperately hold on to things that are no longer serving our best interest - sometimes they never did. 

When it comes to losing weight and getting healthy, many of us struggle to release old patterns of eating.  We struggle and want to hold on to our favorite foods, even when those foods and our relationship to them landed us in an unhealthy BMI range, perhaps even contributing to illness and disease.  When we struggle to let go of what is no longer working for us, we may end up going off plan repeatedly.  We hang on to those old things and look at them as forbidden fruit; we feel deprived because we can't have the very things that got us here in the first place.

In Beth Moore's Bible study, "Breaking Free," one of the things she said that really resonated with me is that "whatever we give up is only to free our hands so we can receive all God has for us."  We can't receive something new if our hands are full of old stuff.

I have a picture in mind right now of hands that are tightly gripped around something old and rotting, fingertips white because the grip is so tight.  Within reach is something new and beautiful, but to take that new thing into the hand, the old will first have to be released.  The problem is that the old, while rotting, is familiar - it fits in the hand and the hand is warm from holding it for so long.  Letting go of the old thing means that, for a split second, the hand will be empty and cold.  It's uncertain how the new thing will fit and feel in the hand, so even though it looks beautiful and most desirable, the idea of actually having that in hand is pretty scary.

Some of us have struggled with being overweight or obese for a long time.  We hate how we look and feel, and part of us really wants to reach out and claim the healthy body and new life that is within our reach.  Before we can do that, we have to let go of the old, rotting habits.  Letting go of them isn't deprivation - it's freedom.  It doesn't feel like that at first because those habits have become so comfortable and warm in our hands.  But once we're willing to recognize them for what they are, things that are keeping us in a place we don't want to be, and once we're willing to loosen our grip and let them go, we are able to receive something far better.

It's not easy!  I wish it was, but it's not.  But it's worth it.  Shift your eyes from what you're hanging on to and really focus on what is is that you want.  Shift your focus, then choose wisely :-)

Still Thankful

Although I'm closing in on the 3-year anniversary of reaching my goal (in May), there are still so many little things that I'm thankful, so many small things that I hope I never take for granted.

I had the opportunity this past week to once again experience the wonder and joy of a couple of simple things.  The first thing was at my chiropractor's office when I put on one of the dressing gowns (my chiropractor uses the Gonstead approach to chiropractic care, which requires a visual examination of the spine).  Before losing 126 pounds on this program, I could barely fit into his extra-large size gowns.  The gown would be tight across my stomach and hips and, while fastened at the neck, was open the rest of the way in the back until the bottom few inches, where the gown was seamed.  I was always self-conscious about the fact that the gowns couldn't meet in the back.  Last week when I changed into a gown, I changed into a size medium (he doesn't have size small) and I was swimming in the gown - it was HUGE!  Realizing again that the medium size was WAY too big brought a smile to my face and made me shake my head in wonder as I remembered how it was for so many years.

Then a couple of days ago I grabbed a pair of my knee-high boots and sat down to zip them up.  Since it's winter and we have a lot of snow in Michigan, boots are pretty much required every time I go outside, so I'm zipping up boots almost every day, sometimes several times a day.  This time, however, I remembered a winter just four years ago when I couldn't wear fashion boots because my calves were too heavy - I couldn't find boots that would zip up my heavy legs.  In my obese days, my boots were only ankle high.  I'd see photos of cute winter outfits that included fun fashion boots and I remember wishing I could wear them, but I was never able to find any that would fit.  Now I have a couple pairs of nice leather ones and I almost take it for granted when I put them on before heading out the door.  This past week, however, I got a little thrill all over again at the simple wonder of being able to easily zip them up, with room to spare.

There have been many wonderful and HUGE changes to my life since I reached my goal, but I never want to lose sight of the simple and wonderful little things, either.  Examination gowns that fit, boots that zip - these little things and so much more, all things to be thankful for, and I am!

You probably have a list of big things that you're looking forward to enjoying when you reach your goal, but don't be surprised if there are some surprising little things that will also bring you joy.  You'll reach your goal and experience these joys, and so much more, one day and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Sustainable Motivation

Motivation is one of those things that's elusive at best.  Most of us started this program with at least a small burst of motivation, but that motivation was often based in negativity.  We didn't like the number on the scale or our clothes were getting tight or our doctor had a stern talk with us.  Most of us didn't decide to lose weight because we wanted to create something wonderful (even though we do!); the catalyst for change is more about fixing a problem rather than creating something.

Therein lies the dilemma . . . when we start to feel better (and on this program, we start to feel better pretty quickly), when our jeans aren't so tight anymore (and they loosen up fast!), motivation can be difficult to sustain.  It's ironic because at the same time we're making progress, we can lose motivation.  So how do we sustain motivation over time?

First and foremost, we sustain motivation by staying focused on what we want - what we're moving toward.  Be very clear about what it is that you want.  Write it down, in detail.  What will life look like for you when you are at a healthy weight?  Write it down in present tense, as if you are already living at a healthy weight.  Describe how you will look, how you will feel about yourself, what kinds of things you'll enjoy doing.  What will be better?  Post this where you will see it so it is an ongoing reminder of what you're moving towards.  Put together a "dream board" of pictures of clothes you want to wear, things you want to do, places you want to visit when you're at a healthy weight and post that where you'll see it, too (get the pictures from magazines, Google images, etc.).

Secondly, sustainable motivation comes through accomplishment.  Even if you don't feel motivated today, make the choices you need to make anyway.  As you do that, there is empowerment that comes from pushing through inertia and taking action, and that will help you to take the next step and make the next choice.  Make a list of what you've accomplished so far and keep adding to the list as you keep moving forward.  I set a lot of mini-goals on my journey to lose 126 pounds and I celebrated each and every one.  On those days when I wasn't feeling particularly motivated, I'd look at the list of things I'd already accomplished and seeing how far I'd come helped me to refocus on the next mini-goal.  I also took a lot of progress photos and would review them when my motivation began to wane.  Seeing the change from month to month was a visual reminder of where I'd been and how far I'd come.

So, whether you are brimming with motivation today or wondering where on earth the motivation went, you can choose today to keep moving toward your goal.  Don't wait to feel motivated to choose wisely :-)

Ready - Fire - Aim

For as long as I've been on the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program (and since I'm in the Maintenance phase, I still consider myself to be on this program!), there has been ongoing debate about staying 100% on plan 100% of the time and going off plan.  While I did stay on plan the entire time it took me to lose 126 pounds, I know my experience isn't the norm.  I still encourage people to stay on plan because I know it's the fastest and surest way to get to goal, but that doesn't mean for a second that those who step off plan again and again can't or won't reach their goal.  The truth is that they will - IF they keep refocusing.

I read a fascinating article yesterday which stated:

 "the Apollo moon rockets were off course 97% of the time. Yet they still reached their chosen destinations – and returned to earth – with pin-point precision and timing.

Why?

Because they knew their starting points, their destinations, and they knew their exact positions as they traveled. So they could correct their courses as they went. It’s the same with commercial jets… they’re off course 95% of the time they’re in the air. Yet how often do they ever land on the wrong runway, let along the wrong city or country?

“Ready… Fire… Aim!”

Apollo rockets off course 97% of the time?  Commercial jets off course 95% of the time?  Wow!  The critical factor in both examples is that both the Apollo rockets and commercial jets continued to correct their course all the way until they reached their destination.

I'm certainly not recommending that anyone on this program be off course 95% or 97% of the time, of course!   These examples are shared today to encourage those of you who struggle and who, for whatever reason, find yourselves off course time and time again.  The only thing that matters is that you continue to correct your course and keep moving forward towards your goal.  No matter how many times you may feel like you've failed, you haven't failed until you quit.

Correcting your course includes many things, including identifying what caused you to go off plan and strategizing how to avoid the same pitfall in the future.  Having done that, focus again - and again - on your goal and continue where you left off.  Keep aiming at your goal and you WILL get there!  And as you correct your course and continue to move forward, don't forget to choose wisely :-)

Stress Eating

Are you a recovering stress eater?  When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was a long-established stress eater.  My eating went way beyond stress eating, however.  I was also a bored eater, a celebration eater, a "stuff my anger" eater and even a tired eater (I would eat when I was tired to try and stay awake, joking that I couldn't chew and fall asleep at the same time).  In short, I ate a lot of food for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with hunger.  In fact, there was a point in my life when I couldn't remember the last time I was hungry.  That was obviously NOT a good thing!

When I made the decision to go on this program, I couldn't justify spending the money unless I was actually following the program as written.  When I made the commitment to stay on plan for four weeks (I ordered a 4-week variety pack), I didn't realize that my commitment to stay on plan would essentially eliminate my ability to do emotional eating.  The first time a situation came up that would have normally had me rushing to the refrigerator, it was sobering to realize that I couldn't do that and still stay on plan (and I certainly wasn't interested in eating a Medifast meal to relieve the stress!).  For a moment, I felt stuck, as I hadn't looked for other ways to deal with stress in a very long time.

Emotional eating is the undoing of many (or most) attempts at losing weight.  Good intentions quickly evaporate when those old, familiar emotional triggers rear their ugly heads.  Anticipating those triggers and strategizing ahead of time how we're going to deal with them can make the difference between success and failure.

We each have our own set of emotional eating triggers and we each need to figure out a different - and healthier - way to deal with those triggers.  One thing I know for sure is that emotional eating doesn't work.  The comfort we seek evaporates the second we swallow our last bite of our "comfort food," and that elusive comfort is immediately replaced by frustration, disgust, and self-recrimination as we say things to ourselves like, "How can I be so stupid . . . I'm so weak . . . etc." - all that negative self-talk comes rushing back.  Before starting on this program, that negative self-talk would sometimes result in another round of emotional eating . . . talk about a toxic cycle!

For me, making the decision to not turn to food to meet my emotional needs forced me to really "walk the talk" in terms of my faith.  I "knew" that God was able to provide comfort, strength and peace, but turning to Him for those things was an afterthought at best - it sadly was not my first response.  When I hit the stuff of life and couldn't reach for comfort food, it forced me to turn to the Lord in an entirely new way, and I daily asked Him for the strength I needed, and He provided what I needed.  The more I turned to Him, the less I was tempted to turn to food.  I learned that food was truly incapable of comforting me and once I really, truly realized that, that cycle of emotional eating was broken forever.  I can't tell you how freeing that is!

I tell people that when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I just hoped I'd lose a little bit of weight.  I certainly didn't dream that I'd actually reach my goal!  I also didn't realize that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth.  It's been, and continues to be, an amazing and life-changing journey.

As you face your own "stuff of life" today, I hope you'll realize that off-plan eating won't help.  Once you realize that, you'll make a huge step forward in moving towards your goal, as well as beginning the process of establishing new, healthier habits.  The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

Lessons Learned

One of the biggest challenges we can face on this program is attending social functions where everyone is eating food that you are choosing to not eat right now.  That was my situation exactly yesterday!

I attended a dinner meeting for business women last night at a local restaurant.  The menu was determined by the individuals who put the meeting together and it wasn't announced in advance, but I figured there would be something I could eat.  Last month the dinner included steak and fresh vegetables, so I expected something similar again.  I was wrong.  The first course was cream of broccoli soup; I took a couple of bites and set it aside because cream-based soups are one of the foods I avoid (too high in fat and calories).  I drank water and sipped coffee and waited for the main course.  I'd had a crunch bar a couple of hours before my meeting, so I wasn't starving and had no problems skipping the soup.  Then the wait staff came out with the entree - a vegetarian lasagna in a heavy sauce, covered with cheese.  No salad, no vegetables, just the lasagna. 

It's not that I can't eat this kind of food at this point in my life - I don't
WANT to eat it, especially when there's nothing healthy to balance it out.  I knew that the entree was ridiculously high in calories, fat and carbs with very little protein or fiber, and that's not where I choose to spend my calories.  The problem was, I'd paid $25 for this dinner meeting.

I told the waitress that I don't eat pasta and asked if it would be possible to have a grilled chicken breast and some steamed vegetables instead.  One of my friends was sitting next to me and has lost over 70 pounds on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, and she asked for the same thing.  Since the meals were already plated and in the process of being served, the waitress said she wasn't sure they could accommodate our request, but she'd check.  She returned a couple of minutes later to let us know that the chef was preparing two plates just for us!

What was kind of funny was later, when dessert was served.  Trays of the dessert were brought out and mixed in with all of the desserts were two cups of fresh, cut-up fruit - for us!  The waitress whispered that the chef provided fruit for us because the dessert contained wheat.  My girlfriend and I realized that the chef probably thought we were gluten-intolerant and that's why we didn't want the pasta.  That was fine with us!

Now for the lessons I learned :-).  First of all, it really is OK to ask for what we need.  I had no idea if our request could be accommodated, but I figured it was worth asking.  Had we truly been gluten-intolerant, last night's meal would have been impossible.  Individuals with food sensitivities have to ask for what they need to avoid serious reactions, and we have the same right.  So often we hesitate because we don't want to make work for someone, but a restaurant's purpose is to please their customer (and the restaurant last night was outstanding in that regard!).

Second, had our request not been accommodated, I had a crunch bar in my purse and would have been fine.  I knew that if I couldn't eat at the restaurant, I could fix an egg white veggie omelet when I got home.  I always have a Medifast meal or two with me, just in case.  It didn't matter that I'd paid $25 for the meeting and dinner, because my health and my goals are far more important to me than eating $25 worth of food that I didn't want.

Lastly, the challenge to make wise choices continues and is a key component to successful maintenance.  Again, I could have eaten the meal served last night, but it was my CHOICE to not do so.  The lasagna smelled delicious and I knew it probably tasted as good as it smelled.  However, I also knew it would not only be way too many calories, but I'd be spending those calories without getting good nutrition in return and that I'd feel pretty sluggish following the meal.  Making the decision to eat something else was very empowering and my friend and I left the dinner meeting feeling good - physically and mentally. 

One more thing:  nobody cared that we ate something different.  Sometimes we hesitate to make the choices we need and want to make because we're concerned about what someone else will think.  People really don't care . . . really!  My friend and I didn't make a big deal out of it, and because we were OK with our choices, no one else cared, either.

I don't know when you'll face your next food challenge - it could be today or it could be this weekend - but there IS a food challenge lurking in your not-too-distant future.  Be prepared and don't lose sight of what you want.  If you're prepared and focused, you'll be ready to choose wisely :-)

Raise Your Hand if This Isn't Fun Anymore

I've received several positive comments from individuals who enjoy reading some of the blogs I posted three years ago while I was on 5&1.  Since it's good for me to remember and since it's helpful to at least a few of you, here's what I wrote three years ago, in January of 2008.

*****

I'm still 100% on plan and have been since starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast last June 24, but wow, am I getting a bit weary of the whole thing!  I'm two pounds away from my BMI dropping below 30 (I will officially be "overweight" - woo hoo!!) and I'm looking pretty darn good for a grandmother of 4 closing in on my 56th birthday.  However, I recognize this as VERY dangerous thinking for me.  I don't want to settle for "good enough" or certainly for "good enough for someone MY age."  I want (and need) the satisfaction of seeing this through all the way to my goal.  And since my doctor agreed with my goal of 130, I can't exactly rationalize quitting early.  I know myself well enough to know that if I stop now, even though I've come a long way and am wearing sizes I haven't been able to wear in over 20 years, I will feel, in my heart of hearts, that I failed.  I'm afraid that thinking could be the first step towards regaining all of the weight that I've lost so far, and I can't go there.

Because I'm one pound away from having lost 80 pounds, I had my husband take a couple pictures of me so I could get them ready for my (hopefully soon!) "80 Pounds Gone Progress Photos" post (I figure I won't look any different one pound from now).  I put the progress photos together with a few "before" photos and Photoshopped all of them into a single photo.  I did this as much for me as for anyone else, because I really need to SEE where I was and how far I've come.  That helps to keep me motivated, even on days when I'm sick of being on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, sick of skipping over all of the really YUMMY food selections on the restaurant's menu and deciding between which kind of grilled meat I'm going to order THIS time.  I'm tired of skipping the sauces, holding the butter, passing on the bread, and saying no to the desserts.  BUT then I look at my "before" pictures and realize all over again how worth it all of this is, and I know that's exactly how I'll feel when I reach my final goal.
I also have to remind myself that in the past six months I have gone from being on the brink of diabetes to NORMAL (even my doctor said so!), from needing meds to keep my cholesterol down to having normal cholesterol WITHOUT meds, from having blood pressure that was on the rise to NORMAL, HEALTHY blood pressure, and from having so much pain in my knee that I could hardly walk to literally running up and down stairs.  All of that is worth it - wow, is it EVER!

So my thinking today is something like this:  Is this still fun for me?  Not particularly, but so what?  Am I getting a bit bored with the whole thing?  Yes, but so what?  Was it fun being 260 pounds????  Was it fun shopping for the very largest sizes my local woman's store carried?  Was it fun worrying about being diabetic?  Was it fun paying the copay every month for my cholesterol meds?  Was it fun having pain with every step, taking stairs one at a time, and not being able to wear some fun high heels?

This is my reality check on a very cold January in Michigan.  Yes, I'm bored and a bit tired of the whole thing, but boredom won't kill me and obesity might.  And I'm worth reaching my goal, and my family is worth me reaching my goal.  For once in my life, it's about doing what I KNOW I need to do, not what I feel like doing.  

*****
I still have to choose every day whether or not I'm going to do what I need to do or what I want to do (still waiting for the "want" and "need" to consistently be one and the same!).  You face the same choice every day, too.  Let's choose wisely :-)

Lots of Choices

Everyday we are faced with choices - lots of choices.  Even some of the things we may think we don't have a choice about, like going to work, are really still choices (you have the choice whether or not you decide to go to work, and your choice may give your boss a choice as well . . . ).  I've often had the attitude that I had to do this or that because I didn't have a choice, but that's not true.  We ALWAYS have a choice.

Our choices not only include what we're going to do and eat on any given day (including today!), but we also get to choose the attitude we'll carry.  That's the hardest part sometimes!  You may think, "I may have to do this, but I don't have to like it," and you're absolutely right.  You DON'T have to like it, but you can still choose your attitude.

This point was brought home to me yesterday in church when the pastor shared a quote from Viktor Frankl, who was a Holocaust survivor.  Frankl told about being arrested by the Nazis and taken to a concentration camp, stating that as he stood naked before the Nazis, stripped of all of his belongings, including his wedding ring, he realized that they couldn't take away his ability to choose his attitude.  He wrote, "The one thing you can't take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.  The last of one's freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance." 

Wow!  

It seems grossly inappropriate to compare any sacrifice we may have to make on this program to what Frankl and so many others endured, so I think I'll leave it at that for today.

The choices are yours today, both in what you do and the attitude you'll embrace.  Choose wisely :-)

It's Always a Choice

One of things I really, REALLY hate is feeling deprived.  I enjoy life and want to savor things, and feeling deprived just doesn't fit in with my joie de vivre :-).  That could have easily been a problem for me on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5/1 if I had chosen to dwell on all of the things that I couldn't eat, so I adopted a different mindset. 

I told myself repeatedly that I could have WHATEVER I wanted, but I was CHOOSING to eat a Medifast meal or a lean & green.  While I was on 5/1, people would say things like, "Oh, you probably can't eat this or that" and I would always respond, "I can eat anything I want, but I'm choosing to eat something healthy instead."

That might sound like a silly thing, but it made a huge difference for me in how I viewed the time I spent losing weight.  Instead of feeling deprived and sorry for myself, and instead of having a "poor me, diet victim" mindset, I found it very empowering to view this as a positive choice I was making.  I didn't allow myself to think in terms of "I can't have this or that," because human nature ALWAYS wants what it can't have.  There is something rebellious in this human nature of ours that rears it's ugly head the moment someone says we can't have something.  So I told myself all the time that I could have anything I wanted, and that it was my choice to eat the things I did.  Saying that not only felt very positive and empowering for me, but it kept me from having people feel sorry for me, which I did NOT want.  It left me feeling in charge of the choices I was making, and it was a reminder to me that it really WAS my choice.

It was my choice to go on this plan.  Nobody made me do it.  I didn't HAVE to go on - I could have chosen to remain 260 pounds (or more) and diabetic.  It was my choice to STAY on plan - nobody made me do that, either.  Every day, every meal, it was my choice to do it or not.

For me, I knew it would be deadly to continually focus on what I couldn't have; I did NOT want to spend the better part of a year looking longingly at plate after plate of "forbidden" food.  Instead I focused on what I was gaining and celebrated each and every good choice that I made.  Sometimes it was a real struggle, I promise you, and sometimes I came perilously close to caving in - but I didn't.  Once each decision was made to stay on plan, I knew it was because I chose to do the right thing and it felt SO good to know I'd walked away from a potential slip.

Today I encourage you to focus on staying positive, even in the way you think about off-plan food.  You already know that that food really isn't your friend (it probably helped you get where you are, and no real friend would do that!), so I'm encouraging you to think positively today.  Embrace the choice that you've made to get healthy, because it really is, and always will be, your choice.  That choice will be either supported or undermined by the choices you make today; choose wisely :-)

Are You on a Diet?

Are you on a diet to lose weight, or are you on a program to get you healthy and keep you healthy for the rest of your life?

It may sound like a redundant question, but it's an important one, and your answer may, in part, determine whether or not you're successful on this program.

Most of us have been on one diet or another for years - perhaps as long as a couple of decades, or even longer.  None of them worked for very long, if they worked at all, because if they had worked, you wouldn't be on Take Shape for Life/Medifast now.  There are a lot of different reasons why diets don't work (and they don't), but I want to focus on one important reason this morning.

Diets bring with them a "diet mentality" - a mentality filled with deprivation and denial, and the final goal of a diet, and the measure of success, is reaching your goal.  All fine and good, if you get there.  But then what?  Diets are designed to help someone lose weight, but they are completely inadequate for helping people figure out how to maintain their weight loss.  That's why over 85% of people who lose weight gain it all back, and often more, within two years.

Take Shape for Life/Medifast is NOT a diet.  This is a program designed to help people get to a healthy weight and teaches them how to stay there for the rest of their lives by developing what Dr. Andersen calls the habits of health.  Embracing the habits of health means we move from a diet mentality focused on deprivation and denial to a focus on getting healthy and staying healthy.  We learn to shift our focus to all that we are gaining instead of looking at what we're giving up.

A diet mentality says "it's a holiday, my birthday, the weekend, I'm tired, I'm upset, I'm celebrating, I'm busy . . . so it's OK if I cheat because I'll get back on my diet on Monday, or after the stress is over, or after vacation, or ??"  A diet mentality views cheating as "rewarding" ourselves, views the very foods that got us unhealthy in the first place as "treats" that we "deserve."  And after one too many "rewards" and one too many "weekends or holidays", we realize that it's been weeks since we've been on plan and our head is completely out of the game.  How do I know this?  Because I just described how I approached every other weight loss plan I ever went on, the plans that brought me to 260 pounds (yes, I "dieted" my way there!).

Take Shape for Life/Medifast is designed to get us to a healthy weight and then teach us how to stay there for the rest of our lives.  When we view the goal as an ongoing pursuit of optimal health, when we view reaching our weight loss goal as the beginning of a healthy new life instead of the end of a diet, we begin to view things a bit differently.  Those off-plan foods aren't "treats" anymore - they are obstacles that will get in the way of what we really want - a long and healthy life, with the energy we need to do the things we want to do.

So I'm asking you today - are you on a diet or are you on a journey towards a healthy body and a longer, more vibrant life?  Once you answer this question, and once you identify what it is that you really want, you'll be able to choose wisely :-)

Forget the Baloney

I don't watch much TV, so I see very few commercials (which is a good thing!).  One commercial I did catch a couple of days ago made me wonder, however.

The commercial showed a woman eating what we would call "off-plan" food while the voiceover said, "Sometimes I have no choice but to eat things that don't agree with my digestive system . . . ", then she went on to talk about the product and how it would help.  I've seen this commercial a couple of times and I have to be honest, I somehow missed that this woman was tied down and being force-fed the food.  What I saw when I watched the commercial was an attractive woman who was laughing and smiling as she stuck her fork into food that she knew wouldn't agree with her digestive system.  No choice?  What's with THAT?

That commercial irritates me because it conveys a victim mentality - that somehow, sometimes we just have no choice about what we put in our mouths.  It send the erroneous message that despite our best intentions, there are times when we simply have no control over what we put in our mouths. 

Like much of what is hawked in commercials, it just isn't so!  The message is dangerous, however, because it feeds (pardon the pun) our notion that we are somehow at the mercy of whatever is around us and whatever is put in front of us.  As long as we avoid the particular temptation, we're OK, but watch out . . . if this food or that food is put in front of us, well, we can't help ourselves, we have no choice.

In a word, baloney.

I don't want to sound harsh or judgmental, and those of you who have been kind enough to read my blogs for a while hopefully know that I have nothing but compassion for everyone who struggles - my struggle was far too great and far too long for me to ever NOT be compassionate.  However, the idea that we are powerless victims is not only not true, but it's incredibly dangerous.

If we view ourselves as victims, powerless against sugar, carbs and fats, we are destined to be stuck in a miserable, self-defeating cycle of fat.  If we view ourselves as helpless victims, we might as well throw in the towel right now and quit torturing ourselves with empty promises and dreams of life at a healthy weight.

The truth is that we have 100% control over what we put into our mouths, and we have 100% control 100% of the time.  Unless we are tied down and force-fed, nobody can make us eat something we don't want to eat and there are no circumstances that force us to eat things that we don't want to eat.

The decision to eat or not eat off-plan is always ours, and it will be driven by our desires.  If what we desire is immediate gratification, it's clear what we'll do.  If we desire to get to a healthy weight, then we'll make different choices.

I really encourage you to redefine how you think about food and the choices you face.  They are truly choices and we have to make them throughout the day, every day.  They are YOUR choices, so choose wisely :-)

"Shoulds" and "Musts"

Is losing weight and getting healthy on your "should" list or is it on your "must" list?  How you answer that just might make the difference between reaching your goal and maintaining your weight loss and falling short of where you want to be.

I read an article in our local paper a couple of days ago that addressed the difference.   In the article, peak performance coach and human behavior expert Tony Robbins says that when people aren't achieving their goals, it is often because they haven't made it a "must."

“People give up on achiev­ing their goals because they are ‘shoulds’ and not ‘musts,’” says Robbins.  “ But when something becomes an absolute must for you, when you cut off any other possibility in your mind, then you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.”

Do you retain the option of not losing weight?  Have you left yourself open to the possibility of staying overweight?  If you can honestly answer "yes" to either of these questions, you are possibly approaching this program as a "should" rather than a "must."  As long as we're approaching weight loss as a "should," we're allowing ourselves the possibility of failure.

However, if we've made this a "must" in our lives, if there is no other allowable option other than getting to our goal, we will find a way - or make a way - to overcome the obstacles that we face.  That doesn't mean that we might not slip, because a "must" doesn't necessarily ensure 100% compliance 100% of the time (thought that is highly recommended!).  "Must" means that if we do slip, we pick ourselves up and keep on going.

When I placed my first Take Shape for Life/Medifast order, I had finally reached the point that losing weight was no longer a "should", it was a "must."  I told my husband that night that I couldn't continue in the body I was trapped in anymore.  I had finally reached the point when I was ready, and that made all of the difference.

One more thought:  the "must" has to be YOUR "must", not someone else's.  If you are thinking that you "must" lose weight because your doctor told you to, or because your husband or someone else is urging you to lose weight, then your "must" is still a "should."  "Must" comes from deep inside of you, it is not the product of external pressure.  Regardless of how intense that pressure might be, if it's coming from someplace else, it's a "should."  YOU have to want this, and YOU have to make the decision that there is simply no other alternative.

Take Shape for Life/Medifast medical director, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, calls this point "making the fundamental choice to get healthy."  In his wonderful book, Dr.A's Habits of Health (which I highly recommend!), he writes at length about choices, starting with the fundamental choice to get to a healthy weight.  Once we've made that choice, we will made the secondary choices necessary to support our fundamental choice because we've left ourselves no other options.

So is this a "should" or a "must" for you?  If getting to a healthy weight is a "must", then carefully consider the choices you'll have to make today, then choose wisely :-)

Walking Away From Temptation

I don't always have a chance to watch "Biggest Loser," but I did watch most of last night's episode.  One scene really gripped me, because I so completely identified with the struggle.

The team on the Biggest Loser ranch was sent two dozen doughnuts .  It only took a minute or so for everyone to decide to take the boxes outside and stomp on them because they all agreed they weren't going to give in to temptation.  But it didn't end there . . . while the rest of the team headed back inside, one individual stayed to pick up the boxes of smashed doughnuts and carry them to the dumpster.  Alone with the smashed doughnuts , he began to struggle.  Not all of the doughnuts were completely smashed, and he loved doughnuts .  He contemplated having "just one bite."  He stood there for a minute or so, weighing the possibility of eating part of a doughnut - no one would know and he'd really worked out hard in the gym.  Then he continued walking to the dumpster.  As he was ready to throw the boxes away, one of the boxes dropped and a doughnut fell out - his favorite kind, and it was pretty much in one piece, just mashed a bit.  He joked about the 3-second rule as it hit the ground outside of the dumpster, but he then picked it up and threw it - and the rest of the doughnuts - into the trash.  As he walked away, his relief was evident in the smile on his face.

I identified with this struggle because, at my top weight, I remember boxes of doughnuts or muffins being thrown away at my office, and I remember me making sure that no one was looking before I retrieved the box from the trash and ate the contents.  I reasoned that it was wasteful to throw away food, and since it was still in the box I knew the food hadn't been contaminated by other garbage.  There was still incredible shame and guilt as I did this, and more shame and guilt when I ate the contents of the box.  From the outside looking in, it may be hard to understand why anyone would do that, but a food addict in the throes of temptation isn't thinking clearly.

I also identified with the contestant's relief and happiness as he was finally able to stand strong and walk away from the temptation.  When I was on 5&1, there were times when the temptation to eat off-plan foods was almost overwhelming.  When I walked away from the temptation, relief always - always - washed over me.  I never, EVER regretted not giving in.

What helped the contestant walk away last night was remember why he was at the Biggest Loser ranch to begin with, and he also thought about what he wanted.  Once he took a minute to stop and think, then refocus, he was able to throw the doughnuts in the dumpster and walk away.

That's what helped me walk away from temptation after temptation, too.  I remembered why I'd made the decision to go on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and I thought about what I REALLY wanted.  Doing that, plus a lot of prayer, gave me the strength I needed to walk away.  And I would literally walk away!  Once I made the decision to not eat the food, I wanted to get as far away from it as I could, as fast as I could :-).

The only way we can resist the food temptations that surround us, the only way we can successful stay on plan day after day, is by keeping our eyes on what it is that we want.  The temptations will always be there, but if our eyes are looking straight ahead at our goal, we will have the strength we need to choose wisely :-).

One Shovel at a Time

With much of the southeast buried under a rare snow storm, I thought I'd repost a blog I wrote almost two years ago.  I hope all of my down south friends stay safe and that life will soon return to normal for you!

***
I recently read a story about a little boy with a small shovel, which he was using to try and clear a pathway through deep, new-fallen snow in front of his house.  A man stopped to watch the little boy for a couple of minutes and then asked the boy how on earth he expected to finish such a big task with such a small shovel.  "Little by little, that's how!" was the response, and the boy kept shoveling.

The story didn't reveal whether or not the boy finished shoveling the pathway, but I'd like to believe he did :-).

Some of us may feel like we have tackled an enormous task with the smallest of shovels, and it can feel overwhelming sometimes.  I know that the prospect of losing 120 pounds seemed impossible to me, which is one of the reasons I was researching weight loss surgery options when I found information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  I mistakenly thought that having surgery would be the "easy way" to lose weight, and also the only way.  It was only because the surgery wasn't a covered benefit under my insurance plan that I even decided to give Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try.

I approached my first day much like the boy with the small shovel.  I faced an enormous challenge and my resources were puny at best.  I couldn't tackle the entire pile in a single shovel, but every Medifast meal that I ate was taking one more small shovelful and tossing it aside.  Each meal on its own seemed pretty insignificant, and each day seemed pretty inconsequential as well, but those meals and those days added up, until that enormous pile was finally gone.

There are days when it gets tiring, and there are days when staying on plan isn't much fun.  I tell people all the time that I did NOT wake up every single morning joyful that I faced another on-plan day :-).  But the thought of not reaching my goal, and my desire to put over two decades of morbid obesity behind me once and for all kept me at it, one Medifast meal at a time.

The other part of the story that interested me was the man who stopped to question the boy and tried to raise doubts in the child's mind.  We all have those people in our lives, and some of us even live with them - people who raise questions, who have their doubts about whether or not we will really do it this time, people who have seen us try and fail over the years and fully expect us to fail once again.  There are naysayers everywhere and they can quickly discourage us - if we allow them to.  I think the little boy's attitude is exactly what ours needs to be - he just kept on shoveling! 

When it all boils down, we have to do this for ourselves.  Different people will have different opinions about what we're doing and I can promise you that not everyone will be supportive.  It can be hard to ignore the naysayers and keep on keeping on, but that's exactly how we'll reach our goal!

Choose wisely :-)

Gaining by Losing

There is a new commercial on TV for a weight loss product that asks the question, "What will you gain by losing?"  Obviously I'm not promoting the product, but I love the question!

Too often losing weight is focused on the deprivation - what we're giving up.  We start on this program or that program to lose weight and what we see is a long list of all of the things we can't eat.  I don't know about you, but I don't handle deprivation very well for very long.  When the focus is on what we're giving up, there will be a real tendency to want to cheat so we can "reward" ourselves with some of our favorite foods.  We may do fine on whatever diet we're on for a week or two, but then the deprivation thing kicks in and we may be headed down the path of failure once again.

Today is the 10th of January which means that some of you are on the 9th or 10th day of your Take Shape for Life/Medifast program, having started on or just after the first of the year.  If you've stayed on plan so far, you're in fat-burning and noticing less hunger and more energy, plus you've seen the scale go down.  So far, so good (in fact, that's more than good - it's fantastic!).  Some of you may also be starting to realize that the way you've been eating for the past 9-10 days is how you'll be eating for the next several weeks or months, or perhaps even longer, until you reach your goal.  How you feel about this is dependent, in part, on what you're focusing on.  If you're starting to bemoan the fact that it will be FOREVER before you can eat your favorite foods again (it's not really forever, of course, but it can feel like it!); if you find yourself spending time thinking about all of the things you can't have right now, it's time to refocus!

Instead of focusing on what you can't have right now, focus on what you're gaining.  What is it that you want?  Why do you want to lose weight?  How will life be different for you when you're at your goal?  How will you feel?  What will you be able to do?  The truth is that in the process of losing weight you will gain SO much more!  This isn't about deprivation, it's about gaining the life that you want to live.

One more quick thought:  When I was on 5&1, I didn't think in terms of not being able to have this or that.  I told myself - and others - that I could have anything I wanted, but I was choosing to eat a Medifast meal or a lean and green instead of the other options.  That is a MUCH more empowering position and that is the reality.  We CAN have whatever we want at any given moment - no one made us go on this program and no one can make us stay on the program - it is our choice.  Just as we chose to go on the program, we can choose to go off.  The only "can't" in the mix is that we can't go off plan and expect to keep losing weight.  Our choices are just that, our choices, and they have consequences.  Choose wisely :-)

Wrestling With a Grizzly Bear

Now that the holidays are over, winter has settled in for a nice, long stay here in Michigan.  Several inches of snow cover the ground and the temperature is in single digits, with a wind chill dropping the air temp a few degrees below that.  I joke that those of us who experience this type of weather (I resisted the urge to write "endure"!) have a deeper appreciation for spring, summer and fall than those who are surrounded by green grass and flowers twelve months of the year, but the truth is that this kind of weather has a tendency to drag me down.  Because we live very near Lake Michigan, we typically get a lot of cloud cover most of the winter and going for days without sunshine probably contributes to that dragged-down feeling.

Truth is, this time of year brings out the grizzly bear in me - all I want to do is put on a nice layer of fat via lots of carbs and sugar and then sleep until spring :-).  For years, that's pretty much how I coped with our Michigan winters.  Even in my 20's and early 30's when I was at a healthy weight, I'd pick up around 10 pounds every winter then take it off in the spring and summer and just accepted the fact that my winter slacks were a size larger than my summer ones.  I didn't understand at that time that I was really yo-yo dieting and that each gain/lose/gain cycle was actually increasing my percentage of body fat, so I succumbed to the inclination to carb load and curl up under a blanket with a book.

To be honest, that is STILL my inclination . . . but that's not what I do anymore.  As tempting as it is to reach for those carbs and vegetate under a blanket, I'm making different choices these days.  That grizzly bear tendency is still there and it still growls at me, but I'm growling back :-).  I know that what I really want is to be thin and healthy, and grizzly bear living is NOT the way to have what I really want.  So, whether I feel like it or not, I make healthy choices and I move my body.

I think that my seasonal battle with the grizzly bear can most likely be attributed to my self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but I've found that eating right and staying active actually helps to calm the grizzly bear.  I also take extra Vitamin D to make up for the sunshine that we miss - the extra D helps minimize some of the winter blahs, too, and I have a light therapy box that I can use as well.

Sometimes it's just plain hard to make the choices we know we should be making when we frankly feel like doing something else.  If we are taking a short view of life, we'll go for the immediate gratification and follow our instincts almost every time.  The challenge is to shift our focus and look at where we want to be in 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months from now.  If we stay focused on where we want to be, and if that's what we REALLY want, we will then be able to make choices that will support what we want.

So it really doesn't matter how we feel today - what matters is what we want tomorrow and the day after that.  Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-)

Feeling "Normal"

As many of you know, I occasionally enjoy revisiting past blogs that I've written.  It's always interesting for me to read about what was going on in my life at that time and to remember how I was feeling about the weight loss journey I was on.

The following blog was written three years ago today, January 8, 2008.  I hope what I wrote then will be helpful to you today!


***
After 6-1/2 months on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and 76 pounds gone (so far), it is finally dawning on me that I feel like a normal person again.


DISCLAIMER:  Let me hasten to say that in NO WAY means that I wasn't a "normal person" when I weighed 260 (starting weight) or even 268 (all-time high weight), and that absolutely does NOT mean that those still at those weights, or higher, aren't normal.  Of course I was, and so is everyone else!!
What I DO mean is that I no longer feel defined by my obesity.  Even though I still have around 50 pounds to lose, I'm wearing Misses sizes and look a lot like "other people."  I don't feel like people are looking at me or make assessments about who I am based on my size.  I can fit comfortably into all chairs, including a favorite small antique rocking chair I have.  I don't have any concerns about the seat  belts on airplanes or squeezing between tables at a restaurant.  I feel like I once again "fit in" with everybody else.

Until my early/mid 30's, "normal" WAS my life and I couldn't have imagined spending 20 years of my life feeling like an outsider, embarrassed by my size and wanting to stay in the background.  For the past 20 years, I have been the person in the background in pictures, if I was in the picture at all.  In the summer, I avoided sitting on other people's lawn chairs because the tag on most of them said "Weight Limit 225" and I was well above that and mortified at the thought that a chair would collapse under my weight.  I took up "more than my fair share" of any sofa or love seat I sat on, and I knew that my sitting there made it crowded for whoever sat next to me.  For 20 years, I didn't go clothes shopping with anybody because I was embarrassed for anyone to know what size I wore.  When friends would suggest a day of shopping, I'd tag along for the fun but would never, EVER look at clothes for myself.  I'd look at the sizes they were trying on and compliment them appropriately on how they looked, while inside I was crying because I was so far from where they were.

Because of Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I have left all of that behind!  Talk about a fabulous NSV (non-scale victory) - I finally "feel" normal again.  For me, there is real freedom in realizing that, even though I'm still  overweight, my weight no longer defines who I am.  Perhaps a better way to state it is to say that I no longer ALLOW it to define who I am!   I hope that the first thing people notice about me now is my smile, or maybe my eyes, not my size.

For me, feeling normal again makes every little white packet worth it; it makes every last bite I've turned down worth it!

***
All I had to do to start reading this blog to immediately go back to the wonder I felt at the transformation that was taking place.  Three years later, I still thrill (literally) at being able to fit into spaces, shop in the Misses section, and even being able to share (and swap) clothes with my daughters and my girlfriends.  I hope I never take any of this for granted, and I hope I never forget about the pain of morbid obesity.
I am so thankful for this program and for all that has happened in my life since the day I chose to open my first packet of Medifast food!  The things I temporarily gave up were more than worth it, and I promise you that I have no regrets for staying on plan.

I stayed on plan by making the choice every day to do so, and I chose to not allow anything to get in the way of getting to my goal.  You have the same choice today - choose wisely :-)

Weekend Planning

Wow, did this week ever go fast!  I can't believe it's Friday already!  For those of us who are trying to lose weight, the fact that it's Friday can be both good news and bad news. 

Weekends are always extra-challenging.  During the week, most of us are on some kind of a fairly predictable schedule, which makes staying on plan pretty easy.  Then the weekend hits and we spend two days on a totally different routine, and weekends are when many of us do most of our socializing.  For me, much of my socializing involves food - meeting friends for dinner; getting together for movies and, yep, snacks; family get-togethers which ALWAYS involve eating - what's a person to do?

PLAN and COMMIT. 

PLAN: Decide ahead of time how to handle the social situation.  Since I'm a people person and absolutely HATE to miss out on a good time, skipping these social events was out of the question for me, so I had to figure out how to survive them.  If we were going out for dinner, I'd save my lean & green for dinner and, when possible, check out the menu on line.  Deciding ahead of time what I was going to eat was really helpful!  I'd log the meal on "My Plan" before I left and it helped to cement the plan in my mind.  If we were invited to someone's house for dinner, I'd offer to bring a salad :-).  If we were getting together for games or a movie, I made sure I brought a Medifast bar or a cappuccino.  After a while, people got used to the fact that I was going to stay on plan, no matter what. 

COMMIT:  After you carefully plan, commit to following your plan!  It can be easy to be swayed by what other people are doing or eating.  That's why part of my plan was to check the restaurant's menu on line before we'd go out to eat.  I'd write down what I was going to eat and wouldn't even look at the menu.  When possible, I tried to be the first one to place my order so there wouldn't be any last-minute temptation to change what I planned when I'd hear what others were ordering.

One last thing:  nobody really cares what you eat - really!  Some of us have hesitated to stay on plan because we're worried about how what we eat or don't eat will impact someone else.  One of the things I learned is that others really don't care.  As long as you're comfortable with what you're doing and don't make a big deal out of it, neither will anyone else.

So, is this a busy weekend for you, or are you going to be able to kick back and relax?  Either way, are you carefully planning to make sure it's an on-plan weekend?

Plan, commit, then choose wisely :-)

Long Shot or Sure Bet?

I spent a long time thinking that I could somehow escape the consequences of my obesity.  It wasn't that I was unaware of the health risks I faced, but I hoped that somehow I would beat the odds and be one of those rare individuals who was both fat AND healthy.  My chance of beating the health risk odds was probably on a par with winning a mega millions lottery (which I will never win because I won't ever play!).  Fat chance!

So many of us spent years gambling with our health, and many of us finally made the decision to get started on this program when our odds ran out.  For me, it was being diagnosed with diabetes. Wake up calls for others have included heart attacks, by-pass surgery, or the need for a C-pap machine for sleep apnea. 

What's exciting is that the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program gives us the opportunity to often reverse the conditions that finally brought us (perhaps borderline kicking and screaming!) here.  My diabetes is gone and I'm off of all medications.  C-pap machines have been returned, no-longer-needed medications disposed of, and individuals who have been under the care of a cardiologist for heart conditions have been discharged from the practice because of the improvement in their health.  Other health improvements are too numerous to be listed here!

The odds of most people reversing disease and getting off medication are pretty slim - conventional wisdom is that once on a med, always on a med.  For most individuals, one medication almost inevitably leads to a higher and higher dose, followed by additional medications.  The opposite is often true here:  the longer someone is on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and the healthier they get (this is an optimal health program, after all!), the fewer medications they are probably on. 

Every day on this program, people are beating the odds of disease.  We are preventing disease and often reversing disease as cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels and blood pressure numbers return to normal.  Those are the kind of odds I like - a LOT!

So what kind of a gambler are you today?  Are you still playing the odds that you will be able to get away with unhealthy eating habits and an unhealthy weight?  If so, that's a long shot at best, and you're gambling with your health. 

Instead, consider the odds of your health improving if you stay on plan and reach your weight loss goal.  Getting and staying healthy really isn't a gamble, because making healthy choices has an very consistent and predictable pay off.  Living a healthy, vibrant life is far better than winning a mega million lottery, because that kind of life is priceless!

The choices you make determine whether you're going for a long shot or a sure thing . . . choose wisely :-)

How 'Bout Those Resolutions?

We're five days into the new year, so how's it going so far?  My husband shared with me an article on the internet (Daily Mail Reporter) that stated that, according to research, many people don't have the willpower to make their New Year's resolutions last longer than a week.  A week . . . which means that there are some people whose resolutions are already starting to weaken. 

I hope that doesn't apply to anybody here!  I do know that being successful on this program requires a lot more than what is usually found in a New Year's resolution.  Most of my past New Year's resolutions were mostly wishful thinking with very little resolve to be found.  I know that's true because they rarely lasted a full week. 

The research posted on the internet identifies the reason for failure as a lack of willpower, but I disagree.  Willpower really has nothing to do with it, because we almost always end up doing the things we really want to do.  We just need to decide what it is that we want and keep what we want in focus.

When I decided that what I really wanted was to get to a healthy weight, that became my focus and there was a level of resolve that hadn't been there before.  Foods that had formerly been huge temptations suddenly became obstacles to me getting what I really wanted.  The food hadn't changed, of course, but my focus had and I wanted health far more than I wanted the food.  To be honest, I still wanted the food, and sometimes it was really, REALLY hard to walk away from it, but I was able to walk away because there was something else I wanted even more.

I've often heard people say that they can't lose weight because they don't have enough willpower.  Sorry, but that's a cop-out!  The truth is that they just don't want it bad enough, at least not yet.

The good news is that this program is designed to get us what we really want - if we really want to get to a healthy weight - and it will get us there pretty quickly.  We just have to decide if that's what we really want.  Once we decide, we'll make choices that support that decision.  Once again, decide what you want, then choose wisely :-)

THE Secret to GUARANTEED Success!!

I am SO excited this morning!  I have a secret to share with you - THE key that will GUARANTEE your success on this program.  It doesn't matter if you're just getting started (if so, welcome!) or if you're a veteran who's been on the program for several months (or longer).  This is it - the key that is guaranteed 100% to get you to your goal.

Are you ready?  Here's the key to your success:

1.  Get started
2.  Don't quit

Yep - it's that simple!  Here's the good news:  since you're reading this, I'm assuming that you've already started.  If that's true, then you're half-way there!  :-)  Getting started is often the hardest part, especially if we've tried and failed before.  Failure tends to breed failure, and if you've failed before (like I did about a zillion times), the very thought of trying again can be overwhelming.  The fear of failing yet again can keep us from even trying, so the very fact that you've started is encouraging.

The second half of the "guaranteed success" equation is to keep going and not quit.  You already know that this plan works.  If you've been on plan for even a week, you've lost weight - possibly more weight than you've ever lost in a single week on any other plan.  All you have to do is keep going :-).

This is such a great time of year to keep going and not quit!  First of all, with everyone just coming off the holidays, a lot of people are focused on eating healthier and losing weight.  There are less temptations now and you are more likely to encounter sympathetic, supportive people.  For everyone who lives in one of the cold weather states, you have several months before shorts and swimsuit weather is here - great motivation!  Getting started and not quitting means you'll be at your goal (or at least a lot closer) by the time warm weather arrives.

I do apologize if the key to success wasn't exactly what you were looking for - I fully understand!  Before starting on this program, I was always on high alert, looking for THE thing that would finally unlock the chains of my own morbid obesity.  Almost every January would find me perusing the diet section of my local bookstore, checking out the latest and greatest plan.  Every year I hoped and prayed that the latest and greatest new plan would be THE key.  When someone I knew lost weight, I'd always ask them how they did it.  When they responded that they changed how they ate and started exercising, I was always disappointed because that answer was so simple - I wanted to hear about something new that would let me eat whatever I wanted, continue to be a couch potato, and still melt the pounds. 

Of course, that "secret" never materialized, and I know now that it never will.  There IS no magic potion, pharmaceutical wonder, or anything else that will bring the results we want without effort on our part.  Sigh!

However, this plan works and it works fast.  All of the hard work has been done for us - we don't have to figure anything out.  No counting calories, carbs or fat grams, no worrying about whether or not we're getting the nutrition we need - it's all been taken care of.  All we have to do once we start is just keep going and not quit.  If we do that, the chances that we'll reach our goal is 100%.

Get started.  Don't quit.  The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-)

It's a New Year!

Happy 2011!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and I also hope that you're ready to make 2011 your healthiest year ever.  It doesn't matter if you're just starting on this program for the first time or if this is your umpteenth go-around.  It also doesn't matter if you blew it royally over the holidays.  The only thing that matters is that you've made a decision NOW to create something wonderful - a healthy, thin YOU, living the life you want to live.

That may sound next to impossible to some of you; it sure sounded impossible to me when I started on this program in June of 2007.  I was desperate to lose weight but, at 5'5" and 260 pounds, I didn't think it was possible to lose the weight I needed to lose.  Two decades of failure with multiple weight loss attempts only reinforced what I believed to be true.  Funny thing, though - what I believed to be true about my inability to lose weight ended up not being true at all!  I not only lost a total of 126 pounds on this program, reaching my goal in May of 2008, but I've been fairly successful in maintaining my weight loss ever since.  I say "fairly successful" because I haven't done maintenance perfectly, but I'm still wearing my size 6 jeans . . . sometimes they're a bit more snug than I prefer, but this program has given me the tools I need to know what to do when the scale blips up.

So how do you shift gears and move forward, even if you don't really believe you can?   It's simple (please note:  I said "simple," not "easy"!).  You shift gears by focusing on what you want.  Have you made the decision to lose weight and get to a healthy weight?  I'm not talking about you wanting to lose weight, because just about everybody wants to lose weight :-).  I'm asking if you've made the decision to lose weight and get healthy.  This isn't a matter of semantics.  Everyone wants to lose weight and would opt to do so in a heartbeat if it could be done quickly and without giving anything up.  However, very few people actually make the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight, because once you make that decision, things begin to change.

It's not that making the decision to get to a healthy weight somehow waves a wand that magically makes it happen, but once you make the fundamental decision and focus on what you want, you will begin to make the choices necessary to support that decision.  Making the decision also doesn't mean that you won't ever slip up, because some of you will, but if you have your eyes on your goal and keep focused, you'll keep moving forward.

Forget what's happened in the past - you can't change it.  The past can only rule your present and determine your future if you allow it to.  Today, at the beginning of 2011, you can set your course for a different future - IF you know what you want and have made the decision to go for it.  Once you've done that and focused on what you want, all that's left to do is make the choices that will support your decision.   Decide, focus, then choose wisely :-)