What If . . .

Have you ever had the feeling that, for just an instant, you've had a view of a "what if" in your life?  I had that very experience yesterday, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

I had a phone call with a woman yesterday, someone I've never met but who heard about Take Shape for Life/Medifast and wanted more information.  She had lap band surgery four years ago and has lost 50 pounds, with at least 100 more to go.  Her insurance didn't cover the surgery, so she paid for it herself in the hopes that this would be the solution to her long struggle with obesity.  Now it was four years later and she was stuck and had been unable to lose any additional weight because, in her words, she kept making poor choices.  After spending thousands of dollars on a procedure that was going to finally fix the issue, she was frustrated.  She called me because I've been helping one of her friends lose weight on our program and she is considering trying it for a month.

Four years ago . . . that's when I was researching weight loss surgery for myself, surgery that wasn't covered by my insurance.  I was learning towards lap band surgery, primarily because it was less expensive and I would be paying for it myself (I was considering taking out a second mortgage on our home to pay for the surgery).  I was convinced that surgery was the only way I would ever be able to lose 120 pounds. 

It was while I was reading up about different weight loss surgery procedures that I came across information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  I decided to give the program a try for a month before I risked my house and potentially put my family in financial jeopardy to pay for surgery.  The rest, as they say, is history.  And I am SO eternally grateful!

But yesterday's call was very sobering, because that SO easily could have been me.  What if I hadn't come across information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast?  Would I now be in the same position as this dear woman I talked to - still morbidly obese and in a financially difficult situation, feeling hopeless?  I remember thinking that surgery would be THE answer for me, but what my outcome would have been the same as this individual's?  These thoughts give me great pause . . .

All I know is that, for whatever reason, God led me to this program at a time when I felt out of hope, and this program not only restored hope, but it gave me back my life.  More than that, it has given me an entirely new life!  However, even as wonderful as this program is (and it IS!), the program alone wouldn't have gotten me to my goal.  In the end, I had to not only make the choice to try Take Shape for Life/Medifast, but I also had to make the choice to follow the program and stay on plan.

You've made the choice to go on this program, too.  If you continue to make the choice to stay on plan, one meal and one day at a time, it will change your life, too.  Don't risk "what if's"  . . . choose wisely :-)