Tomorrow is Always . . . Tomorrow

Every now and then when we're traveling and crunched for time, my husband and I will eat at a buffet (NOT my favorite kind of restaurant for a variety of reasons).  When eating at one of those buffets, I overheard a man sitting behind us and who had just refilled his plate comment, "This is it.  I'm going to start eating better tomorrow."  He laughed as he continued, "Oh, wait . . . that's what I said yesterday." 

I smiled when I heard that, because that sounded like something I would have said four years ago.  I had good intentions, really I did.  I certainly understood that I was significantly overweight, although I avoided thinking of myself as being morbidly obese (but with a BMI of 44.6, that's exactly what I was!).  I also was aware of the health risks associated with my obesity and recognized that my own diabetes was probably a result (since my mom and sister are both diabetic, I also wondered if I'd be diabetic regardless of how much I weighed).  In those days, I was always a day away from finally starting on the diet to end all diets - the one that would finally help me lose weight.  I say I was always a day away because the diet was always going to start "tomorrow."  My "tomorrows" usually were a Monday, as that seemed like a good day to start a diet.  I'd reason that I would enjoy "one more weekend" and then really buckle down and just do it.  The problem was that Mondays at work were usually very busy and often stressful, and if things were busy and stressful, well, that wasn't a good day to deprive myself of my favorite food.  Never mind that I'd just had another "last supper", eating all of my favorite foods "one last time" in preparation for my new diet . . . it would just have to wait until "tomorrow."

The fact that the man at the table behind me joked about eating better "tomorrow" told me that, on some level, he recognized the need to do just that, and his size certainly shouted that he needed to do something for his health.  He was just going to wait until "tomorrow."

Tomorrows have a sneaky way of always being just one day away, and those days turn into weeks, which turn into months.  There really is no better day than today to make the choices we need to make to put us on (or keep us on) a path that will lead to a healthier tomorrow. 

I know this is the start of a holiday weekend and I understand that some of you may be thinking that your "tomorrow" is next Tuesday, after you get through a weekend of holiday activities.  I would encourage you to not put off until tomorrow the healthy choices you can make today.  With a little planning, it IS possible to have a great holiday weekend and still stay on plan.  The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)