The Key to Success

When we first start on Take Shape for Life 5&1, most of us (and this was true for me, too) are focused on the food and think that the key to our success is the five Medifast products we eat every day, plus our lean & green.  But the Medifast products aren't the key to our success at all.

Our attitude and how we view this program is the key to whether or not we will ultimately be successful in not only losing the weight, but in keeping it off. 

How do you view the weight loss phase of this program?  Are you constantly looking with longing at off-plan food and counting the days until you can eat it once again?   Do you view eating six small meals a day as a temporary thing you're doing just to lose weight with no thought to continuing this eating pattern long term?  Is every day on 5&1 about deprivation and denial? 

If you answered yes, yes, and yes to these questions, then you are in danger of falling short of reaching your goal, or regaining much or all of your weight once you aren't on 5&1.  I say this because a "yes" to those questions reveals a dieting mindset and the reality is that 85% of dieters regain the weight they've lost, plus more weight, within two years.  I don't share this to discourage you, but to encourage you to embrace a different perspective - one that will not only ensure success for the short term, but will also enable you to be successful for the long term.

One of my friends who recently restarted on 5&1 has embraced a new mindset this time around.  She shared with me that she isn't feeling deprived this time, instead she feels like she is treating herself to something wonderful.  She has more energy and just feels better - physically and mentally.  Another friend remarked that, at age 61, she has never felt better or had more energy and is committed to this new, healthy lifestyle for the rest of her life.  Instead of focusing on the things they aren't eating, these two friends (and others) have recognized that getting to a healthy weight and embracing a new, healthier lifestyle is the real "treat" they are giving themselves.

To ultimately be successful in losing the weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, we have to move far beyond a "diet" mindset and truly embrace a new way of living and eating.  Not everyone is ready or willing to do so, but the ones who are ready and willing are the ones who will not only celebrate reaching their goal but will also celebrate yearly anniversaries of another year at goal.

So how do we change our mindset?  First, we have to take stock of what brought us to this program to begin with.  We didn't start this program because we felt great and were happy with our weight.  The fact that we started this program is an indication that what we were doing wasn't working for us and probably hadn't been working for us for a long time.  No matter how much we enjoyed the taste of the food we were shoving into our mouths, we were eating the wrong things in the wrong portions.  If we look with longing on what we were doing before and somehow think that we can do that again and get different results, we are kidding ourselves.  We have to be willing to let go of what we did in the past and create a new, healthy future for ourselves.  That doesn't mean that we will never eat this or that again, but we will eat those foods differently than we did before.  We have to be ready and willing to do that.

Secondly, we have to focus on what we want at this point in our lives.  Do we want to be at a healthy weight?  Do we want to have a future that's different from our past?  If so, we have to create and embrace new habits.  More than just new habits, we have to embrace a new mindset that WANTS these new habits.  We have to move beyond "we need to or we should or we have to" to "we WANT to!"

If we are willing to walk away from the unhealthy habits that got us here in the first place and we are willing to embrace new habits and a new mindset, then the Medifast meal replacements will be the wonderful catalysts to help us reach our goal - and beyond.  If we aren't willing to embrace new habits and a new mindset, then the Medifast meal replacements will join the ranks of another diet we've tried along the way.

The choice, of course, is yours.  Choose wisely :-)