When Saying "No" is Really Saying "YES!"

I received two very different, and very interesting, e-mails from friends this morning.  Both friends are currently on the Take Shape for Life 5&1 program and both have a lot of weight to lose.  They live on opposite ends of the country and don't know each other, but they share a common struggle not only with weight, but with emotional eating.  Both have been on the program before and lost weight (without reaching their goal), went off plan and regained much of the weight they lost, and are now back on with a resolve to reach their goal.

The first friend shared her experience facing down both pizza and cherry cheesecake at a family gathering this weekend.  She planned ahead and made sure that she had on-plan food with her.  While it wasn't easy saying no to what everybody else was eating, she did it and was so excited as she shared with me how victorious she felt.

The other friend also got together with family members this weekend, but her story had a different ending.  She told me that she ended up eating "whatever she wanted" and what she wanted was definitely not on plan.  Her e-mail was one of sadness and a sense of defeat because she had once again let herself down.  Thankfully she is back on plan today and will hopefully continue to move forward.

The contrast between the two e-mails was striking and I couldn't help but notice the difference.  The friend who said "no" to the off-plan foods left the gathering feeling happy and victorious and the friend who said "yes" to those things left her get-together feeling defeated.

When we say "no" to off-plan food, we are really saying "YES!" to what we really want - getting to a healthy weight.  That's why my friend felt so good about the choice she made.  It's not that she didn't want the off-plan food or that it didn't look good to her, but she wanted something more than she wanted the food.  Her reaction as she left the family get-together confirmed that she made the right decision for herself.

No one likes to feel deprived - me included!  So the next time you face down an off-plan temptation, instead of focusing on saying "no" to the food, remind yourself that you are saying "yes" to what you really want.  We can not only choose what to eat or not eat, but we can also choose how we view that choice.  Choose wisely :-)