The Disconnect

In preparation for a total knee replacement I will have on August 2 (just 3 weeks away!), yesterday I had to attend a joint clinic at the hospital.  A nurse spent about 90 minutes reviewing information we need to prepare for surgery and outlining what to expect following the surgery, both during the hospital stay and following discharge to home.

The nurse talked about the importance of weight management to prolong the longevity of our new joints and said that excessive weight could potentially cause the joint to wear out more quickly.  She explained that pressure equaling twice our body weight was put on our knees with each step we take, and that when we take stairs the pressure increases to four times our body weight (my orthopedic surgeon told me the same thing).  What was ironic was that this nurse (very nice and very knowledgeable) probably needed to lose 80-100 pounds and was herself just a couple months post-op from her own joint replacement.

This was a stark reminder to me that most of us don't need more knowledge in order to get to a healthy weight - we just have to make the decision to do it. 

I remember having well-intentioned friends (and they WERE well intentioned) make suggestions to me about how to eat in order to lose weight.  Whenever they did, I would smile and assure them that my need to lose weight had absolutely nothing to do with a lack of knowledge on how to do it, and I was also keenly aware of the health risks associated with obesity.  Even after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in September of 2005 and having seen the devastating complications of diabetes in several family members, I made only modest and temporary changes to my eating, losing 36 pounds on another program before turning around and regaining 28 of them.

The news is filled with articles about the rising obesity epidemic and warnings about all of the associated health risks.  Most of us have more than enough information to make an informed decision.

A recent article posted on the internet said that "Most type 2 diabetic patients are well informed about their disease and have good access to health care, though they still choose to live unhealthy lifestyles. In the largest nongovernmental study of its kind, researchers found that while awareness surrounding diabetes has increased in the last decade, preventative measures have not been taken more seriously. Almost one in five people with type 2 diabetes said they preferred to take medicine for their health problems instead of changing their lifestyle."

The challenge, of course, is that many of us struggle with a disconnect between what we know and making the choice to fundamentally change our behavior.  Change isn't easy, especially at first, but each time we make the choice to do the right thing, it becomes a bit easier to make the next choice.  Day after day, those individual choices become new, healthy habits.

We have all of the information we need to be successful on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  We have products that have been proven safe and effective in published clinical studies, produced by a company with a solid 30-year track record.  The variable in all of this is whether or not we will make the choice to actually do it.  Choose wisely :-)