A Penny for Your Choice

Happy Tuesday!  It's hard to believe this is the last day of January already! 

I write a lot about making wise choices, so here's an interesting choice to contemplate:  I'll write you a check today for a million dollars or I'll give you a penny today and double it every day for thirty-one days.  Two choices - a million dollars today or the sum of a penny doubled for one month.

Would it surprise you to know that if you chose to receive a penny a day for 31 days, you would end up with $10,737,418?  (This example is from page 17 of "Dr. A's Habits of Health".)

If we didn't pull out a calculator and figure out the difference, I think most of us would be inclined to take the million dollar check and run.  Waiting for something, even if it will be a lot better in the long run, isn't something we like to do.  Instant gratification is almost hard-wired into us.  I remember as a kid hearing my dad say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and I took that saying to heart.  The problem with that saying (and my dad is a wise person who didn't really live by that saying) is that we end up settling for the immediate gratification, and that often means we settle for less than the best.

Dr. Andersen uses this example in his book to illustrate the art of compounding.  One penny on day one doesn't seem like a big deal after all - how many of us will even stoop down to pick up a penny on the sidewalk?  But one penny doubled day after day eventually becomes something that's valuable indeed.

Those new, healthy habits that we're working to incorporate into our lives take time.  One day of eating right or exercising doesn't really make any difference one way or the other, like a lone penny lying on the sidewalk.  But when those healthy choices are repeated day after day, the compounded effect is profound - and it's life changing.  The challenge is to not expect instant results, because when it comes to making permanent changes, the results don't show up overnight.  But they will show up, I promise you, as you make one wise choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Happy Birthday to My Husband!

Today is my husband's 61st birthday and I am taking this opportunity to wish him a VERY happy birthday!  John and I met my freshman year in college - I was 18 and he was 19 - started dating a year later and married two years after that.  It is hard for me to believe that he is celebrating his 61st birthday . . . I am shaking my head in disbelief.  I told him that while our commitment was to grow old together, I just didn't expect to get here so fast :-).

Even though he is starting his second year in his 60's, my husband is healthier than he's been for most of his adult life.  When we got married in 1973, he was overweight - pudgy probably best described him at that time.  I cooked up a storm that first year of marriage and managed to pack another 20 pounds on him (and a few pounds on myself, too).  We did a couple of crazy diets together and while I dropped the weight and was fairly successful in keeping it off until my mid-30's, other than a brief period of time when he adopted a rigid diet and took up running to lose weight, John was overweight his entire adult life.

That all changed four years ago.  He watched me lose weight beginning in June of 2007 and by January of 2008, he was ready to try this program for himself.  In three months' time he lost 50 pounds and has maintained his weight loss.  By losing weight, he was also able to get off his blood pressure medication.  Heart disease runs in his family and both his father and his older brother had heart attacks in their early 60's.  Had John not gotten healthy, he may well have been facing heart disease himself by this point in his life.

Four years ago he made the choice to get healthy, and I'm so thankful he did.  Because of that choice and all of the choices he's made since that time, Lord willing, I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him!

Have a great Monday, and remember to choose wisely :-)

Walking Away

Today I thought I'd share a blog that I wrote back on September 1, 2007,  just a little over two months after starting on plan.  The blog chronicled a real turning point in my thinking.  I hope it will be helpful to you today!

****

I read an interesting story not too long ago, and it's been rambling around in my brain until today, when I decided to blog about it.

Have you ever seen an elephant at the circus?  I don't know if they still do this, but years ago circus elephants could be seen standing next to a small wooden stake in the ground with a chain around one ankle. In the story I read, the writer became rather curious as to how one small wooden stake could hold a large elephant captive, so he did some investigating.  As it turns out, the trainer begins using the chain and stake when the elephant is just a baby.  The baby elephant is unable to pull free and, over time, gradually accepts the chain and the restriction it provides.  What the elephant never realizes is that as it grows stronger, it could easily pull the stake out of the ground and be free.  You see, the elephant adapts itself so completely to the chain that it loses sight of the fact that it could free itself in a moment, if it only realized that the chain no longer had any power over it.

This is a powerful illustration for me!  I feel like I have been chained to unhealthy food choices for a long time, a prisoner of stress eating and unending cycles of yo-yo dieting.  I felt like I was trapped and would never be set free.  What I didn't realize, until recently, is that all I have ever had to do was gently but firmly pull and the chain would fall away.  I stood next to a weak wooden stake called "food addiction" and allowed myself to think that it held me captive - I gave it power it never had on its own.

As God continues to work in my life through Medifast and so many of the people here, I have finally walked away from this chain and it no longer has the power to hold me captive.  I am learning to put food into its proper place and not run to it to deal with stress, smooth a hurt, or celebrate a victory.  This is so freeing!

One of my new favorite songs is called "Finally Free" by Nichole Nordeman. Here are the lyrics:

No chain is strong enough, no choice is wrong enough
No mountain high enough that He can't climb
No shadow dark enough, no night is black enough
No road is lost enough that He can't find

*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free

v.2
No pain is deep enough, no heart could bleed enough
Nothing but Jesus' love can make a way

*chorus*
And if the Son has set us free, then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed...I'm finally free

****
That day, almost four and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom.  Today, over 3-1/2 years since reaching my goal, I'm still celebrating that freedom!  I tell people all the time that when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was just hoping to lose a little bit of weight - I had NO idea that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth in the process. 

The freedom from my long-standing food addition didn't happen in an instant, but each day as I made the choice to stay on plan and chose to find healthier ways to deal with stress and emotional issues (and for me, that healthier way was turning to my Heavenly Father), I took another step away from my food addiction and another step towards a healthier rest of my life.

I write this knowing that some of you are dealing with a lot of emotional eating issues.  I've been there, I've walked a similar path, and I understand probably more than you could ever know.  I also know that we can be set free, completely free, starting today.  Those chains will begin to fall, one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

What's It Worth?

How much money would it take to convince you to go back to your starting weight and remain there for the rest of your life?

I think about where I was five years ago, just before starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast and where I am now and how much my life has changed.  I asked myself, would a million dollars be worth going back (and staying at) 260 pounds?  Would two million?  How about a billion dollars?  Would I be willing to regain the weight and never take it off for that kind of money?

As I thought about this (and I didn't have to think very long), I realized that NO amount of money would ever entice me to gain back 126 pounds!  Regaining the weight would be undoubtedly put me back into a diabetic state, I'd be back on meds for cholesterol and GERD (and probably an anti-depressant as well).  My self-esteem would be back in toilet, and my back and knee would hurt all the time.  I would be back to facing the myriad of health risks associated with diabetes and obesity and I would surely have a shorter life span.  Since I'll be 60 in July, I know how fast these years go and that we have no guarantee for the future.  There is NO WAY I'd be willing to spend another minute, let along the rest of my life, morbidly obese!!

While most of us wouldn't take money to deliberately regain the weight, the risk is there for all of us to do that IF we don't really, permanently change our thinking about food, our emotional issues with food, and our lifestyle.  We might not take the money to regain the weight, but we could end up doing that very thing for "free" if we aren't diligent.  That is a very sobering thought for me!

Take Shape for Life has a wonderful plan for not only losing the weight, but helping us to slowly transition back to "regular foods" when we've completed the weight loss portion of this journey, and there is ongoing help for us when we're in maintenance.  Most of us are focused on the weight loss part right now, but that is only the first half of the journey.  The other, and more difficult part, will be to successfully transition and then maintain our weight loss.

As I thought about all of the reasons that I NEVER want to regain the weight, I realized all over again that I will need to be alert and thinking about what I eat and why I eat for the rest of my life.  Almost four years since reaching goal, there are days when being alert and mindful is pretty easy, and other days when it's not.  Maintenance isn't easy, but the alternative is unthinkable to me.

I wouldn't take a billion dollars to regain the weight, so I sure don't want to do it for free, one mindless forkful at a time! 

Getting to a healthy weight and incorporating the healthy habits needed to stay there is a series of daily choices.  Choose wisely :-)

The Butterfly Effect

Sometimes we wonder if the simple choices we make today really matter.  When faced with temptation, it may be easy to think that going off plan won't hurt "just this once."  We may tend to think of our choices as disjointed, not really having much of an impact on the overall picture.  An article I read about a so-called "Butterfly Effect" made me realize that nothing is truly inconsequential.

In 1960, an MIT meteorologist made an accidental discovery while he was trying to develop a computer program that could simulate and forecast weather conditions.  One day he was in a hurry, and instead of entering .506127, the number he had used in an earlier trial, he rounded to the nearest thousandth, or .506, figuring that rounding the number to the nearest thousandth would be inconsequential, then left his lab.  When he returned, he found a radical change in the weather conditions.  He estimated that the numerical difference between the original number and the rounded number was the equivalent of a puff of wind created by a butterfly's wing, concluding that an event as minor as the flapping of a butterfly's wing could conceivable alter wind currents sufficiently to eventually change weather conditions thousands of miles away.  "Tiny differences in input can quickly become overwhelming differences in output."

After describing the "butterfly effect," the author went on to write that "small changes and small choices become magnified over time, and have major consequences . . . Too often we fail to connect the dots between choices and consequences.  Every choice has a domino effect that can alter our destiny."

It may seem like such a small and inconsequential thing today to choose to stay on plan, and you may have a dozen different really good reasons to step off.  What you decide today matters - it really does - and not just today.  If you choose to stay on plan, you are reinforcing your decision to get healthy, to delay immediate gratification for something far more important.  Your decision to stay on plan today will increase the likelihood that you'll stay on plan tomorrow as well.  For me, every time I successfully faced and conquered a temptation, it strengthened my resolve and my ability to withstand the next.

If you choose to step off plan today, it certainly doesn't mean that you won't ultimately be successful - please know that I'm not implying that at all!  What I am saying, however, is that it will be more challenging to stay the course tomorrow.  Once you take your eyes off of your goal and choose the instant gratification, it can be hard to get refocused.  The next time you face a similar choice to the one you face today, you won't have the successful outcome from today to boost your resolve tomorrow.  Again, you may well get to your goal (and I hope you do!), but you've increased the incline on the treadmill by a degree or two, making the climb from here to goal a bit more challenging. 

As I've shared on numerous occasions in past blogs, I don't take any credit - none - for the fact that I stayed on plan and didn't step off from the time I started until I reached my goal.  I know better than anyone how prone to failure I was and how utterly weak I felt in my own strength.  For me, the only way I was able to do this program successfully was because I admitted my need for help and turned to the Source of my strength, my Heavenly Father.  I'm eternally thankful!

The "butterfly effect" of the choices I made beginning with that first choice in June of 2007 to begin this program continues to spread.  I had no idea that anything would come of that first choice - I didn't even believe that it would work for me.  However, because I lost 126 pounds and got healthy, I have directly or indirectly helped literally hundreds and hundreds of others lose thousands of pounds over the past four years, and those individuals are inspiring still others to do the same.  It amazes and humbles me every day.

The choices you make today matter far more than you may even realize.  Choose wisely :-)

Warning Lights

I know almost nothing about cars.  Most of my ignorance is frankly by choice, because I don't WANT to know how to change the oil or change a tire.  Our mechanic changes the oil every 3,000 miles and I keep my auto club card handy in case of an emergency on the road.  Despite my chosen ignorance when it comes to cars, I know that the warning lights are not to be ignored.  When the "check engine" light or another warning light comes on, I get it checked out immediately because I know that ignoring it will lead to bigger, more expensive problems.  The warning light tells me that something is interfering with the car's ability to run at peak performance, and ignoring the light won't make the problem go away.

I'm guessing you're probably the same way when it comes to warning lights on your car.  Whether you're a mechanic, just like to tinker under the hood or are as clueless as I am about the whole thing, you know that warning lights are nothing to ignore.

It's ironic that while we pay close attention and spring into action the minute a warning light comes on in our car, we will go years (or in my case decades) ignoring the warning lights in our bodies.  We see a few (or many) extra pounds reflected on the scale, our clothes get tight so we go out and buy a bigger size, our cholesterol and blood pressure go up and we start taking medication, and perhaps our blood sugar rises and we find ourselves on oral medications or even insulin. 

Instead of seeing each and every one of these things are warning lights flashing in front of us, some of us may have just assumed that these things were part of getting older.  After all, doesn't just about every person over 40 take medication for something or another?  By the time people are in their 60's or 70's, we marvel at those rare individuals who "only take an aspirin for a headache," because we assume that taking prescription medication is just part of the aging process.  Instead of springing into action when the scale goes up or our clothes get tight, we've acquiesced to the inevitable and reluctantly purchased a larger size. 

As we've ignored our warning lights, we've continued to function, just as a car will continue to run for a while (most of the time).  However, over time we find that our own "engines" are running less and less effectively - we lack the energy and stamina we need so we take the escalator instead of the stairs and we look for the closest parking spot.  We come home at the end of the day completely depleted of energy and spend our evenings eating in front of the TV.  Our lab work sends another warning light that things aren't running internally as designed and we begin taking medication.  And all the while the warning light keeps flashing faster and faster.

That description may or may not have described where you've been, and those warning lights may have been the catalyst for you starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  The good news is that you are now taking definite, positive steps to address and potentially reverse many of the things that triggered your own warning lights.  It's amazing to see how quickly blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar readings often stabilize and even normalize once people get started on this program.  Even before significant weight is lost, many of these readings improve dramatically.  Eating six small, nutritious meals evenly spaced throughout the day has a profound impact on our health. Take Shape for Life 's medical director and co-founder, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, refers to these six small meals as "fuelings."  Think of each meal as putting the highest quality fuel into your own tank, because that's exactly what you're doing!

So congratulations on choosing to respond to your warning lights!  Each time you make the choice to fuel your body appropriately, you are doing what you can to ensure that your "engine" will run at peak efficiency for years to come.  The choices you make today really do count, so choose wisely :-).

Holding On and Letting Go

What are you holding on to today?  I'm asking this question because I've realized that sometimes we desperately hold on to things that are no longer serving our best interest - sometimes they never did. 

When it comes to losing weight and getting healthy, many of us struggle to release old patterns of eating.  We struggle and want to hold on to our favorite foods, even when those foods and our relationship to them landed us in an unhealthy BMI range, perhaps even contributing to illness and disease.  When we struggle to let go of what is no longer working for us, we may end up going off plan repeatedly.  We hang on to those old things and look at them as forbidden fruit; we feel deprived because we can't have the very things that got us here in the first place.

In Beth Moore's Bible study, "Breaking Free," one of the things she said that really resonated with me is that "whatever we give up is only to free our hands so we can receive all God has for us."  We can't receive something new if our hands are full of old stuff.

I have a picture in mind right now of hands that are tightly gripped around something old and rotting, fingertips white because the grip is so tight.  Within reach is something new and beautiful, but to take that new thing into the hand, the old will first have to be released.  The problem is that the old, while rotting, is familiar - it fits in the hand and the hand is warm from holding it for so long.  Letting go of the old thing means that, for a split second, the hand will be empty and cold.  It's uncertain how the new thing will fit and feel in the hand, so even though it looks beautiful and most desirable, the idea of actually having that in hand is pretty scary.

Some of us have struggled with being overweight or obese for a long time.  We hate how we look and feel, and part of us really wants to reach out and claim the healthy body and new life that is within our reach.  Before we can do that, we have to let go of the old, rotting habits.  Letting go of them isn't deprivation - it's freedom.  It doesn't feel like that at first because those habits have become so comfortable and warm in our hands.  But once we're willing to recognize them for what they are, things that are keeping us in a place we don't want to be, and once we're willing to loosen our grip and let them go, we are able to receive something far better.

It's not easy!  I wish it was, but it's not.  But it's worth it.  Shift your eyes from what you're hanging on to and really focus on what is is that you want.  Shift your focus, then choose wisely :-)

Sustainable Motivation

Motivation is one of those things that's elusive at best.  Most of us started this program with at least a small burst of motivation, but that motivation was often based in negativity.  We didn't like the number on the scale or our clothes were getting tight or our doctor had a stern talk with us.  Most of us didn't decide to lose weight because we wanted to create something wonderful (even though we do!); the catalyst for change is more about fixing a problem rather than creating something.

Therein lies the dilemma . . . when we start to feel better (and on this program, we start to feel better pretty quickly), when our jeans aren't so tight anymore (and they loosen up fast!), motivation can be difficult to sustain.  It's ironic because at the same time we're making progress, we can lose motivation.  So how do we sustain motivation over time?

First and foremost, we sustain motivation by staying focused on what we want - what we're moving toward.  Be very clear about what it is that you want.  Write it down, in detail.  What will life look like for you when you are at a healthy weight?  Write it down in present tense, as if you are already living at a healthy weight.  Describe how you will look, how you will feel about yourself, what kinds of things you'll enjoy doing.  What will be better?  Post this where you will see it so it is an ongoing reminder of what you're moving towards.  Put together a "dream board" of pictures of clothes you want to wear, things you want to do, places you want to visit when you're at a healthy weight and post that where you'll see it, too (get the pictures from magazines, Google images, etc.).

Secondly, sustainable motivation comes through accomplishment.  Even if you don't feel motivated today, make the choices you need to make anyway.  As you do that, there is empowerment that comes from pushing through inertia and taking action, and that will help you to take the next step and make the next choice.  Make a list of what you've accomplished so far and keep adding to the list as you keep moving forward.  I set a lot of mini-goals on my journey to lose 126 pounds and I celebrated each and every one.  On those days when I wasn't feeling particularly motivated, I'd look at the list of things I'd already accomplished and seeing how far I'd come helped me to refocus on the next mini-goal.  I also took a lot of progress photos and would review them when my motivation began to wane.  Seeing the change from month to month was a visual reminder of where I'd been and how far I'd come.

So, whether you are brimming with motivation today or wondering where on earth the motivation went, you can choose today to keep moving toward your goal.  Don't wait to feel motivated to choose wisely :-)

There, or Nearly There!

Conventional wisdom says it takes 21 days to break a habit or create a new habit.  For those of you who started (or restarted) on this program on January 1, congratulations!  You have now established a new habit! 

When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program on June 24, 2007, my first focus was just doing this for 21 days in a row.  I had never stayed on ANY weight loss program for 21 days (which explains, in part, how I ended up at my all-time high weight of 268 pounds), so doing this for 21 days was my first challenge.  I honestly didn't know if was even possible for me to do that, but I made the decision to take it one day and one meal at a time.

As each day passed, I checked it off and counted down the days to 21, believing that if I could stay on plan for 21 days, I might just succeed in establishing a new habit.  The closer I got to the 21st day, the more excited I got as I realized that I really WAS doing this!  When I reached Day 21, I had not only lost weight (around 15 pounds), I was feeling great.  I also realized that if I could stay on plan for 21 days, I could stay on plan as long as it took to reach my goal.

Habits don't happen in an instant, and they certainly aren't firmly established after 21 days, but the foundation is there for a lifetime of new, healthier habits - if we choose.  Each day, with every meal, with every choice, we are reinforcing habits - either the old habits that got us where we started, or new, healthier habits that will bring us where we want to go.  Breaking old habits and establishing new habits isn't easy, but if you are 21 days into this program, you're well on your way!  If you are just now getting started, focus on getting through the first three weeks and you'll soon find new habits taking root in your life, too.

One day, one meal, one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim!

For as long as I've been on this program (I started on 5&1 in June of 2007 and have been in the Maintenance phase since May of 2008), there has been ongoing debate about staying 100% on plan 100% of the time and going off plan.  While I did stay on plan the entire time it took me to lose 126 pounds, I know my experience isn't the norm.  I still encourage people to stay on plan because I know it's the fastest and surest way to get to goal, but that doesn't mean for a second that those who step off plan again and again can't or won't reach their goal.  The truth is that they will - IF they keep refocusing.

I read a fascinating article a while ago which stated:

 "The Apollo moon rockets were off course 97% of the time. Yet they still reached their chosen destinations – and returned to earth – with pin-point precision and timing.

Why?

Because they knew their starting points, their destinations, and they knew their exact positions as they traveled. So they could correct their courses as they went. It’s the same with commercial jets… they’re off course 95% of the time they’re in the air. Yet how often do they ever land on the wrong runway, let along the wrong city or country?

“Ready… Fire… Aim!”

Apollo rockets off course 97% of the time?  Commercial jets off course 95% of the time?  Wow!  The critical factor in both examples is that both the Apollo rockets and commercial jets continued to correct their course all the way until they reached their destination.

I'm certainly not recommending that anyone on this program be off course 95% or 97% of the time, of course!   These examples are shared today to encourage those of you who struggle and who, for whatever reason, find yourselves off course time and time again.  The only thing that matters is that you continue to correct your course and keep moving forward towards your goal.  No matter how many times you may feel like you've failed, you haven't failed until you quit.

Correcting your course includes many things, including identifying what caused you to go off plan and strategizing how to avoid the same pitfall in the future.  Having done that, focus again - and again - on your goal and continue where you left off.  Keep aiming at your goal and you WILL get there!  And as you correct your course and continue to move forward, don't forget to choose wisely :-)

Stress Eating

Are you a recovering stress eater?  When I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was a long-established stress eater.  My eating went way beyond stress eating, however.  I was also a bored eater, a celebration eater, a "stuff my anger" eater and even a tired eater (I would eat when I was tired to try and stay awake, joking that I couldn't chew and fall asleep at the same time).  In short, I ate a lot of food for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with hunger.  In fact, there was a point in my life when I couldn't remember the last time I was hungry.  That was obviously NOT a good thing!

When I made the decision to go on the program, I couldn't justify spending the money unless I was actually following the program as written.  When I made the commitment to stay on plan for four weeks (I ordered a 4-week variety pack), I didn't realize that my commitment to stay on plan would essentially eliminate my ability to do emotional eating.  The first time a situation came up that would have normally had me rushing to the refrigerator, it was sobering to realize that I couldn't do that and still stay on plan (and I certainly wasn't interested in eating a Medifast meal to relieve the stress!).  For a moment, I felt stuck, as I hadn't looked for other ways to deal with stress in a very long time.

Emotional eating is the undoing of many (or most) attempts at losing weight.  Good intentions quickly evaporate when those old, familiar emotional triggers rear their ugly heads.  Anticipating those triggers and strategizing ahead of time how we're going to deal with them can make the difference between success and failure.

We each have our own set of emotional eating triggers and we each need to figure out a different - and healthier - way to deal with those triggers.  One thing I know for sure is that emotional eating doesn't work.  The comfort we seek evaporates the second we swallow our last bite of our "comfort food," and that elusive comfort is immediately replaced by frustration, disgust, and self-recrimination as we say things to ourselves like, "How can I be so stupid . . . I'm so weak . . . etc." - all that negative self-talk comes rushing back.  Before starting on this program, that negative self-talk would sometimes result in another round of emotional eating . . . talk about a toxic cycle!

For me, making the decision to not turn to food to meet my emotional needs forced me to really "walk the talk" in terms of my faith.  I "knew" that God was able to provide comfort, strength and peace, but turning to Him for those things was an afterthought at best - it sadly was not my first response.  When I hit the stuff of life and couldn't reach for comfort food, it forced me to turn to the Lord in an entirely new way, and I daily asked Him for the strength I needed, and He was faithful to provide what I needed for that moment.  The more I turned to Him, the less I was tempted to turn to food.  I learned that food was truly incapable of comforting me and once I really, truly realized that, that cycle of emotional eating was broken forever.  I can't tell you how freeing that is!

I tell people that when I started on Take Shape for Life , I just hoped I'd lose a little bit of weight.  I certainly didn't dream that I'd actually reach my goal!  I also didn't realize that there would be so much emotional and spiritual growth.  It's been, and continues to be, an amazing and life-changing journey.

As you face your own "stuff of life" today, I hope you'll realize that off-plan eating won't help.  Once you realize that, you'll make a huge step forward in moving towards your goal, as well as beginning the process of establishing new, healthier habits.  The choice is yours, so choose wisely :-)

Raise Your Hand If This Isn't Fun Anymore

I've received several positive comments from individuals who enjoy reading some of the blogs I posted four years ago while I was on 5&1.  Since it's good for me to remember and since it's helpful to at least a few of you, here's what I wrote four years ago, in January of 2008.

*****
I'm still 100% on plan and have been since starting Take Shape for Life/Medifast last June 24, but wow, am I getting a bit weary of the whole thing!  I'm two pounds away from my BMI dropping below 30 (I will officially be "overweight" - woo hoo!!) and I'm looking pretty darn good for a grandmother of 4 closing in on my 56th birthday.  However, I recognize this as VERY dangerous thinking for me.  I don't want to settle for "good enough" or certainly for "good enough for someone MY age."  I want (and need) the satisfaction of seeing this through all the way to my goal.  And since my doctor agreed with my goal of 130, I can't exactly rationalize quitting early.  I know myself well enough to know that if I stop now, even though I've come a long way and am wearing sizes I haven't been able to wear in over 20 years, I will feel, in my heart of hearts, that I failed.  I'm afraid that thinking could be the first step towards regaining all of the weight that I've lost so far, and I can't go there.

Because I'm one pound away from having lost 80 pounds, I had my husband take a couple pictures of me so I could get them ready for my (hopefully soon!) "80 Pounds Gone Progress Photos" post (I figure I won't look any different one pound from now).  I put the progress photos together with a few "before" photos and Photoshopped all of them into a single photo.  I did this as much for me as for anyone else, because I really need to SEE where I was and how far I've come.  That helps to keep me motivated, even on days when I'm sick of being on plan, sick of skipping over all of the really YUMMY food selections on the restaurant's menu and deciding between which kind of grilled meat I'm going to order THIS time.  I'm tired of skipping the sauces, holding the butter, passing on the bread, and saying no to the desserts.  BUT then I look at my "before" pictures and realize all over again how worth it all of this is, and I know that's exactly how I'll feel when I reach my final goal.

I also have to remind myself that in the past six months I have gone from being on the brink of diabetes to NORMAL (even my doctor said so!), from needing meds to keep my cholesterol down to having normal cholesterol WITHOUT meds, from having blood pressure that was on the rise to NORMAL, HEALTHY blood pressure, and from having so much pain in my knee that I could hardly walk to literally running up and down stairs.  All of that is worth it - wow, is it EVER!

So my thinking today is something like this:  Is this still fun for me?  Not particularly, but so what?  Am I getting a bit bored with the whole thing?  Yes, but so what?  Was it fun being 260 pounds????  Was it fun shopping for the very largest sizes my local woman's store carried?  Was it fun worrying about being diabetic?  Was it fun paying the copay every month for my cholesterol meds?  Was it fun having pain with every step, taking stairs one at a time, and not being able to wear some fun high heels?

This is my reality check on a very cold January in Michigan.  Yes, I'm bored and a bit tired of the whole thing, but boredom won't kill me and obesity might.  And I'm worth reaching my goal, and my family is worth me reaching my goal.  For once in my life, it's about doing what I KNOW I need to do, not what I feel like doing.  

*****
I had many days after I wrote this blog when I wasn't having fun staying on plan, when I was bored to death with my food choices (there are a lot more Medifast food options now than there were four years ago).  However, I stayed on plan regardless of how I felt.  When I reached my goal, I had NO regrets for having made the choices I did!  Four years later, I still have to choose every day whether or not I'm going to do what I need to do or what I want to do (still waiting for the "want" and "need" to consistently be one and the same!).  You face the same choice every day, too.  Let's choose wisely :-)

Are You On a Diet?

Are you on a diet to lose weight, or are you on a program to get you healthy and keep you healthy for the rest of your life?

It may sound like a redundant question, but it's an important one, and your answer may, in part, determine whether or not you're successful on this program.

Most of us have been on one diet or another for years - perhaps as long as a couple of decades, or even longer.  None of them worked for very long, did they?  There are a lot of different reasons why diets don't work (and they don't), but I want to focus on one important reason.

Diets bring with them a "diet mentality" - a mentality filled with deprivation and denial, and the final goal of a diet, and the measure of success, is reaching your goal.  All fine and good, if you get there.  But then what?  Diets are designed to help someone lose weight, but they are completely inadequate for helping people figure out how to maintain their weight loss.  That's why over 85% of people who lose weight gain it all back, and often more, within two years.

Take Shape for Life/Medifast is NOT a diet.  Take Shape for Life is a program designed to help people get to a healthy weight and teaches them how to stay there for the rest of their lives by developing what Dr. Andersen calls the habits of health.  Embracing the habits of health means we move from a diet mentality focused on deprivation and denial to a focus on getting healthy and staying healthy.  We learn to shift our focus to all that we are gaining instead of looking at what we're giving up.

A diet mentality says "it's a holiday, my birthday, the weekend, I'm tired, I'm upset, I'm celebrating, I'm busy . . . so it's OK if I cheat because I'll get back on my diet on Monday, or after the stress is over, or after vacation, or ??"  A diet mentality views cheating as "rewarding" ourselves, views the very foods that got us unhealthy in the first place as "treats" that we "deserve."  And after one too many "rewards" and one too many "weekends or holidays", we realize that it's been weeks since we've been on plan and our head is completely out of the game.  How do I know this?  Because I just described how I approached every other weight loss plan I ever went on, the plans that brought me to 260 pounds (yes, I "dieted" my way there!).

Take Shape for Life is designed to get us to a healthy weight and then teach us how to stay there for the rest of our lives.  When we view the goal as an ongoing pursuit of optimal health, when we view reaching our weight loss goal as the beginning of a healthy new life instead of the end of a diet, we begin to view things a bit differently.  Those off-plan foods aren't "treats" anymore - they are obstacles that will get in the way of what we really want - a long and healthy life, with the energy we need to do the things we want to do.

So I'm asking you today - are you on a diet or are you on a journey towards a healthy body and a longer, more vibrant life? Your answer may well determine your outcome . . . choose wisely :-)

Wrestling with a Grizzly Bear

We got hammered with snow over the weekend - winter has settled in for a nice, long stay here in Michigan.  Several inches of snow cover the ground and more snow is on it's way this week.  I joke that those of us who experience this type of weather (I resisted the urge to write "endure"!) have a deeper appreciation for spring, summer and fall than those who are surrounded by green grass and flowers twelve months of the year, but the truth is that this kind of weather has a tendency to drag me down.  Because we live very near Lake Michigan, we typically get a lot of cloud cover most of the winter and going for days without sunshine probably contributes to that dragged-down feeling.

Truth is, this time of year brings out the grizzly bear in me - all I want to do is put on a nice layer of fat via lots of carbs and sugar and then sleep until spring :-).  For years, that's pretty much how I coped with our Michigan winters.  Even in my 20's and early 30's when I was at a healthy weight, I'd pick up around 10 pounds every winter then take it off in the spring and summer and just accepted the fact that my winter slacks were a size larger than my summer ones.  I didn't understand at that time that I was really yo-yo dieting and that each gain/lose/gain cycle was actually increasing my percentage of body fat, so I succumbed to the inclination to carb load and curl up under a blanket with a book.

To be honest, that is STILL my inclination . . . but that's not what I do anymore.  As tempting as it is to reach for those carbs and vegetate under a blanket, I'm making different choices these days.  That grizzly bear tendency is still there and it still growls at me, but I'm growling back :-).  I know that what I really want is to be thin and healthy, and grizzly bear living is NOT the way to have what I really want.  So, whether I feel like it or not, I make healthy choices and I move my body.

I think that my seasonal battle with the grizzly bear can most likely be attributed to my self-diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but I've found that eating right and staying active actually helps to calm the grizzly bear.  I also take extra Vitamin D to make up for the sunshine that we miss - the extra D helps minimize some of the winter blahs, too, and I have a light therapy box that I can use as well.

Sometimes it's just plain hard to make the choices we know we should be making when we frankly feel like doing something else.  If we are taking a short view of life, we'll go for the immediate gratification and follow our instincts almost every time.  The challenge is to shift our focus and look at where we want to be in 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months from now.  If we stay focused on where we want to be, and if that's what we REALLY want, we will then be able to make choices that will support what we want.

So it really doesn't matter how we feel today - what matters is what we want tomorrow and the day after that.  Focus on what you want, then choose wisely :-)

"Shoulds"and "Musts"

Is losing weight and getting healthy on your "should" list or is it on your "must" list?  How you answer that just might make the difference between reaching your goal and maintaining your weight loss and falling short of where you want to be.

Peak performance coach and human behavior expert Tony Robbins says that when people aren't achieving their goals, it is often because they haven't made it a "must."

“People give up on achiev­ing their goals because they are ‘shoulds’ and not ‘musts,’” says Robbins.  “ But when something becomes an absolute must for you, when you cut off any other possibility in your mind, then you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goal.”

Do you retain the option of not losing weight?  Have you left yourself open to the possibility of staying overweight?  If you can honestly answer "yes" to either of these questions, you are possibly approaching this program as a "should" rather than a "must."  As long as we're approaching weight loss as a "should," we're allowing ourselves the possibility of failure.

However, if we've made this a "must" in our lives, if there is no other allowable option other than getting to our goal, we will find a way - or make a way - to overcome the obstacles that we face.  That doesn't mean that we might not slip, because a "must" doesn't necessarily ensure 100% compliance 100% of the time (thought that is highly recommended!).  "Must" means that if we do slip, we pick ourselves up and keep on going.

When I placed my first Take Shape for Life order, I had finally reached the point that losing weight was no longer a "should", it was a "must."  I told my husband that night that I couldn't continue in the body I was trapped in anymore.  I had finally reached the point when I was ready, and that made all of the difference.

One more thought:  the "must" has to be YOUR "must", not someone else's.  If you are thinking that you "must" lose weight because your doctor told you to, or because your husband or someone else is urging you to lose weight, then your "must" is still a "should."  "Must" comes from deep inside of you, it is not the product of external pressure.  Regardless of how intense that pressure might be, if it's coming from someplace else, it's a "should."  YOU have to want this, and YOU have to make the decision that there is simply no other alternative.

Medifast's medical director, Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen, calls this point "making the fundamental choice to get healthy."  In his wonderful book, Dr.A's Habits of Health (which I highly recommend!), he writes at length about choices, starting with the fundamental choice to get to a healthy weight.  Once we've made that choice, we will made the secondary choices necessary to support our fundamental choice because we've left ourselves no other options.

So is this a "should" or a "must" for you?  If getting to a healthy weight is a "must", then carefully consider the choices you'll have to make today, then choose wisely :-)

Welcome to Winter

Those of us who live in West Michigan are bracing for a winter storm that's moving in this afternoon.  We've had a relatively mild winter so far with very little snow - and I'm not complaining :-).  It was a bit disappointing this year to not have a white Christmas, but once the holidays are over I'm never excited to see the white stuff on the ground.  It's funny how excited we can get about snow just before Christmas and so less-than-excited about snow in January, knowing it could be on the ground for the next three months.  Same snow, but a different attitude.

That may be where you are with your feelings about Take Shape for Life/Medifast right now.  The initial "wow, this is great and I'm losing weight" excitement may be fading, or it may even be gone.  All you may be thinking right now is "I'm going to have to eat this for the next X number of months," or "I can't have any of my favorite foods ever again."  The newness and novelty is gone and you've settled into a new routine.  The initial big weight loss has now been replaced by smaller losses each week.  If I just described you, welcome to Take Shape for Life/Medifast winter.

The challenge is how to keep moving forward and stay on plan when it's not fun anymore.  How do you keep motivated on days when you aren't sure you can look at another Medifast meal, let alone eat it?

The answer boils down to one thing:  staying focused on what you want.  You are in the process of creating something amazing in your life.  Take a moment to picture yourself at goal - really, take a moment to do this.  What do you look like?  How do you feel?  Imagine having fun shopping; imagine possibly being off one or two prescription medications; imagine your joints not hurting and being able to run if you want.  Get that mental picture firmly in your mind, then don't let go of it.

If you have a clear image of what you are creating, one lost pound at a time, then making the choices you need to stay on plan becomes much easier.  Once I had a clear image in my mind of what my life would be like once I reached my goal (and the reality is SO much better than even what I envisioned), I literally viewed off-plan foods as obstacles that stood between where I was and where I wanted to be.  It's not that I wasn't tempted - because I was often tempted - but I knew I wanted something far better than the brownie that was calling my name.

It is really a shift in orientation to move from focusing on our day-to-day actions to embracing the reality that we are creating something - a healthy, vibrant life.

My encouragement today is to take a few minutes to create a picture of what goal will look like for you.  Once you have that clearly in mind, choose wisely :-)

Dreams Becoming Goals

One of my goals every day is to include some inspirational and motivational reading into my schedule.  For me, this includes not only spending some time every day reading my Bible, but also reading other writings that challenge and inspire me.   Here's a quote I recently read that inspired me:  "A dream becomes a goal when action is taken towards its achievement" ~ Bo Bennett.

I really like that quote because it outlines the difference between a dream and a goal, and that difference is ACTION.  I like to dream and I've often dreamed about things that I'd like to see happen, but more often than not I've never taken any steps to make those dreams become a reality.  Of course, some of the things I've dreamed about are strictly in the realm of fantasy - becoming invisible, being able to fly, etc., but other dreams could easily become goals if I decided I really wanted them badly enough.  I have dreams of traveling to Europe, dreams of going on mission trips, dreams of writing a book - lots of dreams that could be realized if I decided that I wanted them enough to take steps to make them happen.

The fact that you are reading this today and most likely on program indicates that you have taken one or more concrete steps to turn your own dream of being at a healthy weight into reality.  That's a good thing!  I used to dream about being at a healthy weight even while I was busy stuffing myself with the very things that would keep me obese.  As long as I did that, it was nothing more than a dream with as much chance of being realized as me flying.  However, there was a day when the dream became a goal and I put into place some specific actions to move me towards that goal.

Making the move from a dream to a goal can happen in an instant, and it happens the moment we choose to make the the dream a goal.  We have to be willing to take the action steps needed, and that's where it gets challenging :-).  Turning a dream into a goal can be scary, because that goal may well take us places we've never been before, or at least haven't been in a long time.  Turning a dream into a goal may force us to change in ways that may not be comfortable at first, stretching us in ways we don't want to be stretched.  Nobody ever said that turning dreams into goals was easy, but I can promise you that the end result is worth it.

It was an amazing journey for me as I went from a 260 pound woman who propped myself up in bed with pillows every night to watch TV and eat, dreaming of someday, somehow being thin, to weighing in the upper 130's to low 140's, being at a healthy weight and a size 6 with tons of energy to spare.  The reality is so much better and richer than anything I ever dreamed, and it's not just because the dream came true.  What I didn't realize was how much I would change and grow in the process of moving towards that dream/goal.

You are in the process of transforming your dream of being at a healthy weight into a goal, and you move closer to making that a reality each day that you choose to stay on plan.  Keep dreaming, but don't stop with dreaming.  Keep taking the steps necessary to make your dream come true.  It all comes down to the choices we make today, so choose wisely :-)

One Shovel at a Time

There was once a little boy with a small shovel, which he was using to try and clear a pathway through deep, new-fallen snow in front of his house.  A man stopped to watch the little boy for a couple of minutes and then asked the boy how on earth he expected to finish such a big task with such a small shovel.  "Little by little, that's how!" was the response, and the boy kept shoveling.


Some of us may feel like we have tackled an enormous task with the smallest of shovels, and it can feel overwhelming sometimes.  I know that the prospect of losing 120 pounds seemed impossible to me, which is one of the reasons I was researching weight loss surgery options on the internet when I came across information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  I mistakenly thought that having surgery would be the "easy way" to lose weight, and also the only way.  It was only because the surgery wasn't a covered benefit under my insurance plan that I even decided to give this program a try.

I approached my first day much like the boy with the small shovel.  I faced an enormous challenge and my resources were puny at best.  I couldn't tackle the entire pile in a single shovel, but every Medifast meal that I ate was taking one more small shovelful and tossing it aside.  Each meal on its own seemed pretty insignificant, and each day seemed pretty inconsequential as well, but those meals and those days added up, until that enormous pile was finally gone.

There are days when it gets tiring, and there are days when staying on plan isn't much fun.  I tell people all the time that I did NOT wake up every single morning joyful that I faced another on-plan day :-).  But the thought of not reaching my goal, and my desire to put over two decades of morbid obesity behind me once and for all kept me at it, one Medifast meal at a time.

In the story, I found it interesting that a man stopped to question the boy and tried to raise doubts in the child's mind.  We all have those people in our lives, and some of us even live with them - people who raise questions, who have their doubts about whether or not we will really do it this time, people who have seen us try and fail over the years and fully expect us to fail once again.  There are naysayers everywhere and they can quickly discourage us - if we allow them to.  I think the little boy's attitude is exactly what ours needs to be - he just kept on shoveling! 

When it all boils down, we have to do this for ourselves.  Different people will have different opinions about what we're doing and I can promise you that not everyone will be supportive.  It can be hard to ignore the naysayers and keep on keeping on, but that's exactly how we'll reach our goal!

Choose wisely :-)

Gaining by Losing

There is a commercial on TV for a weight loss product that asks the question, "What will you gain by losing?"  Obviously I'm not promoting the product, but I love the question!

Too often losing weight is focused on the deprivation - what we're giving up.  We start on this program or that program to lose weight and what we see is a long list of all of the things we can't eat.  I don't know about you, but I don't handle deprivation very well for very long.  When the focus is on what we're giving up, there will be a real tendency to want to cheat so we can "reward" ourselves with some of our favorite foods.  We may do fine on whatever diet we're on for a week or two, but then the deprivation thing kicks in and we may be headed down the path of failure once again.

Today is the 9th of January which means that some of you are on the 8th or 9th day of this program, having started on or just after the first of the year.  If you've stayed on plan so far, you're in fat-burning and noticing less hunger and more energy, plus you've seen the scale go down.  So far, so good (in fact, that's more than good - it's fantastic!).  Some of you may also be starting to realize that the way you've been eating for the past 8-9 days is how you'll be eating for the next several weeks or months, or perhaps even longer, until you reach your goal.  How you feel about this is dependent, in part, on what you're focusing on.  If you're starting to bemoan the fact that it will be FOREVER before you can eat your favorite foods again (it's not really forever, of course, but it can feel like it!); if you find yourself spending time thinking about all of the things you can't have right now, it's time to refocus!

Instead of focusing on what you can't have right now, focus on what you're gaining.  What is it that you want?  Why do you want to lose weight?  How will life be different for you when you're at your goal?  How will you feel?  What will you be able to do?  The truth is that in the process of losing weight you will gain SO much more!  This isn't about deprivation, it's about gaining the life that you want to live.

One more quick thought:  When I was on 5&1, I didn't think in terms of not being able to have this or that.  I told myself - and others - that I could have anything I wanted, but I was choosing to eat a Medifast meal or a lean and green instead of the other options.  That is a MUCH more empowering position and that is the reality.  We CAN have whatever we want at any given moment - no one made us go on this program and no one can make us stay on the program - it is our choice.  Just as we chose to go on the program, we can choose to go off.  The only "can't" in the mix is that we can't go off plan and expect to keep losing weight.  Our choices are just that, our choices, and they have consequences.  Choose wisely :-)

Weekend Planning

Wow, did this week ever go fast!  I can't believe it's Saturday already!  For those of us who are trying to lose weight, the fact that it's the weekend can be both good news and bad news. 

Weekends are always extra-challenging.  During the week, most of us are on some kind of a fairly predictable schedule, which makes staying on plan pretty easy.  Then the weekend hits and we spend two days on a totally different routine, and weekends are when many of us do most of our socializing.  For me, much of my socializing involves food - meeting friends for dinner; getting together for movies and, yep, snacks; family get-togethers which ALWAYS involve eating - a challenge for sure!  So what's a person to do?

PLAN and COMMIT. 

PLAN: Decide ahead of time how to handle the social situation.  Since I'm a people person and absolutely HATE to miss out on a good time, skipping these social events was out of the question for me, so I had to figure out how to survive them.  If we were going out for dinner, I'd save my lean & green for dinner and, when possible, check out the menu on line.  Deciding ahead of time what I was going to eat was really helpful!  I'd log the meal on "My Plan" (one of the Take Shape for Life "Support in Motion" tools) before I left and it helped to cement the plan in my mind.  If we were invited to someone's house for dinner, I'd offer to bring a salad :-).  If we were getting together for games or a movie, I made sure I brought a Medifast grab-and-go meal.  After a while, people got used to the fact that I was going to stay on plan, no matter what. 

COMMIT:  After you carefully plan, commit to following your plan!  It can be easy to be swayed by what other people are doing or eating.  That's why part of my plan was to check the restaurant's menu on line before we'd go out to eat.  I'd write down what I was going to eat and wouldn't even look at the menu.  When possible, I tried to be the first one to place my order so there wouldn't be any last-minute temptation to change what I planned when I'd hear what others were ordering.

One last thing:  nobody really cares what you eat - really!  Some of us have hesitated to stay on plan because we're worried about how what we eat or don't eat will impact someone else.  One of the things I learned is that others really don't care.  As long as you're comfortable with what you're doing and don't make a big deal out of it, neither will anyone else.

So, is this a busy weekend for you, or are you going to be able to kick back and relax?  Either way, are you carefully planning to make sure it's an on-plan weekend?

Plan, commit, then choose wisely :-)

Pressing On

In this new year, just about everyone I knows has a new enthusiasm and determination to get back on track and get their weight off.  You have to love New Year's resolutions!  The challenge for most of us when it comes to those resolutions is that all too often we quickly lose our focus. 

In Beth Moore’s “Believing God Day by Day” devotional book, she writes:

The middle of any challenging journey can be the most critical point.  Many of us may not be where we were, but we’re not yet where we want to go.  Perhaps the terrible bondage of Egypt is behind us, but the land of promise seems remote.

The longer we wander in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land, the greater the chance that we’ll return to captivity.  The pull of familiar comforts and habits can feel overpowering, particularly against the uncertainty of Canaan’s unknowns.  But as we persevere, God is faithful to continually give us the extra push of motivation to press on.

Once we've been on plan for a while and lost some weight, and once we've dropped a size or two, the pressing need to lose weight can start to feel a bit, well, less pressing.  We've entered that state in our weight loss journey where the pain of where we were (Egypt) has lessened, but we aren't quite yet to the Promised Land (our goal weight).  That in-between time can be challenging, and it's easy to lose motivation and begin to slip into old habits.  We may begin to think, "I've done really well - look how far I've come.  I deserve a "treat" today."  Or we think, "I'll take a mini break from being on plan and view it as a test to see how I'll do in maintenance." 

I'm here to encourage you to keep pressing on - don't stop now.  Don't take a break - just keep moving forward!

In Dr. Andersen's book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health," he writes about shifting our focus from where we started to looking ahead to where we want to go and what we want to achieve, which is optimal health.  (This book is terrific, and if you haven't ordered it yet, make sure you do.  Everything you could possibly want to know about how to reach and maintain optimal health is there.) 

Over 3-1/2 years since reaching my goal, I am finding the need to continue to focus on moving forward in my own journey towards optimal health (and it is an ongoing journey!).  It's been over 4-1/2 years since I first started on 5&1, so each day takes me a little bit farther away from the pain and misery I experienced at 260 pounds.  It's easy for me to forget how miserable I was, and it's also easy to begin to rationalize unhealthy eating.  I have had to refocus on what I want, which is optimal health for the rest of my life.  Being back on 5&1 to peel off a few pounds I've picked up, getting to the health club for a good workout on a regular basis, whether I feel like it or not, getting adequate rest - all of these things have me moving in the direction I want to go and it feels great!

Regardless of whether you're just getting started, somewhere in the middle of your journey, or, like me, dealing with the challenges of maintaining a healthy weight, the challenge for all of us is the same: to make sure that stay focused on what we want and continue to choose wisely :-).

How 'Bout Those Resolutions?

We're five days into the new year, so how's it going so far?  An article on the internet stated that, according to research, many people don't have the willpower to make their New Year's resolutions last longer than a week.  A week . . . which means that there are some people whose resolutions are already starting to weaken. 

I hope that doesn't apply to anybody here!  I do know that being successful on this program requires a lot more than what is usually found in a New Year's resolution.  Most of my past New Year's resolutions were mostly wishful thinking with very little resolve to be found.  I know that's true because they rarely lasted a full week. 

The research identified the reason for failure as a lack of willpower, but I disagree.  Willpower really has nothing to do with it, because we almost always end up doing the things we really want to do.  We just need to decide what it is that we want and keep what we want in focus.

When I decided that what I really wanted was to get to a healthy weight, that became my focus and there was a level of resolve that hadn't been there before.  Foods that had formerly been huge temptations suddenly became obstacles to me getting what I really wanted.  The food hadn't changed, of course, but my focus had and I wanted health far more than I wanted the food.  To be honest, I still wanted the food, and sometimes it was really, REALLY hard to walk away from it, but I was able to walk away because there was something else I wanted even more.

I've often heard people say that they can't lose weight because they don't have enough willpower.  Sorry, but that's a cop-out!  The truth is that they just don't want it bad enough, at least not yet.

The good news is that this program is designed to get us what we really want - if we really want to get to a healthy weight - and it will get us there pretty quickly.  We just have to decide if that's what we really want.  Once we decide, we'll make choices that support that decision.  Once again, decide what you want, then choose wisely :-)

THE Secret to GUARANTEED Success!

I am SO excited this morning!  I have a secret to share with you - THE key that will GUARANTEE your success on this program.  It doesn't matter if you're just getting started (if so, welcome!) or if you're a veteran who's been on the program for several months (or longer).  This is it - the key that is guaranteed 100% to get you to your goal.

Are you ready?  Here's the key to your success:

1.  Get started
2.  Don't quit

Yep - it's that simple!  Here's the good news:  since you're reading this, I'm assuming that you've already started.  If that's true, then you're half-way there!  :-)  Getting started is often the hardest part, especially if we've tried and failed before.  Failure tends to breed failure, and if you've failed before (like I did about a zillion times), the very thought of trying again can be overwhelming.  The fear of failing yet again can keep us from even trying, so the very fact that you've started is encouraging.

The second half of the "guaranteed success" equation is to keep going and not quit.  You already know that this plan works.  If you've been on plan for even a week, you've lost weight - possibly more weight than you've ever lost in a single week on any other plan.  All you have to do is keep going :-).

This is such a great time of year to keep going and not quit!  First of all, with everyone just coming off the holidays, a lot of people are focused on eating healthier and losing weight.  There are less temptations now and you are more likely to encounter sympathetic, supportive people.  For everyone who lives in one of the cold weather states, you have several months before shorts and swimsuit weather is here - great motivation!  Getting started and not quitting means you'll be at your goal (or at least a lot closer) by the time warm weather arrives.

I do apologize if the key to success wasn't exactly what you were looking for - I fully understand!  Before starting on this program, I was always on high alert, looking for THE thing that would finally unlock the chains of my own morbid obesity.  Almost every January would find me perusing the diet section of my local bookstore, checking out the latest and greatest plan.  Every year I hoped and prayed that the latest and greatest new plan would be THE key.  When someone I knew lost weight, I'd always ask them how they did it.  When they responded that they changed how they ate and started exercising, I was always disappointed because that answer was so simple - I wanted to hear about something new that would let me eat whatever I wanted, continue to be a couch potato, and still melt the pounds. 

Of course, that "secret" never materialized, and I know now that it never will.  There IS no magic potion, pharmaceutical wonder, or anything else that will bring the results we want without effort on our part.  Sigh!

However, this plan works and it works fast.  All of the hard work has been done for us - we don't have to figure anything out.  No counting calories, carbs or fat grams, no worrying about whether or not we're getting the nutrition we need - it's all been taken care of.  All we have to do once we start is just keep going and not quit.  If we do that, the chances that we'll reach our goal is 100%.

Get started.  Don't quit.  The choice is ours, so choose wisely :-)

My Current Reality . . .

When I started blogging on my first day on plan, June 24, 2007, it was a very personal record of my thoughts, feelings and struggles as I embarked on the daunting task of losing 126 pounds.  After reaching my goal on May 22, 2008, my blogs became less about my own experience and more about encouraging individuals still on their own journey. Today's blog is a return, for today, to recording my own thoughts and feelings.  In the process, I hope what I share will be an encouragement to someone else.

Although I've done a relatively good job of maintaining my weight loss for the past 3.5 years, I haven't done it perfectly.  To be honest, over the past year I've seen about 15 pounds creep back on, a few pounds prior to my knee replacement surgery last August, a few more during the recovery period (which continues . . . ), and a few more over the holidays.  While my long-term goal is still to not ever need to go on 5&1 again, I am glad to have this "secret weapon" in my back pocket, knowing that this simple and goof-proof program will soon have me back to where I want to be.  But I'm NOT happy that, despite my daily blog ending to "choose wisely," I haven't chosen as wisely as I should have.

I weigh myself every day, so I've been well aware of the pounds coming on.  I also wear a BodyBugg, so my daily calorie expenditure is tracked.  Starting in mid-October, my husband and I rejoined a health club and have met periodically with a personal trainer who put together a workout routine for each of us. 

What I know, and what I realize all over again, is that I can have all of the tools and all of the information I could ever possibly need and it doesn't mean a thing unless I put it into practice.  At the end of the day, it all comes down to whether or not I've made the decision to choose wisely when it comes to what I eat and portion sizes.

There is some good news, however.  First of all, I am NOT doing stress eating.  There has been a fair amount of stress in my life lately and I am incredibly thankful that the stress hasn't had me running straight for my drug of choice, chocolate.  After struggling with emotional eating for over two decades, I am thankful that God has truly set me free from this terrible bondage.

I am also incredibly thankful that 3.5 years after reaching my goal of losing 126 pounds, I am still maintaining the lion's share of that weight loss.  That is a huge victory for me, especially in light of the fact that 85% of people who lose weight on a diet regain the loss, plus, within two years.  Again, I haven't done this perfectly, but I am also not beating myself up because the scale blipped up.  Not berating myself is a huge change for me, as I spent far too many years basing how I felt about myself on whatever number was reflected on the scale. 

Rather than berating myself for not being where I want to be, I made the decision to face my current reality, then refocus on what it is that I really want.

What DO I want?  First of all, I am turning 60 in July and I want to turn 60 looking and feeling as fabulous as I possibly can.  I also want to start the next decade of my life as healthy as possible.  To that end I am committed to not only get back to my goal weight, but to continue working with my trainer to build strength and stamina.  Also, our son (my baby!) is getting married in March and I want to look and feel fabulous on his wedding day.  I was morbidly obese when both of our daughters got married, so I want to look back on the wedding pictures that will be taken in March and know that I looked and felt my best.

So I know where I am right now and I know where I want to me.  I am making the choices I need to get me from where I am to where I want to be.  And I am once again reminding myself of the need to choose wisely :-)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's, and I also hope that you're ready to make 2012 your healthiest year ever.  It doesn't matter if you're just starting on this program for the first time or if this is your umpteenth go-around.  It also doesn't matter if you blew it royally over the holidays.  The only thing that matters is that you've made a decision NOW to create something wonderful - a healthy, thin YOU, living the life you want to live.

That may sound next to impossible to some of you; it sure sounded impossible to me when I started on this program in June of 2007.  I was desperate to lose weight but, at 5'5" and 260 pounds, I didn't think it was possible to lose the weight I needed to lose.  Two decades of failure with multiple weight loss attempts only reinforced what I believed to be true.  Funny thing, though - what I believed to be true about my inability to lose weight ended up not being true at all!  I not only lost a total of 126 pounds on this program, reaching my goal in May of 2008, but I've been fairly successful in maintaining my weight loss ever since.  I say "fairly successful" because I haven't done maintenance perfectly, but I'm still wearing my size 6 jeans . . . sometimes they're a bit more snug than I prefer, but this program has given me the tools I need to know what to do when the scale blips up.

So how do you shift gears and move forward, even if you don't really believe you can?   It's simple (please note:  I said "simple," not "easy"!).  You shift gears by focusing on what you want.  Have you made the decision to lose weight and get to a healthy weight?  I'm not talking about you wanting to lose weight, because just about everybody wants to lose weight :-).  I'm asking if you've made the decision to lose weight and get healthy.  This isn't a matter of semantics.  Everyone wants to lose weight and would opt to do so in a heartbeat if it could be done quickly and without giving anything up.  However, very few people actually make the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight, because once you make that decision, things begin to change.

It's not that making the decision to get to a healthy weight somehow waves a wand that magically makes it happen, but once you make the fundamental decision and focus on what you want, you will begin to make the choices necessary to support that decision.  Making the decision also doesn't mean that you won't ever slip up, because some of you will, but if you have your eyes on your goal and keep focused, you'll keep moving forward.

Forget what's happened in the past - you can't change it.  The past can only rule your present and determine your future if you allow it to.  Today, at the beginning of 2012, you can set your course for a different future - IF you know what you want and have made the decision to go for it.  Once you've done that and focused on what you want, all that's left to do is make the choices that will support your decision.   Decide, focus, then choose wisely :-)