It's everyone's favorite day of the year - tax day ;-). Happily, we don't owe any taxes this year so we filed our taxes a month ago. In years when we've owed, we've waited until the last possible day to file, and when we've been entitled to a refund, we've filed our taxes as soon as we possibly could!
When it comes to our health, a day of reckoning generally comes, too, because our bodies, like Uncle Sam, have a way of keeping track of what's coming in and what's going out. When I was diagnosed with diabetes in September of 2005, I realized that my years of morbid obesity, bad habits, and a genetic predisposition had finally caught up with me. I had been "investing" in this for years, and the bill finally came due.
Sometime we think we can avoid the long-term ramifications of bad habits, but most of the time they eventually catch up with us. To be sure, there are always the exceptions - people who live healthy and die prematurely of a heart attack, someone who smokes 2 packs a day and lives to be 100 - but those are exceptions, not the rule.
The good news is that our bodies were created with a wonderful ability to heal, and it's amazing to see how fast concerning health conditions can begin to reverse themselves when we begin to take care of ourselves. Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol - conditions often resulting from being overweight - can and are being reversed as people get on this program and begin to lose weight. It's exciting!
You're here because you've made a commitment to invest in your health, so keep up the great work and don't let anything get in the way of getting healthy, because you're worth it! Take it one day, one meal, and one choice at a time - and choose wisely :-)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Choosing Our Attitude
I was recently reminded again of the importance of choosing my attitude. There are so many things in life that we have absolutely no control over, but we can always choose how we respond.
Attitude makes all the difference. Chuck Swindoll, a well-known author and pastor, has a quote about attitude that pretty much sums it up (you may be familiar with this):
There were certainly days when I was on 5&1 when I wasn't particularly having fun. I got tired of the food (and without crunch bars, pretzels, cheese bites, soft serve, pancakes, sloppy joe mix or brownies there was less variety then) and I got tired of having to pass up some of my favorite foods. What I quickly realized was the fact that nobody was making me do this - I had the freedom to quit anytime I wanted to. It was my choice to do the plan or not, and it was also my choice to either do it with joy or be miserable the whole time (and make everyone around me miserable, too).
Part of choosing our attitude is choosing what we're going to focus on. If we're focused on what we're giving up, if we allow ourselves to live in the land of the deprived, we're more likely to struggle with our attitude. On the other hand, if we shift our focus from what we're temporarily giving up to all that we are gaining - improved health, smaller sizes, better self-esteem, etc. etc., maintaining a positive attitude becomes much easier. A woman I know summed up her own way of choosing her attitude, saying she could either "practice the presence of problems or practice the presence of Jesus." I like that!
The challenges we face may remain the same, the problems may still be there, and we may still be facing many more days, weeks or months of being on 5&1. We may or may not be able to change the situation, but we can always choose our attitude - choose wisely :-)
Attitude makes all the difference. Chuck Swindoll, a well-known author and pastor, has a quote about attitude that pretty much sums it up (you may be familiar with this):
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.
There were certainly days when I was on 5&1 when I wasn't particularly having fun. I got tired of the food (and without crunch bars, pretzels, cheese bites, soft serve, pancakes, sloppy joe mix or brownies there was less variety then) and I got tired of having to pass up some of my favorite foods. What I quickly realized was the fact that nobody was making me do this - I had the freedom to quit anytime I wanted to. It was my choice to do the plan or not, and it was also my choice to either do it with joy or be miserable the whole time (and make everyone around me miserable, too).
Part of choosing our attitude is choosing what we're going to focus on. If we're focused on what we're giving up, if we allow ourselves to live in the land of the deprived, we're more likely to struggle with our attitude. On the other hand, if we shift our focus from what we're temporarily giving up to all that we are gaining - improved health, smaller sizes, better self-esteem, etc. etc., maintaining a positive attitude becomes much easier. A woman I know summed up her own way of choosing her attitude, saying she could either "practice the presence of problems or practice the presence of Jesus." I like that!
The challenges we face may remain the same, the problems may still be there, and we may still be facing many more days, weeks or months of being on 5&1. We may or may not be able to change the situation, but we can always choose our attitude - choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Doing Right, Feeling Good
Successful people do what is right no matter how they feel, and by doing right they feel good – John C. Maxwell
I don't know about you, but so often I want to feel good FIRST and allow the good feeling to give me the oomph I need to do what I need to do. Sometimes that works for me, but sometimes it doesn't. If I'm in the mood to clean out a closet, I can get to work and turn chaos into order in a short period of time. If I wake up with energy to spare, heading to the health club is easy. If the scale gives me a number I'm happy with, making healthy choices is a natural.
Like I said, sometimes waiting for the feeling works for me and sometimes it doesn't. Unfortunately, there are times the closet needs cleaning, or I need to exercise, or the scale is up a couple of pounds and I just don't feel like doing what I know I need to do. It's not easy to always make the choices I need to make when I'm just not feeling it. The problem is that when I don't do what I know I need to do, the inaction doesn't generate a good feeling - it produces guilt. I pass by the closet and look at the mess and know I really SHOULD get at it . . . I decide not to head out the door to work out and then, when it's too late to go to the health club, wish I had . . .
Inaction doesn't produce positive feelings and can put us into a downward spiral where the longer we don't take action, the harder it is to get started. I've seen this over and over again with people on this program. They start our enthusiastic and strong, then for a variety of reasons find themselves off plan. That's when the challenge comes, because many wait to get started again until they feel motivated - they wait for the good feeling so that they'll do what they need to do. Sometimes the good feeling comes and they're ready to get started again, but sometimes it doesn't. People who went off plan over the holidays are still struggling to get back on plan 100% today, almost four months later. They're frustrated and mad at themselves for what they think is their lack of willpower, and each day that passes only increases their frustration at themselves.
When we can take a giant step forward and do the right thing, whether we feel like it or not, an amazing thing happens. The good feelings we've been waiting for finally show up! They don't always show up right away (wouldn't it be great if they did?), but they do show up!
When I tackle a messy closet even when I don't feel like it, good feelings kick in. As I continue working and organizing, a surge of energy usually comes and carries me to completion. Whether or not the good feelings come during the project, they sure do show up when I'm finished and admiring the order I created! I may not feel like working out, but when I push through the "don't feel like it" and do it anyway, I'm always - always - glad that I did.
And when we get back on plan and do what we need to do, whether we feel like it or not, the good feelings eventually show up, too :-). There is a sense of relief that washes over us when we take control and do what we know we need to do, and the scale usually rewards us in short order, which brings more good feelings :-).
The good news is that by doing the right thing, we not only end up feeling better about ourselves, but that action brings the success we're hoping for. It all begins with the choice to move forward, whether we feel like it or not. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Windshield or Rear-view Mirror?
I have a question for you today: is this a windshield day for you, or it is a rear-view mirror day?
Translation: are you focused today on where you're going, or are you spending your time looking back?
I think this is a question worth asking, because the answer can strongly influence how successful you'll ultimately be in getting to and staying at your goal.
If this is a windshield day for you, then you're focused ahead on where you're going. Just like when you drive, 99% of the time you're focused on the road in front of you (at least I hope you are!). You periodically take a quick glance in the rear-view mirror and take a look at your outside mirrors, but you only avert your eyes from the road for a fraction of a second. Averting your eyes any longer than that risks crashing.
A rear-view mirror perspective happens when our focus is on what's behind us. Maybe we're focused on all of the things that occurred that caused us to gain weight to begin with. Maybe we're focused on our past failures and thinking about how we could have been at our goal by now if only we'd stayed on plan. Whatever is in your rear-view mirror is in the past, and focusing on it won't get you where you want to be - it will only keep you stuck in a place you don't want to be.
It can be hard learning to focus forward when we've spent so many years staring into that rear-view mirror, but practice definitely makes perfect :-). Having a windshield day begins with identifying what you want - what you REALLY want - and then committing to focus on that. When you find your gaze shifting back to the rear-view mirror (and you will, especially at first), consciously shift your focus to looking forward again. You can do this by writing down your goal - be specific and don't be afraid to dream - and posting it where you'll see it often. When you find your mind drifting back to the past, take a deep breath and let it go! Take a minute to re-read your written goal and think for a minute about it. Envision yourself actually seeing those goals come to reality. Then move forward!
So what kind of a day are you having today? I'm hoping that you're going to get out the Windex and polish that windshield so that there's nothing obscuring your vision as you move forward! The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)
Translation: are you focused today on where you're going, or are you spending your time looking back?
I think this is a question worth asking, because the answer can strongly influence how successful you'll ultimately be in getting to and staying at your goal.
If this is a windshield day for you, then you're focused ahead on where you're going. Just like when you drive, 99% of the time you're focused on the road in front of you (at least I hope you are!). You periodically take a quick glance in the rear-view mirror and take a look at your outside mirrors, but you only avert your eyes from the road for a fraction of a second. Averting your eyes any longer than that risks crashing.
A rear-view mirror perspective happens when our focus is on what's behind us. Maybe we're focused on all of the things that occurred that caused us to gain weight to begin with. Maybe we're focused on our past failures and thinking about how we could have been at our goal by now if only we'd stayed on plan. Whatever is in your rear-view mirror is in the past, and focusing on it won't get you where you want to be - it will only keep you stuck in a place you don't want to be.
It can be hard learning to focus forward when we've spent so many years staring into that rear-view mirror, but practice definitely makes perfect :-). Having a windshield day begins with identifying what you want - what you REALLY want - and then committing to focus on that. When you find your gaze shifting back to the rear-view mirror (and you will, especially at first), consciously shift your focus to looking forward again. You can do this by writing down your goal - be specific and don't be afraid to dream - and posting it where you'll see it often. When you find your mind drifting back to the past, take a deep breath and let it go! Take a minute to re-read your written goal and think for a minute about it. Envision yourself actually seeing those goals come to reality. Then move forward!
So what kind of a day are you having today? I'm hoping that you're going to get out the Windex and polish that windshield so that there's nothing obscuring your vision as you move forward! The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)
Monday, April 9, 2012
A New Day
Happy Monday! I hope you had a great (and on-plan!) Easter weekend. If you did, congratulations! I'm guessing it wasn't easy, but you stayed focused on your goal and figured out what you needed to do. As a result, you're one day closer to your goal.
Perhaps you planned to take the day off, carefully chose the foods you were going to eat, and had a very controlled step off plan. If that describes you, congratulations for making a plan and then working it. By planning ahead, you stayed in charge and, even if the scale isn't encouraging today, you're back on plan and one day closer to your goal, too.
I'm guessing that there are a few people reading this who don't fall into either of the categories I just described. This group intended to stay on plan, but when they got around some of their favorite food and were surrounded by family members and friends, they decided that a bite or two wouldn't hurt. But the bite turned into much more, and you woke up today mad at yourself for going off plan, and the scale may even be up a couple of pounds :-(. If I just described you, take heart :-).
This program isn't easy. If you've read my blogs for any length of time, you've heard me say this over and over again. The food part of the program is extremely easy, but changing how we think and emotionally relate to food is incredibly difficult.
Holidays are a time when the best intentions of many take a tumble. When we're surrounded by a lot of rich food, some of which may only be served once a year, and/or when we're surrounded by family members and friends, which may evoke a host of emotions, good intentions often don't stand a chance if we aren't clearly focused on our goal. That may briefly explain the "why" of what happened yesterday, but now what?
If you ended up eating things yesterday you didn't intend to eat and are now dealing with Monday morning regret, it's a new day! The only way that yesterday's off-plan eating will hurt you is if you allow it to influence the choices you make today. What happened yesterday doesn't matter today, but the choices you make today will impact tomorrow. I've seen people who've done really well on plan for months go off plan on a holiday, overeat, and begin a downward spiral that results in regaining a lot of their weight. They were mad at themselves for going off plan, but instead of getting right back on, they allowed a host of negative feelings ("I'm so weak," "I shouldn't have done that", etc.) to get in the way of their goal.
If you "blew it" yesterday, welcome to Day 1 of the program! It will take you three or four days to get back into the fat-burning state, but you already know the drill: drink lots of water and hang in there :-). Three or four days from now, you will be back in the groove, feeling great and I'm guessing the holiday eating weight gain will be gone and you'll be on track towards your goal again.
Don't allow a momentary slip to keep you from getting where you want to go. You have the opportunity today to make choices that will impact where you'll be tomorrow and next month. Choose wisely :-)
Perhaps you planned to take the day off, carefully chose the foods you were going to eat, and had a very controlled step off plan. If that describes you, congratulations for making a plan and then working it. By planning ahead, you stayed in charge and, even if the scale isn't encouraging today, you're back on plan and one day closer to your goal, too.
I'm guessing that there are a few people reading this who don't fall into either of the categories I just described. This group intended to stay on plan, but when they got around some of their favorite food and were surrounded by family members and friends, they decided that a bite or two wouldn't hurt. But the bite turned into much more, and you woke up today mad at yourself for going off plan, and the scale may even be up a couple of pounds :-(. If I just described you, take heart :-).
This program isn't easy. If you've read my blogs for any length of time, you've heard me say this over and over again. The food part of the program is extremely easy, but changing how we think and emotionally relate to food is incredibly difficult.
Holidays are a time when the best intentions of many take a tumble. When we're surrounded by a lot of rich food, some of which may only be served once a year, and/or when we're surrounded by family members and friends, which may evoke a host of emotions, good intentions often don't stand a chance if we aren't clearly focused on our goal. That may briefly explain the "why" of what happened yesterday, but now what?
If you ended up eating things yesterday you didn't intend to eat and are now dealing with Monday morning regret, it's a new day! The only way that yesterday's off-plan eating will hurt you is if you allow it to influence the choices you make today. What happened yesterday doesn't matter today, but the choices you make today will impact tomorrow. I've seen people who've done really well on plan for months go off plan on a holiday, overeat, and begin a downward spiral that results in regaining a lot of their weight. They were mad at themselves for going off plan, but instead of getting right back on, they allowed a host of negative feelings ("I'm so weak," "I shouldn't have done that", etc.) to get in the way of their goal.
If you "blew it" yesterday, welcome to Day 1 of the program! It will take you three or four days to get back into the fat-burning state, but you already know the drill: drink lots of water and hang in there :-). Three or four days from now, you will be back in the groove, feeling great and I'm guessing the holiday eating weight gain will be gone and you'll be on track towards your goal again.
Don't allow a momentary slip to keep you from getting where you want to go. You have the opportunity today to make choices that will impact where you'll be tomorrow and next month. Choose wisely :-)
Friday, April 6, 2012
Fifty Years Ago Today
It was 50 years ago today, when I was nine years old, that my grandma passed away. She was my dad's mom and lived in California, and since we lived in Chicago, I only saw her a couple of times. She wrote us letters (nobody made long-distance calls in those days unless it was a dire emergency) and sent gifts for birthdays and Christmas, and I loved her. She passed away at age 68 due to complications of diabetes.
Why I'm blogging about this today is because now that I'm almost 60, I realize that 68 is way too young to die of a preventable disease. My grandma was a hard worker her entire life, my dad tells me that she was a good cook and a wonderful mother, and she was also obese. Because she had diabetes so many years ago, I don't know if they knew then what we know now - that diabetes and obesity are closely linked. I know that she only took her diabetic medication when she was feeling "bad" and skipped it when she was feeling "well," and this ultimately contributed to her early death.
Diabetes runs rampant in my family on both my mom and my dad's side and it has wreaked havoc in the lives of so many of my family members. In addition to losing my grandma way too early due to diabetes, my mom's brother lost a leg due to diabetic complications six years before he passed away, almost all of my mom's cousins have diabetes and several of them have had complications leading to amputation, blindness, kidney failure and dialysis, stroke, and early death. My mom is diabetic and has lost part of her vision and kidney function due to complications of her disease and my younger sister is diabetic.
My mom's diabetes has dramatically improved since she went on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program almost four years ago and she has all but eliminated her daily insulin (she takes a unit or two on occasion if she eats too many carbs), and her vision and kidney function have both stabilized. My sister went on 5&1 a few months and has lost over 60 pounds so far, so we are hopeful that she will successfully avoid any complications from her own diabetes and perhaps be able to manage her blood sugar levels without the need for her oral medication.
My family history of diabetes always scared me, and knowing it is strong on both sides of my family made me genetically more vulnerable. Even though I've been aware of this for most of my life, I continued to play Russian roulette with my own health until diabetes finally caught up with me in September of 2004.
One of the things that ultimately brought me to the point of giving Take Shape for Life a try was my desire to be around to see my grandchildren grow up, and my desire to be actively involved in their lives. Lord willing, I will be there to see them graduate from high school and college, get married, and someday hold their own children. We have five grandchildren now and three more grandbabies dues this summer, so my motivation to stay healthy is stronger than ever! My life is in God's hands, of course, but I know that I won't die prematurely of obesity or obesity-related disease. That is a wonderful thing to know!
My dear grandma didn't know that she had choices back in 1961, as anyone with diabetes was told that this was just the way it was and was going to be. We know better today, and by making the choices we need to make today, we can and will live healthier, longer lives. Perhaps diabetes isn't on your list of things to be worried about, and if not, that's a blessing. However, carrying around even 30 extra pounds puts us at risk for disease, not only diabetes, but also heart disease and some types of cancer. By changing what we do and by making different - better - choices, we have the potential to change our future. Do it for yourself and do it for the people you love - and who love you.
The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)
Why I'm blogging about this today is because now that I'm almost 60, I realize that 68 is way too young to die of a preventable disease. My grandma was a hard worker her entire life, my dad tells me that she was a good cook and a wonderful mother, and she was also obese. Because she had diabetes so many years ago, I don't know if they knew then what we know now - that diabetes and obesity are closely linked. I know that she only took her diabetic medication when she was feeling "bad" and skipped it when she was feeling "well," and this ultimately contributed to her early death.
Diabetes runs rampant in my family on both my mom and my dad's side and it has wreaked havoc in the lives of so many of my family members. In addition to losing my grandma way too early due to diabetes, my mom's brother lost a leg due to diabetic complications six years before he passed away, almost all of my mom's cousins have diabetes and several of them have had complications leading to amputation, blindness, kidney failure and dialysis, stroke, and early death. My mom is diabetic and has lost part of her vision and kidney function due to complications of her disease and my younger sister is diabetic.
My mom's diabetes has dramatically improved since she went on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program almost four years ago and she has all but eliminated her daily insulin (she takes a unit or two on occasion if she eats too many carbs), and her vision and kidney function have both stabilized. My sister went on 5&1 a few months and has lost over 60 pounds so far, so we are hopeful that she will successfully avoid any complications from her own diabetes and perhaps be able to manage her blood sugar levels without the need for her oral medication.
My family history of diabetes always scared me, and knowing it is strong on both sides of my family made me genetically more vulnerable. Even though I've been aware of this for most of my life, I continued to play Russian roulette with my own health until diabetes finally caught up with me in September of 2004.
One of the things that ultimately brought me to the point of giving Take Shape for Life a try was my desire to be around to see my grandchildren grow up, and my desire to be actively involved in their lives. Lord willing, I will be there to see them graduate from high school and college, get married, and someday hold their own children. We have five grandchildren now and three more grandbabies dues this summer, so my motivation to stay healthy is stronger than ever! My life is in God's hands, of course, but I know that I won't die prematurely of obesity or obesity-related disease. That is a wonderful thing to know!
My dear grandma didn't know that she had choices back in 1961, as anyone with diabetes was told that this was just the way it was and was going to be. We know better today, and by making the choices we need to make today, we can and will live healthier, longer lives. Perhaps diabetes isn't on your list of things to be worried about, and if not, that's a blessing. However, carrying around even 30 extra pounds puts us at risk for disease, not only diabetes, but also heart disease and some types of cancer. By changing what we do and by making different - better - choices, we have the potential to change our future. Do it for yourself and do it for the people you love - and who love you.
The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Secret Eating, Secret Shame
A couple of years ago Health.com published a fascinating article entitled "What You Eat When Nobody's Watching." Over 600 Health readers were surveyed to find out what they eat when nobody’s looking. According to the article, over half waited until no one is home to break into a secret snack stash or head to the grocery store and devour treats on the way home. Amazingly, when the survey asked what was the strangest thing a person had eaten alone, the most common answer was "something they dug out of the trash." Additionally, 86% of those in the survey waited until they were all alone to eat their favorite indulgent foods, 46% had been caught digging into a secret stash, and 71% reported that they had buried a food wrapper deep in the trash to hide the evidence.
Did I mention that these individuals were readers of a magazine that promotes health? It's amazing to me that we are so inclined to engage in behaviors that we know aren't healthy for us, behaviors that, at some level, embarrass us.
I used to do a lot of secret eating. I was embarrassed to have people see what I ate, or how much I ate, and I got really good at hiding my eating. When there would be goodies in the kitchen at work, I'd "palm" a piece (or two, or three) and take the food into the bathroom so I could eat it in private. Even while I was doing this, I knew there was something really, really wrong about needing to eat in secret. Obviously the results of my eating were evident to everyone, so I'm not sure I know who I thought I was fooling. I know I didn't want people to see me eating and think, "no wonder she's so fat," or risk receiving disapproving looks. What's sad is that I didn't really enjoy the food I ate in secret. I ate it quickly so I wouldn't be caught, inhaling it with a "make it gone" mentality. Sometimes my thinking was so irrational that my purpose in eating the food was to get rid of it so I wouldn't be tempted by it anymore. That makes absolutely no sense, obviously, but when we're in denial about our eating and working hard to keep it a secret from others, our ability to think rationally may well suffer.
Eating food in secret, stashing wrappers deep in the trash container may have kept my eating away from the eyes of others, but my body was keeping track of every calorie. For a long time, I convinced myself that even though I was morbidly obese, I was still healthy. My lab work came back normal and I would think, "Whew, I'm still getting away with this." Honestly, that's what I'd think. I would also give a fleeting thought to maybe trying to do something before my bad habits caught up with me, and that would often be the start of yet another diet, but nothing lasted very long. When the day finally came when all of my lab work came back awful - high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood glucose - I knew my years of bad habits had finally caught up with me. To borrow an old expression from my childhood, "the chickens had finally come home to roost."
It took almost two more years before I was ready to finally stop fooling myself or anybody else, and that's when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. In addition to helping me lose 126 pounds, this program has also helped me to finally align what I know I should be doing with the actions that I actually do. I am now focused on creating health in my life, and I try hard to make sure that the vast majority of the time I'm making food choices that support my goal. I'm no longer trying to fool myself, and I no longer need to try and fool others. It's very freeing to no longer be ashamed of what or how I eat!
Being willing to get honest with ourselves is the first step in aligning what we know we should do with what we actually do. We need to be honest in determining what it is that we really want. Do we really want to lose weight and get healthy? If we do (if we REALLY do), then we will begin to make the choices needed to move us in the direction we want to go. So ask yourself, "is this what I really want?" If your answer is "yes", you know what to do: choose wisely :-)
Did I mention that these individuals were readers of a magazine that promotes health? It's amazing to me that we are so inclined to engage in behaviors that we know aren't healthy for us, behaviors that, at some level, embarrass us.
I used to do a lot of secret eating. I was embarrassed to have people see what I ate, or how much I ate, and I got really good at hiding my eating. When there would be goodies in the kitchen at work, I'd "palm" a piece (or two, or three) and take the food into the bathroom so I could eat it in private. Even while I was doing this, I knew there was something really, really wrong about needing to eat in secret. Obviously the results of my eating were evident to everyone, so I'm not sure I know who I thought I was fooling. I know I didn't want people to see me eating and think, "no wonder she's so fat," or risk receiving disapproving looks. What's sad is that I didn't really enjoy the food I ate in secret. I ate it quickly so I wouldn't be caught, inhaling it with a "make it gone" mentality. Sometimes my thinking was so irrational that my purpose in eating the food was to get rid of it so I wouldn't be tempted by it anymore. That makes absolutely no sense, obviously, but when we're in denial about our eating and working hard to keep it a secret from others, our ability to think rationally may well suffer.
Eating food in secret, stashing wrappers deep in the trash container may have kept my eating away from the eyes of others, but my body was keeping track of every calorie. For a long time, I convinced myself that even though I was morbidly obese, I was still healthy. My lab work came back normal and I would think, "Whew, I'm still getting away with this." Honestly, that's what I'd think. I would also give a fleeting thought to maybe trying to do something before my bad habits caught up with me, and that would often be the start of yet another diet, but nothing lasted very long. When the day finally came when all of my lab work came back awful - high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood glucose - I knew my years of bad habits had finally caught up with me. To borrow an old expression from my childhood, "the chickens had finally come home to roost."
It took almost two more years before I was ready to finally stop fooling myself or anybody else, and that's when I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast. In addition to helping me lose 126 pounds, this program has also helped me to finally align what I know I should be doing with the actions that I actually do. I am now focused on creating health in my life, and I try hard to make sure that the vast majority of the time I'm making food choices that support my goal. I'm no longer trying to fool myself, and I no longer need to try and fool others. It's very freeing to no longer be ashamed of what or how I eat!
Being willing to get honest with ourselves is the first step in aligning what we know we should do with what we actually do. We need to be honest in determining what it is that we really want. Do we really want to lose weight and get healthy? If we do (if we REALLY do), then we will begin to make the choices needed to move us in the direction we want to go. So ask yourself, "is this what I really want?" If your answer is "yes", you know what to do: choose wisely :-)
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Feeling Caged In?
Does the Take Shape for Life/Medifast program feel a bit restrictive to you? Do you sometimes feel like you've put yourself in a very small cage, with all of your favorite foods just outside your reach (even when you stretch and reach between the bars)? When we've been on other plans that had us counting calories or carbs or points, most of us had more food options than we have while we're on 5&1. I've encountered a couple of people who ended up leaving this plan and opting to go back to the "points" program because they wanted more options in their daily menu.
I read a story that made me think about our self-imposed "cage" and it gave me an entirely new perspective on this. The story told about an individual who rescues chimpanzees. These chimps were orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle; many of the chimps have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell. When the man who rescues them arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls "Chimp Eden," he finds that many of the chimps are hostile and untrusting, not understanding that he is trying to help them. When he tried to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, the chimps put up quite a fight - they don't realize that the crate is temporary and that its purpose is to bring them to a much better place.
Hmmm . . . anybody see any application here? :-)
When we start on Take Shape for Life, most of us are motivated because we've felt trapped in a body we don't want to be in. We don't feel well, we don't like what the scale says, we don't like the size label on our clothes. We're in a prison of obesity from which we're desperate to break free.
It's almost ironic, isn't it, that the vehicle that will eventually bring us to a freedom that we can't even imagine can, temporarily, feel like a yet another cage. Like the chimps that are being transported from their prison-like cell to "Chimp Eden", we may find ourselves fighting the very vehicle that is designed to bring us to a much better and happier place.
The Take Shape for Life 5&1 program is a tool - this is not the rest of your life! It is carefully designed to bring you from where you are to where you want to be, and to get you there as quickly and safely as possible. To do that, it takes all of the guesswork out and, to keep it as simple as possible, removes most of our food choices. The problem is that sometimes we stop viewing this as a vehicle that's taking us to our goal and we begin to resent the restrictions. If we don't take a deep breath and get back our perspective, our resentment and feelings of deprivation can ultimately be our undoing.
If we're feeling frustrated and restricted by the limitations of 5&1, we may be vulnerable to the food temptations that come our way. However, if we view 5&1 as a secure transport vehicle to get us to our goal, we will be in a much stronger position to stand firm and "just say no."
Cage or safe transport? How you choose to view this program may well influence other choices you make today. Choose wisely :-)
I read a story that made me think about our self-imposed "cage" and it gave me an entirely new perspective on this. The story told about an individual who rescues chimpanzees. These chimps were orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle; many of the chimps have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell. When the man who rescues them arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls "Chimp Eden," he finds that many of the chimps are hostile and untrusting, not understanding that he is trying to help them. When he tried to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, the chimps put up quite a fight - they don't realize that the crate is temporary and that its purpose is to bring them to a much better place.
Hmmm . . . anybody see any application here? :-)
When we start on Take Shape for Life, most of us are motivated because we've felt trapped in a body we don't want to be in. We don't feel well, we don't like what the scale says, we don't like the size label on our clothes. We're in a prison of obesity from which we're desperate to break free.
It's almost ironic, isn't it, that the vehicle that will eventually bring us to a freedom that we can't even imagine can, temporarily, feel like a yet another cage. Like the chimps that are being transported from their prison-like cell to "Chimp Eden", we may find ourselves fighting the very vehicle that is designed to bring us to a much better and happier place.
The Take Shape for Life 5&1 program is a tool - this is not the rest of your life! It is carefully designed to bring you from where you are to where you want to be, and to get you there as quickly and safely as possible. To do that, it takes all of the guesswork out and, to keep it as simple as possible, removes most of our food choices. The problem is that sometimes we stop viewing this as a vehicle that's taking us to our goal and we begin to resent the restrictions. If we don't take a deep breath and get back our perspective, our resentment and feelings of deprivation can ultimately be our undoing.
If we're feeling frustrated and restricted by the limitations of 5&1, we may be vulnerable to the food temptations that come our way. However, if we view 5&1 as a secure transport vehicle to get us to our goal, we will be in a much stronger position to stand firm and "just say no."
Cage or safe transport? How you choose to view this program may well influence other choices you make today. Choose wisely :-)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Just Too Busy Right Now!
I need some help today to understand something. I've heard this over and over again and I'm just a bit confused. Anybody want to help me out?
Here's what has me confused: I've heard from several people lately who were on plan and doing well at one point, but now say that they're too busy to stay on plan right now and will get back on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program when things settle down.
Maybe it's because I found this to be the easiest plan I ever did, but I'm frankly at a loss to understand how it's possible to be too busy to grab a packet (or, more simply, a crunch bar or a bag of pretzels or cheese bites). I am assuming that regardless of how busy we are, at some point in our day we do eventually put something in our mouths, right? Even though I'm in maintenance, if I have a crazy-busy day, I'll eat Medifast meals throughout the day. I may be too busy to fix something else, but I have bars, pretzels or cheese bites with me wherever I am, and I always have water.
Here's what I *think* might really be going on, based on my own past experience with food. When I'd get really busy and that busyness resulted in lots of extra stress, it wasn't so much that I didn't have time to diet as it was that I didn't want to. I rationalized that being extra busy and stressed meant I "deserved" to take a break and treat myself - I deserved to eat what I wanted and reward myself because I was working so hard.
I'm not meaning to be at all harsh or difficult here, and I hope that those of you who've read my blogs for a while have gotten a glimpse of my heart and know how much I care about people and how much I want everyone to get to a healthy weight. I struggled with morbid obesity for so many years and I know how hard it is to change entrenched habits. Past attempts at losing weight were always subject to the whims of weather, mood, how busy I was, etc. etc. The reality is that it didn't take much for me to decide that "today isn't a good diet day" - I cut myself slack all the time. The problem was that life continued to be busy, living in Michigan meant that the weather was often not to my liking, and hormones varied my mood some days moment to moment. It all added up to lots of days that weren't "good diet days."
Funny thing happened, however. One day I was ready - really ready - to make a change in my life. I made the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight. Once I did that, my life didn't slow down, the weather in Michigan didn't improve, and my hormones . . . don't even go there! Only this time none of this mattered when it came to whether or not I was going to stay on plan. That certainly doesn't mean it was easy, because sometimes it was incredibly hard and sometimes the last thing I wanted to do in the morning was face a day filled with 5 Medifast meals and a "boring lean and green." But even being tired of the program didn't alter the fact that I'd made a fundamental choice to get healthy. As a result, as each challenge came (and trust me, they came), I figured out what I needed to do to stay on plan.
In the end, whether or not we choose to stay on plan probably depends less on how busy our schedule is and more on whether or not we've made the decision to just do it. The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)
Here's what has me confused: I've heard from several people lately who were on plan and doing well at one point, but now say that they're too busy to stay on plan right now and will get back on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program when things settle down.
Maybe it's because I found this to be the easiest plan I ever did, but I'm frankly at a loss to understand how it's possible to be too busy to grab a packet (or, more simply, a crunch bar or a bag of pretzels or cheese bites). I am assuming that regardless of how busy we are, at some point in our day we do eventually put something in our mouths, right? Even though I'm in maintenance, if I have a crazy-busy day, I'll eat Medifast meals throughout the day. I may be too busy to fix something else, but I have bars, pretzels or cheese bites with me wherever I am, and I always have water.
Here's what I *think* might really be going on, based on my own past experience with food. When I'd get really busy and that busyness resulted in lots of extra stress, it wasn't so much that I didn't have time to diet as it was that I didn't want to. I rationalized that being extra busy and stressed meant I "deserved" to take a break and treat myself - I deserved to eat what I wanted and reward myself because I was working so hard.
I'm not meaning to be at all harsh or difficult here, and I hope that those of you who've read my blogs for a while have gotten a glimpse of my heart and know how much I care about people and how much I want everyone to get to a healthy weight. I struggled with morbid obesity for so many years and I know how hard it is to change entrenched habits. Past attempts at losing weight were always subject to the whims of weather, mood, how busy I was, etc. etc. The reality is that it didn't take much for me to decide that "today isn't a good diet day" - I cut myself slack all the time. The problem was that life continued to be busy, living in Michigan meant that the weather was often not to my liking, and hormones varied my mood some days moment to moment. It all added up to lots of days that weren't "good diet days."
Funny thing happened, however. One day I was ready - really ready - to make a change in my life. I made the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight. Once I did that, my life didn't slow down, the weather in Michigan didn't improve, and my hormones . . . don't even go there! Only this time none of this mattered when it came to whether or not I was going to stay on plan. That certainly doesn't mean it was easy, because sometimes it was incredibly hard and sometimes the last thing I wanted to do in the morning was face a day filled with 5 Medifast meals and a "boring lean and green." But even being tired of the program didn't alter the fact that I'd made a fundamental choice to get healthy. As a result, as each challenge came (and trust me, they came), I figured out what I needed to do to stay on plan.
In the end, whether or not we choose to stay on plan probably depends less on how busy our schedule is and more on whether or not we've made the decision to just do it. The choice is yours . . . choose wisely :-)
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