For many of us prior to starting on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program, enjoying food was one of the major pleasures in our lives. Going on this program was hard because it meant giving up a major source of pleasure. My social life revolved around food - every time we got together with someone, it was to eat. There was good conversation and a lot of fun, but all of that took place over a meal or dessert or a variety of snacks.
What I realized after starting on this program was that while I had been enjoying food - lots of food, I wasn't enjoying a lot of other things. I didn't enjoy physical activity because pain in my knee and my back made even walking difficult at times. I didn't enjoy shopping for clothes because I hated the size I was in and, out of embarrassment, never shopped for clothes with my friends. I felt fatigued much of the time and was happiest when I was sitting someplace, particularly at a table with food in front of me. I didn't enjoy going to a beach and would never attend a pool party . . . the list of things I didn't/wouldn't/couldn't do was pretty long.
What was true for me then is still true for some people I know. They won't even try this program because they claim that they just enjoy food too much to give it up. What's sad is knowing that for some of them, their enjoyment of food and their resulting obesity is preventing them from enjoying so many other things - they're enjoying food, but not really fully enjoying life.
As I started this program and began to really embrace it, an amazing thing happened. While I wasn't enjoying food in the same old way (from a culinary perspective, eating five Medifast meals and a lean & green doesn't placate the pleasure centers in the brain like all of those high-sugar/high-fat and calorie-laden meals), I WAS enjoying other things. My knee and back started feeling better pretty quickly and I started to enjoy taking walks. My energy level went WAY up and I didn't feel like crawling into bed when I got home from work. We still got together with friends, but I found out that I could have a great time with them and NOT eat the same old food - a lean & green at a restaurant or having my own Medifast meal while they snacked on something else didn't impact my ability to have fun at all.
As I continued to lose weight, I realized that I was getting a whole new life for myself - one that wasn't defined by obesity or dependent on food to have a good time.
Five years ago, I stayed on plan through the holidays and lost 18 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. My memories of that holiday season aren't about the food I did or didn't eat - they are of time spent with family and friends. My enjoyment of the holiday season wasn't diminished in any way because I didn't eat this or that because my focus was on enjoying time with the people that I loved.
Since reaching my goal on May 22, 2008, I've been able to enjoy a wide variety of food again, but the lessons learned while on 5&1 have remained. Enjoying life is about so much more than what's on my plate.
Today are you choosing to enjoy life, or are you choosing to enjoy food? Choose wisely :-)
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