For Those Who Are Struggling

I wrote this blog in January of 2008, about 7 months after I started my weight loss journey.  I hope that it will be an encouragement to someone today!

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For all of my friends who are struggling to stay on plan right now, I wish I could give you a big hug!   My heart goes out to everyone who’s struggling, because I have SO been there!  

Every last diet I’ve been on for the past twenty years ended in failure because I wasn’t able to stay focused.  “Life” happened over and over again and I reached to my old friend, food, for comfort.  And that “friend” was always there with soothing words, assuring me that yes, this piece of chocolate or this bag of chips or these cookies or whatever would absolutely make me feel better.  And it did, for just a few minutes.  Then the guilt about what I’d just eaten would replace the comfort I’d just gotten, and food would again say, “Having some bad feelings right now?  Just eat this and those bad feelings will all go away.”  And the cycle would continue over and over again. 

OR I would feel that I “deserved” to eat this or that because I had been SO good on my diet, or because I’d had such a tough day. 

I have always been a “live in the moment” kind of person, so long-range thinking is not something I do naturally.  I am embarrassed to admit that I am very much into instant gratification (my dad used to often say that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”), so eating what I wanted at any given moment was always more satisfying than NOT eating it and waiting for the reward sometime down the road (i.e., weight loss). 

Given my dieting history and multiple failures over the past twenty years, I wasn’t particularly hopeful that THIS time would be any different for me.  I am more surprised than anyone that it HAS been successful so far, actually far more successful that I could have ever imagined.  Most surprising of all is that in seven months of being on plan, I haven’t cheated once.  I’m amazed even as I type that!  There is no pride in saying this, only amazement.  I am well aware that Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”  I’m not saying that I will never cheat, and I’m certainly not saying that it’s not possible, because I know how easy it would be for me to go off plan. 

But something HAS changed in my thinking over these past 7 months.  I’m sharing this for those who are new on Take Shape for Life/Medifast and wondering if eventual cheating is inevitable.  I’m also sharing this to hopefully encourage some of my friends. 

When I placed my first order, I was seriously considering weight loss surgery.  This surgery isn’t covered by my insurance, so financing options would have included a second mortgage on my house – I was that desperate.  I had been diagnosed in September of 2005 with Type II diabetes and I knew that my obesity was a contributing factor, along with a strong family history.  After my diagnosis, I went on a diet and lost a little over 30 pounds, dropped two sizes and gave away all of my bigger clothes.  My glucose levels dropped (I never was on medication) and I thought I had FINALLY figured “it” out.  I got pretty cocky and over-confident (forgot about that verse in Proverbs!) and ended up falling flat on my face.  By last June, I had gained back almost all of the weight I’d lost and had gone back up those two sizes.  Going shopping once again for pants in size 24W/3X was incredibly depressing.  Traveling with my daughter to Phoenix, the Grand Canyon and Sedona was fun but frustrating because my clothes were tight and my energy level sucked. 

Last June I attended a Grand Rounds lecture by a bariatric surgeon at the hospital where I work.  He was talking to physicians about the after care of patients who’d undergone bariatric surgery, but he also spent some talking about all of the health risks associated with obesity.  I sat in the back of the room and wanted to crawl under the table—I was miserable!  It was immediately after that lecture that I began researching weight loss surgery options, and that’s when I came across information on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.

Because of the cost, I had to think long and hard before I ordered it.  I had to really, honestly ask myself if I thought I could really stay on a diet for a month, and I decided I had to try.  I promised my husband—and myself—that I would give the program an honest try for four weeks, then re-evaluate.  I spent a lot of time on the MyTSFL/MyMedifast discussion boards and was really inspired and encouraged by people here, and I began to hope that perhaps this really would be the tool to release me from twenty years of obesity.  I printed out recipes and put them in a binder, I copied every hint I could find on how to succeed on this program, and I got started.

The fact that, once I got into fat burning, I have feel wonderful and am NOT hungry has been a bit part of me staying on plan.  I don’t want to go through the “getting into fat burning” misery again, and I haven’t found any food yet that’s been worth the miserable headache I had for the better part of two days.  Someone had posted that it would take a minimum of three days and 15 Medifast meals to get back into fat burning once we’re out, and at $2/meal, that meant any deviation would cost me a minimum of $30, and I haven’t come across a brownie or anything else that’s worth $30 to me.

But it’s more than feeling good and not wanting to waste $30 that’s kept me on track so far.  I really do view this time on plan as a short season in my life—it is NOT the rest of my life!  I have wasted twenty years struggling with obesity and being on one continual diet (or feeling guilty that I SHOULD be on one) and I’m sick of it.  I want this weight loss season to be my very LAST one, and I want it to be as short as possible.  I have been tempted many times to go off plan, but the thought that my going off plan could extend this weight loss season by a single day has been enough to stop me in my tracks.  I don’t want to spend another day overweight that I don’t have to!  I want to get on with the rest of my life!! 

My time is in the Lord’s hands and I don’t know how many years He has planned for me, but I do NOT want to die prematurely of something as preventable as obesity.  With God’s help, I will NOT die of obesity.  I am no longer diabetic (according to my doctor!), my cholesterol is normal WITHOUT meds, and my blood pressure is also perfect, also without meds.  At this moment, I am 55 and HEALTHY!

I also stay on plan because I’m scared to death to go off plan.  I’ve read a lot of posts on the MyTSFL recommitment board and on the blogs from people who got off and are really struggling to get back and stay on—some are recommitting for the 3^rd and 4^th time.  I love the fact that they continue to pick themselves up and try again, but it scares me. I’ve failed so many times in the past and I’m afraid that if I go off plan and get myself completely out of fat burning, whatever “clicked” in my brain will “click off” and I won’t be able to get my head back in the game.

So I’m gritting my teeth when necessary and staying on plan.  It isn’t always fun, and sometimes I’m absolutely sick of doing this, but I committed to doing what I know I need to do, regardless of how I feel.  I don’t want to live with regrets, wondering how things might have been different for me if only I’d been able to lose the weight.

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That was written a little over five years ago.  I could NOT have imagined at that point in time just how much my life would change - all for the better!  I stayed on plan and reached my goal on May 22, 2008 and I have never regretted for one second the decision I made to get healthy.  It wasn't always easy, but it was worth it!  Make the decision, then choose wisely :-)

Watch Out for Orange Peels!

Every now and then I hear a bit of trivia that captures my imagination.  I read about someone who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel on July 25, 1911.  Having visited Niagara Falls and marveling at the beauty and power of all that water, I can't imagine anyone thinking that going over the Falls would be a good idea, but several individuals have done so and lived to tell the story.  This particular individual was Bobby Leach, the first man (and second person) to go over the Falls.  He used a steel barrel  in his stunt, and although he survived, he broke both kneecaps and his jaw in the plunge.  What fascinated me was learning that years later, while touring in New Zealand, Bobby slipped on an orange peel, injured his leg and died from complications due to gangrene.  He survived Niagara Falls but an orange peel led to his demise.

So what on earth does this have to do with losing weight and getting healthy, you may be asking?

Simply this:  it's often the little things that trip us up - the things that we aren't watching for, the things we're unprepared for.  We may plan and prepare for our food Niagara Falls - the family get-togethers, Super Bowl, Valentine's Day - then hit an orange peel when we encounter some unexpected stress or find ourselves in a situation where we're really hungry and we don't have a Medifast meal.

Thankfully, those "orange peel" situations don't have to be our undoing, if we're prepared.  Those situations, while unexpected, aren't unfamiliar to us, because they are often our food triggers.  As a recovering food addict/emotional eater, I know that stress was a trigger to eat.  When I went on 5&1, I couldn't control when or how the stress would appear, but I could plan ahead for how I would handle it.  Knowing how we've responded to our orange peels in the past is the first step in planning for future situations.  If necessary, write out a typical "orange peel" scenario, then detail how you will handle the next one.  

If your orange peel is a busy lifestyle that sometimes finds you caught without a Medifast meal, keep extra meals in your car, your desk, your purse, etc. so that no matter where you are, if it's time to eat, you're prepared.  I still keep a box of Medifast pretzels in my car, along with several bottles of water.  I always have a couple of crunch bars in my purse and, when I was still working outside my home, I kept several meals in my desk drawer.

Even when we do hit an orange peel, we always have the ability to choose our response.  Our food orange peels don't have to land us on our backside - we can keep standing and keep moving ahead.  We just have to make the decision to get to a healthy weight, plan ahead, then 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.  Medifast's medical director, 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 :-).

Find a Way, or Find an Excuse

When it comes to success on this program, the outcome is always determined by what we want.  I've seen individuals who embrace this program from Day 1, follow the protocols and get to goal quickly, and I've seen others who struggle for a while and hit one bump after another, but who finally make the decision to get to goal - then they do.  Sadly, I've also seen my fair share of individuals who get started, do well for a while, but eventually fall off and regain their weight.

So what's the difference between those who succeed, sooner or later, and those who don't?  The individuals who embrace the program and reach their goal don't have more willpower or less temptations than anyone else.  They've just figured out what they want and have made a decision to get there.

The bottom line is that if you really want to do something, you'll find a way.  If you don't, you'll find an excuse.
I'm speaking from my own experience.  I tried to lose weight on a myriad of other programs for over two decades, only to fail miserably time and time again.  Some of the failure was undoubtedly due to the programs I tried - crazy, fad diets that weren't sustainable over time and threw my body so off-kilter that I didn't even feel well.  However, there were other programs that had a decent track record and were relatively well-balanced, but I couldn't stick to those programs either.  My bottom-line issue was that while I was interested in losing weight, I didn't want to lose it enough to do whatever I had to do to reach my goal.  I wanted something that would somehow get me to a healthy weight without having to sacrifice anything.  I wanted the results without the effort.  For that reason, I eagerly followed news reports on FDA trials of new diet drugs, hoping that the next one out would be "it" and magically get me to goal while allowing me to continue my clearly unhealthy habits.  

Because I was far more interested in losing weight than actually committed to doing so, it didn't take much for me to go off plan.  Any social event, regardless of how small, was a reason.  A stressful day at work?  Well, that certainly made for a "no diet" day for me.  Coming down with a cold?  Poor baby - eat some chocolate and feel better.  I could be perfectly on plan on a perfect day, but life is life and I was hard-pressed to ever have very many "perfect days" in a row.  I kept kidding myself and telling myself that I wanted to lose weight - really I did - but my actions didn't support what I said I wanted.  I always had an excuse - a good excuse - why I just couldn't stay on the diet "today."

By the time I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was really desperate.  I had regained almost all of the 36 pounds I'd lost on my last diet attempt (took me almost 9 months to lose those 36 pounds and I managed to regain the weight in less than 6 months).  My blood sugar was also going up and I knew my efforts to stay off of oral diabetic medications were coming to an end and that I'd soon be adding those to the other prescription medications I was on.  

I didn't place my first order with a firm commitment to losing weight - it was more like grasping at straws.  I didn't expect the program to work and, in fact, carefully researched the return policy because I thought I'd probably hate the food, feel hungry, and return everything.  The only thing that initially kept me on plan was the cost, because I couldn't justify spending the money unless I was actually following the program.

The switch was flipped in my brain - finally - when I started to see the weight come off and realized that I actually felt great!  I liked some of the food, wasn't so crazy about a few things, but realized that this was a program that could actually work - if I let it.  It was at that moment that I made the decision to go for it and get to a healthy weight, and everything changed.  I still had some of the same struggles as I'd always had - work was stressful, we had a lot of social events, I still got colds - but this time I figured out what I needed to do.  Those things were no longer excuses.

So, the question today is:  do you really want to get to a healthy weight?  If so, if you've really made the decision to do that, if that is what you REALLY want, you'll find a way to do it, one day and one choice at a time.  Make the decision, then choose wisely :-)

Mud Puddles or Pristine Ponds?

In her devotional book "Believing God Day by Day," author Beth Moore wrote about one morning walk when she came across four ducks splashing in a mud puddle in the sidewalk while a large, pristine pond was just over a small hill.  

That simple story made me wonder how many times I've been content to splash in a mud puddle that was conveniently located, rather than make the effort to go a bit farther and enjoy the pristine pond just over the hill.  Almost every time I choose immediate gratification, what I'm choosing is the mud puddle instead of the pond, because I settle for what's close instead of what I really want.

I have to keep going back to the principle of identifying my priorities, then making secondary choices that support those priorities.  I may not always LIKE or WANT the secondary choice, but I make those choices because they support what I REALLY want.  Dr. Andersen talks at length about this in his book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health."  Getting to what I really want always takes more effort than settling for what's at hand (the mud puddle), but the effort is absolutely worth it.

At this point in my life, my primary choice in terms of my health is to maintain a healthy weight and continue my pursuit of optimal health.  That means that I have to ignore the mud puddle within my reach (my puddle looks a lot like chocolate . . . ) and keep on moving!

There are mud puddles along our path every day, so it takes a renewed commitment every day to keep on walking and not settle.  Don't stop, because the pond is just over the hill :-)

Who wants an on-plan, mud puddle-free day today?  You can have it, if you want it!  Staying out of the mud puddles happens by making the decision 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 5:1, 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 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 this program, 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 :-)

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 six 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 61 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/Medifast 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 :-)

Trying to Fix the Wrong Thing

People are desperate to find a solution that will allow them to finally win their battle with obesity, and more and more are turning to weight loss surgery.  Others are looking to the pharmaceutical industry for an answer, hoping and praying for a pill that will enable them to lose weight.   Time and time again, weight loss drugs fail to win FDA approval because clinical trials reveal major health risks, but the drug companies continue their quest to develop the magic pill that will cure obesity.

The problem with both weight loss surgery and diet drugs is that these methods are trying to fix the wrong thing.  Weight loss surgery addresses the issue of obesity by reducing the size of the stomach, with the assumption that if the stomach is smaller, people will feel full with less food and less food will result in weight loss.  Drugs are developed to suppress the appetite, with the expectation that if people aren't hungry, they won't eat and will lose weight.

Both of these approaches assume that the root of overeating is hunger - that if hunger can be better managed, either surgically or chemically, people will eat less and lose weight.

I can't speak for anyone else, but physical hunger had very little to do with my morbid obesity.  In fact, when I started on this program, it had been a long time since I could remember actually being hungry.  I ate for lots of reasons, but being physically hungry was often not one of the reasons.  I was an emotional eater and would often eat until I was numb.  

When we are using food to try and meet our emotional needs, we are trying to fill a bottomless pit.  There isn't a surgery or an appetite suppressant that can fix our heart hunger, which is why a distressing number of individuals who've had weight loss surgery end up gaining much or all of their weight.  The surgery fixed their physical hunger, but it couldn't touch their heart hunger.

If we are going to be successful long term, we have to change how we emotionally relate to food.  For those of us who are long-term emotional eaters, we have to find new and healthier ways to deal with life.   As I've shared so often here, my weight loss journey resulted in unexpected emotional and spiritual growth as I learned to go to the Lord instead of food.  Only God could meet the needs of my heart, and as I gave Him my stress, my anger, my disappointment, I found a comfort and a peace that food was never able to offer.  

Changing emotional eating patterns isn't easy, and it may be one of the most difficult things that some of us ever do.  But it IS possible!  It starts with recognizing the source of our hunger, then being willing to change how we respond and make a difference choice.  Making changes happens one day, one meal, and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

When, Not If, Temptations Come

As much as I wish it wasn't so, the reality is that we will be tempted over and over again.  It would be wonderful if we could escape into a temptation-free, stress-free bubble while we're getting to our goal (actually, it sounds like a pretty nice place to live permanently!!), but there is no such bubble.  Even if we started our weight loss program overflowing with resolve and firmly focused on our goal, temptations will come.  It's not a matter of if, but when.

So now what?

First of all, we have to be realistic and acknowledge that there WILL be temptations.  If we expect that somehow we won't be tempted, sooner or later we will be greatly disappointed.  Temptations of all kinds, big and small, are pretty much a constant.

We also have to be responsible and realize that, despite the temptation, we are ultimately in charge of the choices we make in the face of temptation.  Nobody makes us cave, and no circumstance is beyond our ability to handle.  We always have a choice and we need to take responsibility for our choices and not blame our spouse, our children, or our boss.

We also need to be ready for the temptations that will come our way.  We don't always see them coming, but if we're realistic and anticipate that there will be temptations along the way, we will have the opportunity to plan our strategy in advance.  Sometimes that strategy will require us to face down the temptation, and sometimes our strategy will be to get as far away from the temptation as we can, as fast as we can.  You already know where you're vulnerable, so don't wait until the heat of the battle to figure out your game plan.  Make a list of your known areas of weakness - when and why are you most tempted to go off plan - and write down how you're going to handle the temptation the next time.  Thinking through the situation and visualizing a successful outcome can really make the difference!

Finally, get refocused.  Focus on what you want, not on what you don't want.  The more you try to fight the temptation, the harder it is to fight.  Don't focus on fighting it, focus on what you want and where you want to be in three months, six months, a year from now.  Shifting your focus changes the dynamics immediately.  When I was on 5&1 and the inevitable food temptation showed up, I would tell myself (sometimes out loud!) that "this isn't going to get me where I want to go."  I constantly had to refocus my attention off of the temptation and back to what I wanted . . . then I got away from the food temptation immediately!

Temptations will come - maybe even today.  When they come, you will have a choice to make . . . choose wisely :-)

Happy - and Healthy - Valentine's Day!

Even though most of us do pretty well staying on plan most of the time, we are often challenged to stay committed to our healthy goals when holidays and special events arrive.  Today is Valentine's Day, a day that often includes a multitude of food temptations.  If your Valentine's celebration usually centers around food, how will you graciously deal with those who want to buy you candy, or make a decadent meal or dessert?

A friend of mine sent me an article from Dr. Phil that addresses just such a scenario.  Here's what Dr. Phil suggests:

"You have been very good about sticking to your healthy eating plan and don’t want to find yourself sliding backward. How can you resist the pressure from family and/or friends to eat a big, decadent meal?  You might say: “I have a lot invested in what I’m doing, so please don’t take offense if I either bring my own food or turn down something you’ve worked hard to make. This is really important to me, and I appreciate your support.” "

I think this is a GREAT way to let people know that while you appreciate their thoughts and efforts, their best gift to you this year is their support.  If you may be facing such a scenario, I really suggest that you practice saying this until you're comfortable.  If you look someone in the eye, smile and tell them how much you appreciate what they want to do (or have done), it really will be OK :-).

This is your journey to a healthier you, so don't be afraid to make the choices you need to make today to keep you moving in the direction you want to go.  Reaching your healthy weight will enable you to celebrate many Valentine's Days with the people you love for years to come.  That's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give to them, and it's the best Valentine's Day gift you can give yourself.

But since this is a day for giving gifts to those we love, how about making today's choice to stay on plan your Valentine to others?  The cards that are given today will soon be thrown away (or tucked away to be all but forgotten), the flowers will fade and be tossed, and the chocolate . . . we won't go there :-).  These traditional expressions of love have a pretty short shelf life, and while they are nice sentiments, they don't have lasting value.  With that in mind, another response to someone who wants to give you a food gift today might be, "Thank you so much for caring enough about me to give this to me/make this for me.  My gift to you is to get healthy so that we can enjoy many more years together."  What do you think?
As always, it's your choice.  Choose wisely :-)

Ready . . . Fire . . . Aim

For as long as I've been on this program (I started on Take Shape for Life's 5&1 program 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?"

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.

Of course, I'm certainly not recommending that anyone on this program be off course 95% or 97% of the time!   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 :-)

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 five and a half years ago, I celebrated a new-found freedom.  Today, over 4-1/2 years since reaching my goal, I'm still celebrating that freedom!  I tell people all the time that when I started on 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 :-)

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 also found a great deal of support from the on-line community here, and 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 five 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 :-)