Tomorrow? Or NOW?

One of the things I have to continually fight is my tendency to procrastinate.  If it's something I want to do, I'm all over it from the start, but when the task at hand is something that I'm not excited about, I can find 101 reasons to put it off.  As I've gotten a bit more mature (am resisting saying "older"!), I have gotten better, but I'm far from declaring victory in the procrastination department.

I perfected the art of procrastination (if there is such a thing) when it came to getting healthy.  Like Little Orphan Annie, my theme song was "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow . . . you're always a day away!"  Since I have been a daily weigher for years, I'd step on the scale every morning, groan at the number I saw, and solemnly promise myself that I would start on a diet and start to turn things around . . . tomorrow.  "Today" was rarely a good day to start a diet because I was too busy, too tired, too stressed, etc.  While I had a dozen reasons why "today" wasn't good, I'd promise myself over and over again that I would start on a diet "tomorrow."  

I promised and procrastinated myself all the way up to 268 pounds and diabetic. The day I got back the lab work that revealed Type 2 diabetes, it felt like someone had thrown ice water on me as I finally faced the consequences of waiting for a tomorrow that never came.  That diagnosis started a journey that would, almost two years later, finally bring me to this program.  Between the diagnosis and the day I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I had a number of failed attempts on yet another program, and I still had too many days of playing the "start tomorrow" game.

For those of you who take the time to read my blogs (thank you!!), you know that I enjoy thought-provoking quotes.  I read one that addresses the whole issue of procrastination:  "Procrastination is the false believe that there is a better time than NOW!"

My "NOW" came in June of 2007 when I came to a point where I felt like I couldn't continue down the path of obesity one more day.  The scale was up again, my blood sugar numbers were up and I knew I had to do something NOW. Even though June wasn't a particularly convenient time for me to start on this program, especially with fresh fruit coming into season and a two-week vacation just a month away, it truly was my NOW.  As you probably can guess, I have no regrets!

Is today YOUR "NOW?"  Or are you still under the impression that there is a better time than today to focus on getting healthy?  I know there are pressures today . . . work, children, perhaps aging parents, finances, but there are always pressures and once one issue is resolved, don't two more pop up?  

Things will always get in the way because life is rarely without one challenge or another.  If tomorrow still looks like a better day to be on plan for you, are you really willing to wait?  What happens if tomorrow ends up being as crazy - or crazier - than today?

Make today your NOW.  It really doesn't matter what's going on in your world today, because once you make the decision, it's amazing how easy it is to figure out the "how."  What choices will you make today?  Choose wisely :-)

Losing That Lovin' Feeling

My best guess is that many of us who ended up on Take Shape for Life/Medifast got here because we developed an unhealthy relationship with food at some point in our lives.  I say "unhealthy relationship" because I know that I didn't balloon to 268 pounds just because I had a "good appetite."  My weight skyrocketed to morbid obesity because I had an emotional relationship with food.  I used to talk all the time about how I "loved" chocolate, or "loved" Mexican food, etc.  I just plain loved to eat!
A while back I read a story in my devotional, "Our Daily Bread," about the movie, "Fever Pitch."  In the movie, Ben Wrightman is crazy about the Boston Red Sox baseball team.  He rarely misses a game during the spring and summer months.

One winter, Ben falls in love with a young woman named Lindsey and wins her heart.  Then spring rolls around, and she finds out that he's a different person during baseball season.  He has no time for her unless she goes to the games with him.

When Lindsey ends her relationship with Ben because of his fanaticism, he talks with a young friend who says, "You love the Sox.  But tell me, have they ever loved you back?" Those words cause Ben to analyze his priorities and to give more time to the woman he loves, who loves him back.

That story got me thinking about things that I've loved that didn't love me back - like food :-).  One of my good friends (she's lost over 100 pounds on this program) told me that she no longer talks about "loving" food, she now says she "enjoys" food.  I love it!  She reserves the word "loves" to describe her feelings for God, her family and other people, and her example has challenged me to do the same thing.

Another friend of mine, also a 100+ pound loser, reminds herself of the need to view food as fuel, nothing more.  

I think both of these wise women are on to something!  Loving God and loving people . . . enjoying food and viewing it as fuel.  Sounds like a good balance to me!

Part of the really hard work on this program - and I DO mean hard work - is redefining our relationship with food.  If we don't do that, we won't make the permanent changes needed to maintain our weight loss.  How we relate to food will change over time as we consciously choose to change how we think.  Begin today - one thought and one choice at a time . . . and choose wisely :-)

Just Imagine

I read an interesting article posted on CNN.com a while ago entitled, "The Moments That Make Us Fat."  The article started out by saying, "If you're trying to lose weight, close your eyes for a minute and imagine the moments that make you fat."  The article made the point that, for most people, there are particular times when we are most vulnerable and most likely to find our willpower weakest or even non-existent. 

Our vulnerable moments vary, and what may be challenging for one person may not even faze another, so it's important to identify where our vulnerability is. You may do well all week and find that your good work falls apart on the weekends when you're in a different routine; you may have no problem staying on plan until you go on vacation, then what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas - it comes home as extra pounds. Your most vulnerable time may be every evening after a busy day at work and after the kids are in bed when you want to relax in front of the TV and eat.  For those of us who are emotional eaters, our vulnerable moments may be less predictable and may appear whenever we find ourselves in an emotionally stressful situation.

According to the CNN article, "The key is to accept the fact that your willpower will run out at some point, and plan strategies to get you through fattening situations."

Although CNN's article talked about willpower, the reality is that it takes something far different than willpower to make permanent changes in our habits.  In Chapter 3 of his book, "Dr. A's Habits of Health," Medifast medical director Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen writes about our motivation for change.  That motivation begins with the fundamental decision to get healthy.  If we decide that's what we want, what we REALLY want, then we will begin to make the choices necessary to keep us moving towards our goal.  

Knowing when and where we are most vulnerable will empower us to put strategies in place ahead of time that will keep us on track.  If we head into a vulnerable time or situation without a firm plan, we may or may not emerge unscathed.

So what ARE your most vulnerable situations?  When are you most likely to encounter them?  How are you going to handle them next time? Since weekends and holidays are a vulnerable time for many, do you have a plan in place for this coming weekend?  

The key to success is to anticipate, plan, and then choose wisely :-)

Don't Come Up Short

I spent years not only fooling myself, but trying to fool other people when it came to my weight.  Because I had so much shame and embarrassment about my weight, even getting dressed in the morning was an ordeal. Every outfit had to pass the "does this make me look fat?" question and I required my clothes to do their best to hide the fact that I had packed as much as 268 pounds on my 5'5" frame.  It was a daunting request to make out of every outfit and the fact that I thought some things made me look "thin" probably says more about my state of denial than the outfit itself.

For several years, I refused to get on the scale at the doctor's office.  A nurse practitioner had once chided me for skipping my yearly well-woman exam and when I told her it was because I didn't want to get on the scale, she told me that I didn't have to be weighed if I didn't want to and urged me to not skip this check-up because of the scale.  For this person in denial, that was my "get out of jail free" card and I pulled it out every time I saw the doctor.

I tried to hide my weight from my friends and even from my doctor, but I wasn't kidding my body - and my body was keeping tally of what I was doing to it.  The bill came due in September of 2005 when routine blood work revealed that I was now diabetic, with very high cholesterol and triglycerides.

This quote really puts it into perspective:  "If you don't do what is best for your body, you are the one who comes up on the short end."  ~ Julius Erving

When we choose to not take care of our bodies, we are ultimately the ones who come up short.  When I wasn't eating right, when I wasn't exercising, I was only hurting myself.  Every time I would cheat on a weight loss program (and until I started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast I cheated - repeatedly - on every last program I ever went on), I was really only cheating myself and my body was keeping a running tally.

Turning things around and permanently moving in a new direction begins with being truthful with ourselves about where we are - getting a clear picture of our current reality.  How much do we weight?  What size are we in?  What are the things we can't do, or can't do comfortably, because of our weight?  What medications are we on due to weight-related conditions?  How would we have answered these questions five years ago?  Are we in better or worse shape now than we were then?  If we continue to do in the next five years what we've done over the past five, where will we be five years from now?  Are we OK with that?

Those may be hard questions to ask, but if you ask yourself those questions and answer them honestly, you'll have a clear picture of where you are right now.

Then imagine yourself at your goal weight.  How much will you weigh?  What size will you be?  How will you feel?  What will you be able to do?  Get a clear vision of what that will look and feel like.

What you have just done is created structural tension, which is the gap between where you are and where you want to be.  Tension seeks resolution, so focus your eyes on what you want to create in your life, then begin making the choices to get there.  You will move from where you are to where you want to be one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Event Dieting

It's the first day of spring! I don't know about you, but I am definitely ready for warmer weather and love seeing the days getting longer.  With spring finally here and summer not far behind, I'm guessing that many are feeling some added pressure right now to get ready for swimsuit season.

So many of us have focused on what I call "event dieting" much of our lives.  We want to lose X amount of pounds before such-and-such an event, and we don't think in terms beyond that.  For me, I was never successful in reaching even that short-term goal, so once the event was over, my focus on losing weight was gone.  When each of my daughters set their wedding dates, I remember wondering how much weight I could lose before the wedding.  I put off buying my dress as long as possible, hoping to be in a smaller size.  I never did lose any weight before the weddings, and the photos of me on those days are of an obese woman in a very lovely dress.  (I've told both my daughters that we need to redo their weddings, because I'd look a LOT better now :-)  They both said they would LOVE to do it over - as long as we picked up the tab!)

Wanting to lose weight before swimsuit season is good  motivation, but I'm encouraging you to look far beyond getting into a swimsuit.  Don't just envision yourself looking great in a swimsuit or a great pair of shorts - envision yourself healthy ten, twenty, thirty years from now.  That's ultimately the goal!  Getting there requires, you guessed it, committing to making healthy choices one day at a time.

The first goal in staying healthy for the rest of your life is getting to a healthy weight, and that's where most of you are focused right now.  And you WILL get there, one on-plan day at a time.   The choice is yours - choose wisely :-)

Danger!

There are many potential dangers that we may encounter along our journey to a healthy weight, and one danger that's often overlooked is the danger of comparison.  It's easy for us to compare stories and get discouraged if someone else's story is more exciting than our own.  We hear about someone who dropped 50 pounds in three months and we can become discouraged if we've taken five months to lose the same amount of weight.  Or we're happy with our two pound weight loss this week until we hear about someone else who lost four pounds, making our two pounds seem insignificant.

One of the things I learned on my own journey was that I couldn't compare my own progress and my own journey to anyone else's.  I could always find someone who was losing faster than I was, and that's who I would have compared myself to (I never compared myself to anyone who was losing more slowly than I - funny how that works!).  When I would compare myself to someone else and inevitably come up short, it created frustration and dissatisfaction - definitely NOT a good thing!  I had to come to terms with the fact that this was MY journey, and ultimately it didn't matter how long it would take me to reach my goal, the important thing was that I got there.

I heard someone remark recently that it doesn't matter how long it takes to get to the top, because the view is the same once you're there, regardless of how long it takes you to get there.  I think that is a great statement and provides a wonderful perspective for us to embrace.  

We are on a journey towards improving our health and permanently changing our lifestyle so that we stay at a healthy weight for the rest of our lives.  We can't control how fast our bodies choose to release the weight, but we can choose whether or not we're going to stay on plan.  As long as we're doing what we know we need to do, we are going to reach our goal.  Ultimately, that's what really matters.  Don't allow yourself to get discouraged by comparing your progress to someone else's.  This is your journey, and when you reach the top, the view is magnificent!

You'll get to the top one day and one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)

Six Years Ago

As I was looking at my infamous "before" picture taken at the Grand Canyon, I realized that the picture was taken just six years ago in early March of 2007 (I've attached a picture).

My daughter and I flew to Arizona that March to visit my nephew and spend a few days soaking in some sun and fun.  The flight was fairly miserable for me because I overflowed my airline seat and was crowding my daughter.  I tried to lean into the aisle as much as possible to give her room.  With the seatbelt pulled all the way out, it just barely fastened, but I was relieved that I didn't have to request an extender.  I had to walk side-ways down the aisle of the plane because of my girth, and I pretty much filled up all the space in the plane's restroom.

My size 24W jeans were skin-tight and uncomfortable, but I was desperately trying to avoid having to purchase an even bigger size.  We rented a mid-size SUV in Phoenix and my jeans were so tight I could hardly lift my leg to get in the vehicle, so I hoisted myself up every time.

When we got to the Grand Canyon, we had to climb a pretty steep stone staircase to get to the rim of the canyon.  Between my jeans being skin-tight, being 260 pounds and incredibly sedentary, and the higher altitude, I had to stop a couple of times on the stairs before I could continue.  I was miserable and beyond angry at myself.  I remember thinking that my husband and I wanted to start traveling and realizing that there would be things I wouldn't be able to do and places I wouldn't be able to see because I couldn't stop eating.  I loved seeing the Grand Canyon again, but my enjoyment was definitely dampened because of how miserable I felt.

My daughter and I are both avid amateur photographers and enjoyed taking lots and lots of pictures, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she told me that she wanted to take a picture of me.  I really, REALLY didn't want a picture taken, but realized that I needed to have a record of the fact that I was there, so I agreed.  I remember wryly thinking that since I had the Grand Canyon in the background, there would be something bigger than I in the picture :-).

That day six years ago at the Grand Canyon was really the beginning of the end of my long struggle with obesity.  I came home determined to get my weight off and reclaim my life.  I spent the next three months trying unsuccessfully to lose weight on my own, and my repeated failure finally culminated in my decision to try Take Shape for Life/Medifast for a month.  The rest, as they say, is history - and I am SO thankful to God for leading me to this program!

When I think about where I was six years ago and where I am today, I realize that it all began to change with a single choice.  I had no idea that one single choice would cascade into so many other choices, and that the result of those choices would be a completely different - and wonderful - life.  You never know where your choices will lead . . . choose wisely :-)

So Sad . . .

Yesterday my husband and I drove to Indiana (2 hr. drive) with my parents to attend the funeral visitation of one of my mom's first cousins, who passed away after 10 years of dialysis due to complications of Type 2 diabetes.  My mom will be 84 in May and is the oldest of her cousins, but most of them have passed away and a contributing factor to most of their deaths was Type 2 diabetes and their obesity.

Yesterday was just so sad for me as I saw so many extended family members really struggling with their health.  And I'm not just talking about my mom's cousins - I'm talking about their adult children and their grandchildren.  For the most part, the family is obese and ALL of my mom's surviving cousins have Type 2 diabetes.

So what is it like sitting in a circle of obese, Type 2 diabetic family members?  There was a lot of talking and laughing about things in general, a lot of catching up on different family members for sure.  But there was also conversation about their diabetes and which medications they were taking.  This particular conversation went on while most were munching on cookies and sweet breads . . . The conversation then switched to recipes and one cousin talked about a recipe she'd just made that included 10 pounds of potatoes and 5 pounds of bacon.  And yes, everyone wanted the recipe.  When the visitation was nearing an end, we were invited to join them for pizza at a local restaurant (we declined as we had a 2 hr. drive home).

There was such a painful disconnect between where they were with their health and what they were doing and focused on.  All of them know that I lost over 100 pounds and they could see that I've been at a healthy weight for almost 5 years (a number of them commented on that and congratulated me).  My mom, who lost 40 pounds thanks to Take Shape for Life and is now managing her own Type 2 diabetes largely through lifestyle change and a limited amount of insulin, took every opportunity to comment that I am no longer diabetic because of losing weight.  They thought that was wonderful for me, but not one of the cousins was interested in doing anything themselves.

There was a lot of conversation about how the cousin who'd passed away suffered over the past several years, and there was agreement that dialysis was quite dreadful.  Other cousins have passed away after undergoing years of dialysis and amputations due to complications of Type 2 diabetes, so the consequences of uncontrolled diabetes has been seen up close. Yet what I observed was either denial or a hopeless acceptance of inevitability in these family members, or perhaps a combination of both.

I know that no one will change until they're ready to change and all I can hope and pray is that some of them will finally get sick and tired of being sick and tired.  It was sobering to realize that six years ago I was on my way to being exactly where they are as I tipped the scale at over 260 pounds and was watching my blood sugar rise due to Type 2 diabetes.  

I could SO easily be another family statistic, but I praise God that I'm not - and I won't be! Take Shape for Life changed my life forever because I didn't just lose 126 pounds - I embraced a healthy lifestyle and also embraced the truth that I COULD be healthy.  Once I made the decision to get healthy and began to focus on what I could create in my life, everything changed.

As I shared with one of my cousins last night, I still have a fully-developed set of "fat girl" taste buds and I am challenged every day to make choices that keep me moving in the direction of health.  Seeing the alternative last night made making healthy choices a no-brainer for me.  It's not always easy, but where I am now is infinitely better than where I could be had I not made the decision in June of 2007 to change.  

And once that decision was made, for me and for you, all we have to do is make the daily decision to choose wisely :-)

Prairie Chickens and Eagles

What we believe about ourselves, or what we've learned to believe about ourselves over the years, has a direct impact on what we believe we can and can't do.  There is a Native American fable that illustrates this point beautifully.

According to the fable, a young brave found a nest filled with golden eagle eggs.  As a prank, he decided to see what would happen if he put one of the eggs in the nest of a prairie chicken.  Eventually the egg hatched and the eagle was raised with the family of prairie chickens.  He didn't have any reason to think he wasn't a prairie chicken so he scratched and clucked like all the others.

Years later the eagle saw an eagle soaring overhead and he marveled at the magnificent creature.  His prairie chicken brother assured him that no prairie chicken could ever possibly hunt or fly like the eagle, who the brother proclaimed to be the most majestic of all birds.

The golden eagle went back to his pecking, living and eventually dying as an earthbound prairie chicken, never realizing he was created to soar.

I'm guessing that many of us believe we're earthbound prairie chickens.  Perhaps we've been told this all our lives, or perhaps circumstances over the years have convinced us that dreaming of soaring is a foolish and wasted dream.  

This lovely fable has application to many areas of our lives, and it certainly applies to losing weight.  Believe you can - because you CAN!  Believe you can do more than just lose weight - believe you can maintain your weight loss and live a vibrant, healthy, THIN life - because you CAN!  While this plan works whether we believe it or not, what we believe about our ability to do it can impact the choices we make.  If we don't believe we can lose weight, we may self-sabotage and our cheating will reinforce our prairie chicken concepts.

I'm here to tell you that regardless of what you believe about yourself, you are an eagle.  You can do so much more - you can have so much more.  It doesn't matter if you've been pecking in the dust for a few years or your entire life, you can raise your wings and soar.  Choose to fly!  That won't happen in an instant, but it will happen one day and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Redefining Our Future

In response to the statement that "you are what you eat," I once heard a comedian lament, "Oh no!  I'm a doughnut!"   That may be funny, but, like it or not, who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made.  I remember looking in the mirror at my 260+ pound body and thinking "I did this to myself."  

Coming to grips with the reality of past choices can be pretty sobering, but the good news is that those past choices don't have to continue to define us.  While it's true that who we are today is the sum total of the choices we've made, it's also true that who we will be tomorrow will also be the sum total of the choices we're making today.  In a very real way, we have the ability to change our health destiny beginning today, if we're willing to make different choices.

It's hard work learning to make new and better choices, but the more we make those choices, the easier they get.  When I first started on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I was really focused on staying on plan for 21 days in a row.  I had heard for years that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old one, and since I'd never stayed on ANY plan for 21 days straight, I thought it was a worthy goal to shoot for.  I marked each day off on the calendar and as I got closer and closer to that 21st day, it was amazing to realize that I was going to actually do it.  When I hit the 21st day, I began to believe that maybe I could truly change some long-time bad habits, habits that had taken me further and further away from the healthy person I wanted to be.

The choices I made for over two decades resulted in a morbidly obese, diabetic woman who looked back at me in the mirror.  The choices I've made since June 24, 2007, the day I started on this plan, changed all of that, returning my blood sugar to normal levels and bringing me to a healthy weight (and keeping me there!).  I know that I have to continue to make healthy choices every day, because who I will be tomorrow will reflect the choices I'm making today.

It always comes back to the choices we make today, doesn't it?  Choose wisely :-)

A Little Perspective on Cheating

Every now and then, it's fun for me to re-read some of my old blogs, dating back to my earliest days on Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  When I started on this plan on June 24, 2007, I weighed 260 pounds and wore a tight 24W.  I was pretty skeptical that this plan would work, mostly because nothing else ever had.  Still, I was hopeful and decided to chronicle my journey through the blogs.

I thought some of you might enjoy a peek into my brain back on August 17, 2007, about seven weeks into the program, when I posted this blog:

"Most of us are on this program because we have tried and failed on multiple other diets.  I know I have, and I've always "cheated" on every other diet I've ever been on.  Sometimes I would almost smirk to someone that I was on such-and-such a diet, but decided "today" to cheat.  As if I thought it was funny, or smart, or justified.

When we cheat on a diet, exactly who do we think we're cheating on?  The diet?  The diet doesn't care what we do!  We're cheating ourselves from the privilege of getting healthy, we're cheating ourselves from being able to fully participate in life, we're cheating our families from having us healthy.  So if we're going to be honest when we blog about cheating, we'd put in bold letters "I CHEATED MYSELF OUT OF BEING HEALTHY TODAY.  I MADE FOOD CHOICES THAT, IF CONTINUED, WILL GREATLY INCREASE THE CHANCES THAT I WILL DIE PREMATURELY."  Pray tell, what food is really worth that?

I made a commitment before I placed my first order that I would stay on it 100% and not cheat for the first 4 weeks to really give myself a chance to see what my body might actually do if allowed to be on a diet consistently.  It was pretty amazing, actually!  I recommitted when I ordered my second order, and again when I placed my third order.  For me, I cannot justify the expense unless I'm doing the program 100%.  So part of my "no cheat" commitment is financial.

But another part of the commitment is that I am sick to death of being overweight, sick to death of having my weight and the dieting cycle define so much of my life.  Sick to death of knowing all of the statistics about the health risks of obesity and secretly worrying that I'll be a statistic, even while stuffing my face with high calorie, high sugar, high carb and high fat food.  Sick to death of thinking that I can continue to be unwise in my food choices and that it will not eventually catch up to me in the form of diabetes or heart disease.

So today I commit to doing the work required to improve my health - staying 100% on plan, drinking my water, exercising my body - no excuses!  And I will thank God that He's given me yet another opportunity to do the right thing.  I will NOT squander this opportunity!

No excuses.  No cheating.  Not this time."

I wrote this blog 7 weeks into a journey that would take a total of 11 months, so 9 more months of 5&1 were still ahead.  I look back at that time and it was NOT easy, but wow, was it ever WORTH IT! The changes I needed to make didn't happen overnight, but they did happen one day and one choice at a time - and that's just how you'll reach your goal! 

Don't cheat yourself . . . choose wisely :-)

Complacency and Fear

An important component on our weight loss journey is getting - and keeping - our head in the game.  Along with keeping our head in the game is the challenge of managing the emotional changes that accompany our weight loss.  The meal portion of the plan is simple - all we have to do is follow the 5&1 and the weight comes off!  We don't even have to believe the program will work, we just have to do it.  The mental and emotional part of the journey is far more daunting.

Several friends of mine have done really well on plan and have gotten within striking distance of goal.  Interestingly, as goal loomed on the horizon for them, something happened to get them off plan.  A couple of friends momentarily stepped off and then got right back on plan, while others have struggled to get back on plan after watching several unwanted pounds return. 

What my friends experienced is something I've seen over and over again.  When people are closing in on goal, there is a real danger that they will either experience complacency or they'll experience fear.

Complacency often settles in because by the time someone is within ten pounds of goal, particularly if they've lost a lot of weight - they feel SO much better about themselves, they're in smaller sizes and they look and feel pretty "normal."  They may now be smaller than many of their friends, which makes it hard to stay on plan when all of their friends are eating other things.  I know this was true of me when I was about ten pounds away from goal.  I was in a size 10 by that time, the same size as many of my friends, yet they were eating things that were still off-plan for me.  There were times when I just wanted to be done with the plan and say "good enough."  I'd lost over 100 pounds, seen my blood sugar return to normal and I looked and felt pretty good!  The problem was, even though I was in a size 10, I wasn't at a healthy BMI and I wasn't at my goal.  Complacency definitely reared its ugly head and I had to refocus over and over again on what I really wanted, and what I really wanted was to be healthy, and I didn't want to settle.

The other emotion that often catches people by surprise is fear.  We get really good at losing weight and being on 5&1 becomes a safe place for us.  After years of battling weight, we finally found something that actually works and we want to stay in our cocoon forever.  The thought of reaching our goal can be scary, as it means that what has become familiar is about to change as we begin to introduce food groups back into our diet.  We can become afraid that we'll start gaining the weight back.  I've seen people self-sabotage so that they stay in a gain-lose cycle because it feels safer than facing the unknown of being at their goal weight.

For those of us who have used our weight as a protective shield, closing in our goal means we aren't invisible to people any more.  People are commenting about the weight we've lost and we're getting compliments, and that can become uncomfortable.  For many women, having other men suddenly noticing us can be extremely unsettling.  If we don't acknowledge the fear and find healthy ways to address it, we can find ourselves heading in the wrong direction once again.

A while back I read a good definition of fear:  False Evidence Appearing Real.  This definition was part of a devotional that I read about how we deal with the challenges in our lives.  The devotional talked about the story from the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus walked on the water.  One of his disciples, Peter, stepped out of the boat at Jesus' invitation and began to walk towards Him.  As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was fine, but when he looked at the waves around him, he immediately began to sink.  The devotional said that "the circumstances of our lives, whether unusual crises or everyday difficulties, batter our senses into believing untruths.  We cower at the authority of these winds and waves--these very concrete illusions--as though their authority is real.  It isn't.  We must do what is extremely difficult to do--ignore them." 

When I faced many of those fears as I approached my goal, I had to choose to keep moving forward and trust that just as God was faithful to me each step of the way on my weight loss journey, He would also be faithful to me as I reached my goal and beyond.  I knew I couldn't lose the weight on my own and I knew (and I still know!) that I would need to depend on the Lord and keep my eyes on Him to keep the weight off.  As long as I do that, I can ignore the waves around me and keep on walking!  And so can you! 

Keep your eyes on the prize, don't allow either complacency or fear to keep you from reaching your goal, and, of course, choose wisely :-)

Sustainable Motivation

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

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

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

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

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