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 :-)
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