Cans and Can'ts

There's no denying that sometimes it's just hard to stay on plan.  So many social events revolve around food . . . many of us have emotional attachments to food and spent years running to food whenever there was any emotional blip, good or bad, in our lives.  We're busy, some of us may have people in our lives who aren't supportive . . . there are dozens of reasons for not staying on plan.

I read a quote that I thought really addressed this issue.  "Some men have thousands of reasons why they can't do what they want to do, when all they need is one reason why they can." ~ Willis Whitney 

I love this quote because it cuts through the reasons why not.  Those reasons will ALWAYS be there, and when one issue is resolved it seems like two or three pop up in its place.   

If we decide that we can't stay on plan for this reason or that, we're right - we can't and we won't.  If we give ourselves and "out", human nature's tendency is to always take the "out."

Instead of focusing on the obstacles and all the reasons why we can't, if we want to be successful we have to shift our focus to what we really want and find the one reason why we can.  Once we know what we want and why we want it, the million-and-one reasons why we can't won't matter any more.

Once a person makes the fundamental decision to get to a healthy weight, it's amazing to see how those obstacles don't matter any more. After years of struggling and multiple failed attempts at losing weight, I was finally successful on this program because I had reached a point where I wanted to get to a healthy weight - and get healthy.  We went on vacation, traveled, went through the holidays (I hosted the family dinners and had 26 people for Thanksgiving and 23 for Christmas), did a fair amount of entertaining, went on a cruise and also dealt with the death of a close family member.  My life didn't go on hold for the 11 months it took to reach my goal, but all of the things that once would have been obstacles didn't matter any more because I had my reason for why I could do the program. 

I'm not unique in this (not by any means!) because I've seen the same thing over and over again over the past three years in my work as a health coach.  When an individual finds the reason and it's what they really want, everything changes.

Do you have a million reasons why you can't, or have you focused on the one reason why you can?  If you're focused on why you can, then you'll make the choices you need.  It comes down to what we choose to focus on.  Choose wisely :-)