No Wiggle Room

I remember seeing an ad in the paper several years ago for a weight loss program and the ad said, "If you could lose weight on your own, you would have already done so."  I bristled when I read that because I still believed that I could do it on my own.  I knew what to eat, I had a fairly good understanding of nutrition and I had a thick book that listed the calories, fat and carb grams of just about any food you could think of.  I rejected the notion that I needed a program - I was smart and I had the tools and the information I needed.  The problem was that this smart, equipped woman kept gaining weight, ended up with 268 pounds packed on my 5' 5" frame.

For over twenty years, I was either on some kind of a diet or reading about the newest "get thin quick" diet, and I managed to acquire a shelf full of diet books, each promising that this was THE way to lose weight.  The problem was, I thought I was smarter than the program.  It didn't matter what program I was on, within a few days I'd be back to my old tricks - playing with the program, changing things here and there, substituting one food for another.  I figured that as long as I understood the principles, I could mix it up and do it my way.  

Obviously, doing things "my way" didn't work for me.  By the time I made the decision to order my first four-week Take Shape for Life/Medifast order, I was ready to just follow the program.  I finally came to the realization that I couldn't lose weight on my own and, despite the fact that I was intelligent and informed, there was a real disconnect between the knowledge I supposedly had and my actions.  Reaching the end of myself was the start of what will be the rest of my healthy life.

I followed the 5&1 program to the letter.  I weighed and measured my protein portions, I measured my vegetables, and I just did what I was told.  To my amazement, it actually worked :-).  I didn't play with the calorie or carb allotment, substituting my own 100 calorie this or that for one of the Medifast meals - I just opened another packet every 2-1/2 or 3 hours and kept losing weight.  I also didn't try to outsmart the program by over-exercising, which is something I'd done in the past.  I waited three weeks to start exercising (actually, I waited a bit longer than that . . . ), and I kept my exercise to about 45 minutes a day.  And it kept on working!

There really is no built-in "wiggle room" on 5&1.  It's restrictive by design, and it's designed to help you safely reach a healthy weight as quickly as possible.  Have you reached the point where you're ready to just follow the program, or are you still trying to figure out an angle where you can sort-of do the program and sort-of do your own thing?  How you honestly answer this question will determine the likelihood of you being successful on this program.   Ultimately, the choice of how you do the program is yours to make.  Choose wisely :-)