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 once heard someone say 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 :-)

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 :-)

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.  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 blogging.

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 :-)

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 :-)

Seven Years Ago

As I was looking at my infamous "before" picture taken at the Grand Canyon, I realized that the picture was taken just seven 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 seven 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 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 seven 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 :-)

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, 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 :-)