Shame Eating

Before starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, I often engaged in what I would call "shame eating."  I would see some food item at work that I'd feel almost compelled to eat, even though I wasn't hungry, then take it when no one was looking and sneak away to consume it as fast as I could.  It could be a muffin left over from a morning meeting at work, pizza left over from a lunch meeting - it didn't matter.  There was something about seeing the food just sitting there . . . I'd be afraid that someone would throw it away and "waste" it.  So even though I wasn't hungry, I'd palm the food (I certainly didn't want anyone to SEE me with it) and either take it to my office or the bathroom, where I would shove it in my mouth as quickly as I could to make sure it was gone before anyone caught me.  I rarely enjoyed it, and I was usually embarrassed that I felt such a compulsion to not waste it (you know, there are all those starving children in India . . . ).  Never mind the fact that the food was STILL being wasted - inside me, no less.  Looking back, I realize that my co-workers undoubtedly figured out that I was the cause of the last piece of whatever disappearing (there were only 4 of us in the office, and I was the only overweight person, so it didn't exactly take Sherlock Holmes to solve the crime).

When I remember back to those pre-Take Shape for Life/Medifast days, it saddens me to realize how much control food had over me.  What a difference this program has made in my life!  While I was on 5&1, by God's grace, I was able to resist the temptations of off-plan food, and I found real freedom as I was set free from being a slave to food.

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul talks about the struggle he had in not being able to do what he knew he should do.   Verse 15 says, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do."  A few verses later (verse 24), he cries out "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"  I have always identified with these verses, feeling such anguish that I seemed to be incapable of doing what I knew I should do when it came to losing weight (among other things . . . ). 

The apostle knew that ultimately his Rescuer was Jesus Christ (verse 25).  I have the same Rescuer, and I know God led me to Take Shape for Life/Medifast almost four years ago.  He used this plan as the tool to unlock the chains that bound me for a very long time.  I am so thankful! 

My journey was (and is!) one day and one choice at a time, and so is yours.  One day, one choice . . . choose wisely :-)

Waiting Too Long

I was going to write about something else this morning, but a friend's Facebook post led me in a different direction.  She asked for prayer for the family of a friend who just passed away following a massive heart attack.  What makes his death especially sad was that it might have been prevented.

This friend was quite overweight and about a year ago my friend gave him some information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast.  She and her husband have both a lot of weight on this program and several of her friends and family members have also been very successful.  Because she cared about her friend, she gently approached him with information that she knew could make a difference in his life and his health.  He took the information and looked it over, then returned it the next day and told her that he wasn't interested.  That was a year ago, a year that could have ended up saving his life.  He was the sole caregiver for some medically-fragile relatives.

This is at least the third story I've heard of someone who was given information about Take Shape for Life/Medifast but decided, for whatever reason, that they weren't ready to lose weight and get healthy (and didn't choose another program, either), then died suddenly of heart attack or a diabetic coma.  While I can't say for certain that this wouldn't have happened anyway, I can't help but wonder if different choices made even a few months earlier would have resulted in a different outcome.

One of my friends lost a friend of hers just about a year ago when he lapsed into a diabetic coma.  He had a full order of Medifast products in one of his cabinets - it had been there for months - and he kept telling her that he knew he needed to get started.  In one of his last conversations with her, he told her that he was thinking about it, but he never moved beyond thinking about it to actually doing it and it cost him his life.

It's so easy to put things off, especially things that will require change.  Even when we know that we SHOULD do something different, making the fundamental choice to move in a new direction is difficult.  It's easy to think that we'll wait until tomorrow, or until things slow down, or . . .

Maybe you don't have any health concerns right now and just want to lose some weight so you'll look good in shorts and a swimsuit this summer, so it's easy to shrug off these stories right now.  Health issues are not one of your concerns right now.  What about tomorrow?

Others of you already have health concerns and these concerns motivated you to get started on this program.  Is getting healthy keeping you focused to stay on plan?  Is your desire to get to a healthy weight - and get healthy - compelling enough to make the choices needed to reach your goal?

I didn't write today's blog as a scare tactic because negative motivation isn't sustainable over time.  My purpose in sharing today is to encourage you to focus on a long-term goal of getting and staying healthy and not put it off until tomorrow or next week or next month.  You have the tools you need to change your life - all that's needed is to make the choices to actually do it.  Choose wisely :-)

Run Like a Rhino

Here's an interesting piece of trivia:  a rhinoceros can run 30 miles an hour!  Given it's size, 30 mph is an amazing speed (a squirrel can run 27 mph).  Do you know what's even more amazing than how fast a rhinoceros can run?  Rhinos can only see 30 feet ahead.  Think about it!  The animal can only see 30 feet in front of him and he's running 30 mph.  The person who enlightened me noted that rhinos run full speed ahead, even though they can only see 30 feet in front of them, figuring that what ever is at 31 feet better be afraid of what's coming!

Now what does this have to do with losing weight and getting healthy?  

So often we're afraid to move full-speed ahead with getting to our goal because we can't see what's ahead.  We want to see the entire path laid out before us before we're ready to just go for it.  We think we need to know exactly how transition will look and we especially want to be able to envision life in maintenance.  When some of those things are a bit fuzzy, we can find ourselves putting on the brakes because venturing into the unknown can be scary.

This can be particularly true for those of you who have struggled with weight your entire life.  If you've always been overweight, heading towards a healthy weight really CAN feel like you're the near-sighted rhino running full speed towards who-knows-what, because you're heading to a place you've never been before.  You may not like what's in your near view, but it's familiar, and that can be enough to keep you in a cycle of self-sabotage.  

If this sounds like you, here's my best suggestion:  run as fast as you can towards your goal, even if you don't have a clue what it will look like when you get there!  This requires a certain amount of courage, to be sure, and it requires some trust.  However, with each step you take, you'll see one more step ahead, so don't worry about the steps you can't yet see - they will become clear when you get there. 

And the destination - a healthy, thin body - is worth every step of the journey.  And YOU'RE worth it!  And you'll get there one meal, one day, and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)

Time to Dream

One of the things that I've heard over and over again at the Take Shape for Life conferences I've attended is "dreams give us the power to change to become the person we need to be to achieve the dream."  What I have learned is that even more important than achieving our dream are the changes that take place in us along the way.

As children, most of us dreamed a lot - that is the nature of children.  Children dream of what they will be when they grow up, they dream about their next birthday or the next vacation.  And when they dream, they dream BIG - most children put no limits on their dreams, and for a while it seems that anything is possible.  You can see it shining in their eyes!

Then children turn into adults - us!  Sadly, many if not most of us stop dreaming, assigning dreams to the stuff of childhood, or perhaps our mind's escape on a rare night of good sleep.  When we are awake, we are immersed in the reality of the here and now, and we don't have time for dreams.  Maybe we don't even believe in dreaming any more.

One of the things that happens on Take Shape for Life/Medifast's 5&1 program is that grownups start to dream again!  I've seen it happen over and over again, and I experienced it myself.  As we watch the pounds begin to melt off, we dare to dream of a different kind of life - a life that is not encumbered by extra weight, a life where we are finally comfortable in our own skin and able to do the things we want to do. 

Making those kind of dreams a reality takes hard work, and we will definitely change in the process - change is inevitable!  When we dream big - and my dream of losing 126 pounds was a BIG dream! - we begin to put into action the steps needed to achieve the dream.  The dream becomes our WHY, and when our dream and our why is big enough, we're motivated to make the secondary choices necessary to achieve that dream.

What's amazing is that as we move towards that dream and see it becoming a reality, we find an inner strength that we didn't know we had.  We develop discipline and resolve, and we learn to delay immediate gratification because our eyes are fixed on a greater goal and we aren't going to let anything get in our way.  

Some of you know exactly what I'm saying, while others of you may be afraid to allow yourselves to dream.  Go for it!  Spend some time dreaming about how you want to feel and what you want to look like when you reach your goal.  Dream about what will be different in your life.  What will you be able to do? 

As I allowed myself to finally dream about reaching my goal, and as I moved towards making that dream a reality, a lot changed in my life.  I had to learn (even at the ripe old age of 55!) to delay gratification, to say "no" to something I wanted (food) because there was something I wanted even more - being healthy.  I learned it was OK to ask for what I wanted and needed in a restaurant and not be apologetic for making a special request.  I learned that I could have a wonderful time at a party just talking to people, that I didn't need to have a plate of food in my hand to have a good time.  I also learned to depend on my Lord in an entirely new way, and to look to Him for the comfort and solace I needed instead of turning to food.  For me, that was the most transforming thing of all!

I dreamed about being at a healthy weight, but I could not have possibly dreamed about all of the wonderful things that have happened since then.  Seeing my family members and friends lose weight and get healthy, having my story and pictures run in the newspaper and in ads in national magazines, leaving my job to work full time helping others lose weight and get healthy - none of this was even on my radar!  God has blessed beyond my wildest dreams, and I'm learning to dream bigger dreams these days!

How about you?  Do you have some dreams that you're pursuing right now?  If not, can you dare to start dreaming again?  If you're dreaming about losing weight and reaching your goal, the good news is that your dream can and will become a reality - one meal, one day, and one choice at a time. Choose wisely :-)

Falling Leaves

I can hardly believe this is the last day of April!  In my part of the country, this month has taken us from the last of wintery weather to spring with trees, shrubs and tulips all beginning to bloom.  It's funny, but in the midst of all of the new growth I'm seeing all around me, here and there I'm seeing dead leaves on the ground.

Most of the leaves dropped last fall and were raked up and disposed of long ago.  However, a few leaves clung tenaciously to the trees all winter, despite cold winds and lots of snow.  A hard winter could not dislodge the leaves, so they stayed put until a week or so ago when new leaves began to emerge, finally pushing those dead leaves off the tree.  

Those dead leaves are like some of our most deeply-ingrained bad habits.  There are some habits that we can shake off fairly easily, but then there are those OTHER habits . . . habits that can't just be shaken off.  For many of us here, we've tried to drop some bad eating habits, only to find them clinging fiercely to us until we think we're stuck with them forever.

The good news is that we CAN get rid of the bad habits - AS we replace them with healthy new habits.  Replacing an old, unhealthy habit with a new, healthy one is the only way to make a permanent change.  And how do we develop new, healthy habits?  Practice :-)

Each day that we make a healthy choice instead of our former unhealthy choice, we are doing two important things at the same time:  we are strengthening the new habit and weakening the old habit.  Making this change takes time - a minimum of three weeks is needed before new habits begin to take hold (and old ones begin to loosen their grip).  Solidifying those new habits will take more time yet, and maintaining them will require ongoing diligence - but it's worth it!!

We can't just eliminate a bad habit - we need to replace it with a new, healthy habit. When we eliminate a bad habit, the void will quickly be filled by something else (often another bad habit!) unless we are very intentional about filling the void with something positive, something that will keep us moving in the direction we want to go.

Eliminating bad habits and incorporating healthy habits are reflected in the choices we make today.  Choose wisely :-)

Long-Term Vision vs. Short-Term Pain

Last month our local newspaper ran an editorial column about some of the changes our new governor has proposed in his attempt to address the challenges my state (Michigan) faces.  The editorial was entitled, "Long-Term Vision Can Justify Short-Term Pain."  The editorial was fairly balanced (in my opinion!), but I was honestly more intrigued by the title of the editorial than I was by the article itself.

None of us like to be uncomfortable and we go to great lengths to retain a measure of comfort.  As a result, it's very difficult to stretch beyond our comfort zone, even if our comfort zone isn't the best place for us to be. It's rather ironic that we will sometimes choose to stay in a place we don't want to be because it's more comfortable than stretching outside of that zone to make the changes required to be in a different place.

Because we find comfort in what's familiar, it can very difficult to endure the discomfort that change brings (even good change) unless we have a clear vision of the long-term goal.  It's that clear vision that will keep us going and help us to realize that the short-term discomfort will be worth it in the end.

Please know that I did NOT have a clear vision of a long-term goal when I started this program.  First of all, I didn't expect it to work and carefully read the money-back guarantee before I placed my first order because I fully expected that I would be sending everything back.  When I lost 18 pounds my first month, I was encouraged but assumed the loss was a fluke and not sustainable, so I cautiously placed a second order.  I still didn't have a long-term goal in mind and was very much taking it one day at a time.  

However, by the end of the second month on this program and having lost 30 pounds, I began to get a vision of actually reaching my goal.  I began to envision my life at a healthy weight and began to dream of a life that didn't revolve around dieting.  I began to imagine what it would be like to not wake up every morning wishing I was thin, of looking in the mirror and not hating my reflection.  As my long-term vision of life at goal became clear, that vision made the short-term sacrifices not only endurable but actually worth it.

I wanted to reach my goal and each pound I lost brought me one pound closer to where I wanted to be.  I was certainly aware of the fact that there were a lot of things I was choosing to not eat, and it's not that those foods weren't tempting - they were!  And it's not that it was easy to not give in - it wasn't easy and at times it was incredibly difficult.  But I wanted something desperately and I wanted it enough to endure the short-term discomfort required to get there.  Almost three years after reaching goal, I have NO regrets - not one!

What is your long-range vision?  Where do you want to be?  If you are moving towards something you really want, it will be MUCH easier to stay on plan and not be swayed by the temptations that surround you. Sure there may be some temporary discomfort in turning down a favorite food, and there may even be some discomfort involved in eating a bit differently than others around you, but that discomfort won't dissuade you if you're focused on where you're going.

Only you can decide if your long-term vision is truly worth the short-term pain, so I encourage you to dream big!  Once you have your long-term vision in mind, choose wisely :-)

Lace Up Those Running Shoes!

My daughter is a runner and is preparing to run a half-marathon next month.  Because she is preparing for a half-marathon, she is focused on endurance and knows she needs to pace herself so she can go the distance.  Preparing for a marathon is very different from preparing for a 100-yard sprint, and running a marathon is very different from running a sprint, too.

The difference between preparing for and running a marathon versus a sprint certainly applies to the journey we're on, because we've embarked on a marathon.  We really have to prepare ourselves to stay consistent over the long haul, because no matter how long it will take for us to reach our goal, reaching our goal is only the first phase of this program.  Maintaining at a healthy weight is the rest of the program - one marathon after another.

I'm not a runner (I have a bad knee), but I've watched bits and pieces of a few marathons over the years.  As I think back to the marathons, one thing I remember is that most of the runners aren't smiling while they're running.  Some of them look like they're concentrating, and others are actually grimacing.  The exhilaration of taking off at the starting line eventually fades and the marathoner is faced with the task of just putting one foot in front of the other.  At some point along the way, it's not particularly fun any more.  But running a marathon isn't necessarily about having fun along the way (although some runners really do enjoy the journey).  Running in a marathon is about finishing it and having the satisfaction of knowing that the runner accomplished something difficult.  There might not be a lot of smiling going on during the marathon, but there are lots of smiles and lots of celebrations at the finish line.

Sometimes we have unrealistic expectations about the weight loss marathon we're on and we expect it to be fun and exciting the entire time.  That might be true if it was a 50 yard dash, but it's not a dash - this is the marathon of our lives.  The reality is that we will alternate between exhilaration and exhaustion, between feeling like this is the best thing we've ever done to hating the thought of doing this one more day.  In the end, we will experience a full spectrum of emotions on this journey, but as long as we keep putting one foot in front of another, we will cross the finish line.  And when we cross the finish line and reach goal, there will be smiles and lots of celebration.  

And after the celebration we'll begin the next marathon - maintenance :-).

So, are your running shoes laced up this morning?  It's another marathon day - are you committed to staying the course today?  Your commitment will be reflected in the choices you make . . . choose wisely :-)