What are some of the things we tell ourselves while on a diet? "Someday I'll be at goal and I'll be happy...."
Make your someday NOW.
One of the dangers of actually GETTING to our goal is that we realize life is pretty much the same the day we hit that magical number as it was the day BEFORE we hit that magical number. Or the WEEK before we hit that magical number. Or the MONTH before we hit that magical number. This manifests itself in the possibility of a HUGE emotional let down once that magic number appears on the scale. We expected more. We thought that GETTING to that number is what would BRING happiness to our lives. And it didn't. What gives?
My takeaway of hitting goal in 2007 was that life and joy and happiness is to be sought after and embraced NOW. It will not magically appear the day we hit goal. We need to be sowing those seeds now, and rejoicing in our accomplishments along the way.
Getting to goal IS an accomplishment, that is for sure. But we don't have to put life on hold while we get there. Our best living is not tomorrow or someday, our best living is NOW!
What are YOU doing TODAY to make TODAY the best day of your life? Is there something you are putting off until that elusive goal number appears? Do you not feel worthy enough NOW to do that? Do you not feel valuable enough yet to do that?
Claim it. Do it. Be it. Live in the now. Because today is the only "someday" we are assured of.
So read fiction. Smile at everyone. Sing in the shower. Practice happiness NOW, and when you DO hit goal you'll be an expert at it =).
Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat!
Friday, July 8, 2011
ONE COTTON-PICKIN DAY AT A TIME!
Sometimes it truly is just one day at a time. One day. Just today. And sometimes the routine of it is really like picking cotton. All day. Every day. In the hot sun. In the rain. In the wind. In the....well you get my meaning.
I cannot focus on the enormity of the task before me. If I had done that I would have given up 11 months ago, 1 week into my program.
But I did not. I focus on today.
Are my individual eating choices TODAY moving me closer to, or farther away from my goal?
Well, first I had to have a goal. I needed a goal that was tangible, realistic, obtainable and measurable. I picked midrange of a healthy BMI.
Time frame. How long would it take me? If I averaged the MINIMUM weight loss on Medifast it would take me 75 weeks. If I averaged the MIDRANGE weight loss on Medifast it would take me 42 weeks.
OK. So sometime between 42 and 75 weeks.
I am 49 weeks in to my program. And I am down 99 lbs.
I think it is safe to say I can expect a 2 lb/week loss from here on out. I have 51 lbs to go, so I should be at my goal in 26 weeks.
Now. Remember, I've been on Medifast for 49 weeks. If I looked at it as "Good Gosh, I HAVE to be on MEDIFAST for HALF A YEAR MORE!?!?!?", it would be an accurate statement, but it would also have the potential to lead to discouraging thoughts, which would lead to self-defeating thoughts of "how did I let myself get here in the first place?"
So the way I choose to look at it, and it is a choice just like everything else, is to say "Today I have the opportunity to make choices that will lead me toward my ultimate goal."
So I do. I'm not "GOOD" or "BAD" on my program. I am either moving TOWARD or AWAY from the goals I have set for myself.
And I've got time. Lord willing, time I've got. And the time will pass anyway, whether I am "doing" Medifast or not. But I ask myself, what better use of my time could I be doing than to be becoming the best version of myself I can possibly be? In finding my authentic self? I can do this while still taking care of my family and all my earthly responsibilities. So why wouldn't I? One day at a time.
Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat!
I cannot focus on the enormity of the task before me. If I had done that I would have given up 11 months ago, 1 week into my program.
But I did not. I focus on today.
Are my individual eating choices TODAY moving me closer to, or farther away from my goal?
Well, first I had to have a goal. I needed a goal that was tangible, realistic, obtainable and measurable. I picked midrange of a healthy BMI.
Time frame. How long would it take me? If I averaged the MINIMUM weight loss on Medifast it would take me 75 weeks. If I averaged the MIDRANGE weight loss on Medifast it would take me 42 weeks.
OK. So sometime between 42 and 75 weeks.
I am 49 weeks in to my program. And I am down 99 lbs.
I think it is safe to say I can expect a 2 lb/week loss from here on out. I have 51 lbs to go, so I should be at my goal in 26 weeks.
Now. Remember, I've been on Medifast for 49 weeks. If I looked at it as "Good Gosh, I HAVE to be on MEDIFAST for HALF A YEAR MORE!?!?!?", it would be an accurate statement, but it would also have the potential to lead to discouraging thoughts, which would lead to self-defeating thoughts of "how did I let myself get here in the first place?"
So the way I choose to look at it, and it is a choice just like everything else, is to say "Today I have the opportunity to make choices that will lead me toward my ultimate goal."
So I do. I'm not "GOOD" or "BAD" on my program. I am either moving TOWARD or AWAY from the goals I have set for myself.
And I've got time. Lord willing, time I've got. And the time will pass anyway, whether I am "doing" Medifast or not. But I ask myself, what better use of my time could I be doing than to be becoming the best version of myself I can possibly be? In finding my authentic self? I can do this while still taking care of my family and all my earthly responsibilities. So why wouldn't I? One day at a time.
Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
June 28th - July 6th, 2011
100 lb loss reward....a full body massage. Oh my ever-lovin' goodness gracious sakes. I did it. I booked a massage for Friday. A full-body in-the-buff-just-a-little-towel-to-cover-you massage. I'm at 97 lbs lost so I'm calling it good because I'm taking myself to San Francisco for the weekend. And I am a bit freaked about the prospect of getting a massage, but I do remember the first time I lost weight on Medifast when I got that first one I thought "why in the world did I wait so long to do THIS?!?!?" So I'm doing it, folks. Getting one at 100 lbs lost, and the next one at 125 lbs lost. Doin' it for me. | ||||||||||
| Resolve is a precious gift. Resolve is that faith in ourselves which took us from watching other people lose weight and be successful, to US losing weight and being successful. Resolve allowed us to place that first Medifast order with the hope and knowledge that we, too, could do this. Resolve. If I could bottle resolve and store it on my shelf for the time when I have less and need some, I would not struggle, EVER. But resolve is sometimes taken for granted. We slip into the dangerous ground of being so confident this program works, and works WELL, that we think we can take vacations from it and of course we will "get right back on"....double-pinkie-swear. The problem is it does not always work like that. SOME can take time off, a meal off, a weekend off, a Saturday night off, etc and return to finish it. MANY more than I can count take time off and return with less resolve, and eventually don't return at all. Problem is, you never know which you will be until much much later. So it's kinda like playing Russian Roulette. How are we safeguarding, how are we valuing and protecting our resolve? Because I'd hate to wake up one morning and see that mine decided to pack it's bags and head for the door because I was taking it for granted.... Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| I look back on my journey, and one of the things I notice is that I have had the most consistent success when I have been taking care of myself first. If I don't have my oxygen mask on how can I assist those around me? If I am not fully whole, I am not able to offer my best to my family. And I am shortchanging myself AND my family. I read a verse this morning in Acts, it speaks of a lame man who was sitting at the temple gates begging for alms. Peter comes up to him and the man is expecting Peter to give him some money, but instead Peter lifts him up by his hands, and tells him to walk. The man goes with Peter in to the temple, leaping and rejoicing because he has been made well. I was that lame man last year. I was just barely getting by. I was poor in spirit and NOT taking care of myself physically. I had nothing but scraps of emotional energy to share with my family. But then something happened. I began to believe that I could in fact become the best version of myself possible. Not only could I do that, but that it was the best way I could minister to my family. I put my oxygen mask on. I have been putting my oxygen mask on for almost 11 months now and am down just about 100 pounds. And in that time, almost from the beginning of my decision a year ago to put on my oxygen mask, by emotional availability to my family has been through the roof. I am leaping and rejoicing when I head out for my 25 minute run at 5:59 am 3 days a week. I am leaping and rejoicing when I attend Yoga classes 3 times a week. It is not wrong or selfish to want to be the best person we can possibly be. In fact, it reaps blessings on others because my family will tell you last year I was a grump. My scowl-lines on my face had scowl-lines of their own because I was angry at the world, angry at myself, yes, even perhaps angry at God for "letting" me gain all of my weight back. I realized I was in denial about who was to "blame" and instead of beating myself up over it and hating myself, I did just the opposite. I turned my hope into a strategy and have been doing Medifast ever since. I guess if there is one thing I want to leave the readers with in this blog it would be that "Hope is not a strategy", and to help others you must first help yourself. That kind of "selfishness" is not the bad kind. So put on your oxygen masks! One white packet at a time! Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| With a lady in Barnes and Noble who is in desperate need of Medifast. I am praying that she will consider doing the program, she just started thinking about Bariatric Surgery last month, as she needs a double-knee replacement after multiple knee surgeries but the Doctors don't want to do the replacements until she loses some weight first. Does your heart ever just break for everyone around you at the same time who is morbidly obese? Mine did today. I almost cried in my double-espresso looking around at the "average American" coming in and out of the coffee shop. Maybe I'm just PMS but I was super-emotional today about getting America healthy one person at a time. If you are the praying kind, please pray for her. | ||||||||||
| I've been at this (my second time around) for almost a year now. Last year when I committed to myself to do this one last time, I saw many inspiring Medifasters posting regularly. They still do. And it is inspiring. Now I've been here for almost 11 months, and have done well, and I would encourage all who are just starting out and feel like you have a long road ahead of you...we all do. I have by no means had an earth-shattering average weight loss my second time around. It just goes slower the second time, because I had less Lean Body Mass to start with (having lost the appropriate amount of LBM along with my fat the first time around....). My average has been about 7-8 lbs/month. But I've stuck to it. I've stuck with it. And you can too! And at some point, the newbies will be signing on and reading YOUR blog and saying "Wow, I just don't know if I can be as successful as that...." Yes, they can. And yes, you can. It takes time and patience. The time I've got, the patience I like to think I have learned. Yeah right. =) So keep it up. Take it one day, one hour, one SECOND at a time if you have to. One Medifast packet at a time. Even if they are all brownies LOL. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| It almost seems like a given that those of us on Medifast want to lose weight and be healthy. Of course we do. We've been dreaming about it, feeling deprived if it, for years and years. The LACK of being fit and healthy has been an excuse for us for as long as we can remember, sort of like wanting to climb that mountain, but we can't because instead of hiking boots we have these old comfy worn shoes which are falling apart but we can't bear to give up. So do we really WANT this? Do we really WANT to finally, for once in our lives, become the best version of ourselves? Do we? Because when it all boils down to it, we usually find a way to get what we want. But do we want it? For some, the insulation of fat is the crutch we are actually afraid to get rid of. So we sabotage ourselves. We focus on the food we can't have, until the tension is so great we "cave" and binge on it. Is it really about the deprivation? Or are we secretly telling ourselves that what we really WANT is to STAY fat? Losing this safety net of insulation (ie fat) takes courage. It is courage that I KNOW WE ALL POSSESS..... We do. We all have it within ourselves to be the BEST version of ourselves we possibly can be. We have been entrusted with this body, I believe by the Lord, in order that we would be good stewards of it. Are we using it for His glory? Or are we using it for OUR shame? I see the tendency in my own life, when I am doing very well and adhering to the program as written, a bit of fear creeps in. That fear could mask itself as desire for a glass of wine. That fear could mask itself as desire for anything off plan. Or a desire to NOT go for my run when my alarm clock goes off. Either way, at it's core, it is a fear of living up to my God-given potential. I mean, what if I become the best version of myself that I can possibly be, and am STILL a disappointment? Then what? At least if I am overweight I have an excuse to be disappointed in myself. When that is gone? What then? These are some things I have been pondering lately. What is at the core of my belief system about myself? About what I am capable of? Of what drives me? How do I consistently keep on track not only in the food part, which is pretty self-explanatory, but also consistently keep focused on what I want? And how to I make sure I am wanting fitness and optimal health all the time? How do I not be afraid of success? Until next time...... Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| How many times throughout my life have I thought of dieting in terms of eating the "right" or the "wrong" foods, being "good" on my diet or being "bad" on my diet? I believe that it is quite possible that we set ourselves up for failure and defeat just by using this terminology. Eating off-plan foods is not a question of morality. It is not being "good" or being "bad" as defined by what I choose to put into my mouth. Sometimes I wonder if it is part of the problem? I look at it this way. Part of me, a very small part I will call my inner-brat, just wants to be BAD sometimes. Call it a rebel gene. Call it the perpetual teen-ager syndrome. Call it human nature, or just being "human". So part of me is prone to wanting to "act out" or to engage in "negative behavior" much like a rebellious teen. Perhaps it is because so much of my life is already structured and I feel a great amount of responsibility for myself and my family. I'm not a psychoanalyst and I don't play one on TV so really I don't know what is behind it. But I have found something very interesting in terms of my internal classification of food....when I strip food of it's labels of "good" or "bad", the food that I considered "bad" loses it's appeal. Let me explain it a different way. I have two fundamental choices to make when confronted with an opportunity for off-plan eating. Whether I was blindsided and the opportunity popped up unannounced or I, by way of social obligations etc, had to attend a function where off-plan foods were in abundance. My two choices are: 1) Eat food that will take me closer to my goal of optimal health 2) Eat food that will take me farther from my goal of optimal health. That is it. Choices. Instead of being "good" or "bad" I have redefined it in terms of a chart with a timeline. My goal of optimal health is at one end, and a shortened lifespan with potential obesity-related illnesses is at the other. Which choice do I make? Well, I can make the choice that will take me closer to my goal of optimal health, or I can make the one that will take me farther from that goal. Again, for me it is no longer a question of "good" or "bad" behavior. It is a choice of where I am headed, and do I want to keep that momentum in the direction I have chosen? These are some of the things that I have been pondering lately. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| I have this vision of myself in my mind's eye, which is SO very different from the image portrayed in my "before" pictures. First impressions mean a lot. And our OWN impressions of ourselves mean a lot also. In our deepest desires, who do we want to become? I have always had a innermost deep desire to be a picture of health. All of it. The whole package. Age doesn't matter to me, but health DOES. I am picturing in my mind's eye a very fit, slim and trim toned blonde lady running the Paris Marathon. Whether that happens in 2012 or 2013, it WILL happen. Lord willing! I am becoming that picture of health. It started with the weight loss. I lost about 80 pounds on Medifast before I began my exercise program. Had I begun any earlier, I am convinced personally that I would have drastically reduced the life of my knees! =) But all of a sudden it seems like I have woken up to a new me who resembles more the person I WANT to be than the person I STARTED out as. This new me has a gentle Yoga class on Mondays Wednesdays and Saturdays. This new me is doing the C25K running program on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. This new me is working on strengthening her core. This new me bicycles to Sprouts Grocery Store to buy her veggies a few times a week. This new me is wearing size 10 jeans, down from size 26 less than a year ago. I am reminded of Epictetus. He said "Say who it is you would be, then do what you need to do." I have said it. I will do it. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! Attachment: ParisMarathonpic1.jpg | ||||||||||
| The moment of decision....we've been there...that spontaneous pull that seemed to come out of nowhere and blindside us. Before we knew it we were reaching for (insert forbidden food here) and had it headed for our mouth. STOP. Just stop. CHALLENGE. Challenge yourself, will this take you further from your goal or closer to your goal of optimal health? CHOOSE. Choose. Just choose. Because everything we put into our mouth is a choice. There is no such thing as mindless eating. There are conditioned responses, but even those responses are a result of a series of choices, the pathway is just so familiar in our brains that it seems routine. Changing that familiar pathway also seems painful at times. Downright painful. As if real physical pain were involved. It takes 21 days to establish a habit, whether bad or good. Lets begin today establishing the GOOD habits, because honestly those are as hard to break once established as bad ones are. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | ||||||||||
| Many of us here are here because we have spent the last 5, 10, 20 or more years getting busy dying. We have been preoccupied with feeding ourselves into obesity. We have been slowly poisoning our bodies and our souls. Let's face it, anyone who IS Obese is setting themselves up for an early death. So MY perspective is that Medifast is a tool, and my doing the program day in and day out IS my lifeline. I am getting busy living, because there is SO much living I plan on doing on this earth, Lord willing! So, my inner-brat is staying in the closet today, in the straitjacket I place her in every morning. I've actually ordered a POD for her, it will be delivered tomorrow. I'll throw her in there and they can store her in some warehouse in an undisclosed location. Pretend she's in the witness protection program or something. Either way, she is hitting the road and I'm not giving her a key to the house so she can sneak back in the side door someday. What is your inner-brat telling YOU to do today which would result in you making the decision to "get busy dying"? Wouldn't you rather make that choice to "get busy living"? I would! I am. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat. |
June 1 - June 21, 2011
When I Just Don't "Feel" Like It My feelings are fickle, I don't know about yours. Part of my journey has been learning to dissociate my feelings, both emotional and how my body "feels" from day to day, from what I eat. Now, for an emotional eater, that is a tall order. But it has been a necessary component of my weight loss journey of self-discovery. For example, it is just about TOM. This has caused me to "feel" pretty crazy both emotionally and physically. I feel bloated. My jeans are a little snug. Now, I KNOW why this is. But the actual feeling of being bloated and having snug jeans when I don't think they should be snug causes me to "feel" like I've already blown it diet-wise, when I KNOW I have not. When I "feel" like I've blown it, I "feel" like having whatever I want because I've already blown it so why not enjoy the rest of the day/week? And it's not true. Firstly, it's just a lie. I haven't blown my diet. I feel bloated and big because I'm TOM. Secondly, even if I HAD gone off plan and eaten something to cause me to feel bloated that is NO cause to make poor choices for the rest of the day/week! These are the issues I have identified and, I feel, really begun to address. The lies that my brain tells myself based on how I feel emotionally or physically. My responses to those lies is to CHALLENGE THEM WITH TRUTH, and to be at peace despite how I feel, knowing I am doing everything day by day to further my health goals. I will not derail myself. I will not let my body call the shots. I am master over my body, not the other way around. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This is kind of a tough one to write, but hopefully it will help someone on their journey. My path has been somewhat unique. In 06/07 I lost 140 lbs in 14 months on Medifast. I gained it all back in the next 14 months. Back up at my high weight, I despised myself. My self-loathing knew no depths. And that was part of my problem. Who wants to take care of and nurture something they despise? I despised my body. Mirrors were a constant source of heartache for me. My new "goal wardrobe" hung in my closet, condemning me every time I went in. Eventually, I stopped going in, and instead wore sweat pants and sweat shirts/t-shirts instead, leaving them draped on my bedroom floor when not in use. I had become, in a word, slovenly. My outsides matched my insides. Confused, bewildered, I began a deep soul-searching which involved Beth Moore (a conference), and spending a little bit of time with my friend Brenda Warner. These two ladies' inspiration, their common message, was one of hope. The hope they shared with me was two-fold. Beth, at her conference, shared that we are all built for eternity. That God has made each of us unique in our own ways, and we are His. And He wants us to live up to our full God-given potential. Brenda shared with me the truth that it is never too late to become the person we might have been. And there I was, 268 lbs and hating myself. Hating that I had lost the weight and gained it back. Hating how my body had betrayed me. Hating every moment of how it felt to lumber down the grocery aisle, sweating, pushing a cart everyone was scrutinizing. Hating the fact that no one wanted to catch my eye. Hating the wrinkle-lines that were becoming more permanent between my eye-brows from my scowling. Hating how rude I was to perfect strangers, how I snapped at my family for no good reason. And then in a moment of clarity, I forgave myself. I forgave my body. I forgave my spirit. I forgave myself. I began Medifast. Again. I did the work. I clawed my way, meal by meal, out of my despair. I started at an Obese BMI + 99 lbs extra! So for me, hitting "overweight", which I will hit in 8 more pounds of loss, is a real milestone. I don't hate myself. I love myself. I AM worthy. I CAN do this, and I am proving that to myself every day. And this time, I'll transition and maintain. Day by day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So many of us, I know I in particular, can identify with the title of my blog. We wouldn't be here if we weren't our problem. And you know what? We also wouldn't be here if the second part wasn't true, that we are our solution. Medifast is not the solution. Medifast is a tool. We are the solution. And we are grown-up, fully-capable individuals who can DO THIS THING for 24 hours. Just 24 hours. No matter whether we have 150 more pounds to lose, or 50 more pounds to lose, the next 24 hours is ALL we need worry about. The next 24 hours WILL determine whether we eventually get to our goal.....or whether we revert back to being our problem. When I began this recent journey last summer, I had 150 pounds to lose. Now I have 50-ish pounds to lose. The difference between last summer beginning the program and now? Just a day. The same day, repeated over and over, but still just TODAY. And TODAY I will be my solution. TODAY I will stay On Plan. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Just a quick note to say "Happy Sunday!" Let's make this an ON plan day! If you are struggling, remember to BLOG, don't EAT. Catch you on the flip side! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All I can say is it pretty much rocked my world. If any of you get a chance to see this movie, see it. It is opening in select markets nationwide this month, and is already open in some locations. Artsy Indy theatres will most likely be carrying it. I saw it at the Camelview here in Phoenix and am taking my teenaged nieces to see it in the morning. Wow. Wow. The premise is that it is about how our Western Diet, specifically in the last 40-50 years, has contributed to many degenerative diseases. It is eye-opening if anything. Just thought I'd share. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I have a large tin placard in my kitchen that reads "Believe in your dreams and you will achieve them". I am sold on this concept. One year ago I was at a Beth Moore convention in Tucson. She spoke on reaching our God-given potential here on earth. You see, many people of my faith look towards heaven and forget that we are ALREADY eternal beings. Our eternity, our hope, is already here! As a result of the "heaven someday" mindset, we sometimes NEGLECT our physical bodies here on earth. And let's face it, this life ain't a picnic. But we CAN choose how to take care of this vessel we are in for the short term. We CAN choose what quality our life will have, and I believe it is our God-given responsibility to "Honor Him with our bodies" and present them a "living sacrifice". Hmmmm. A living sacrifice. Does this mean I can't eat my double-fudge-yummo-sludge? For me, yes, that is exactly what that means. My body responds to double-fudge-yummo-sludge in a way that makes me appear to be a glutton. And let's face it, anyone who is packing 100 pounds into the OBESE BMI will present themselves to everyone around them as a glutton. Gluttony is one of those acceptable sins in the modern Western church today. We celebrate every event with food, food, and more food. We have church potlucks for "food and fellowship", emphasis on food. We fully understand that murder and adultery, well those are SERIOUS sins... But I contend that Gluttony is as serious, and as damaging. We are killing OURSELVES. We are cheating OURSELVES. And I was a far cry from honoring my body and presenting it a living sacrifice when I weighed 268. For me, part of this is a spiritual discipline. A daily commitment to attempt to honor Him with my body, to become the person I COULD have been, the person I can still YET BE. Because God made me. And every day I am thankful for that. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| What's the difference? Negative goals are usually what start us out on a weight loss program. They aren't called "negative" goals because they are bad or wrong, not at all. they are called negative goals because they involve trying to move AWAY from the discomfort, pain, or consequences (medically for example) of being obese. When the pain of staying the same OUTWEIGHS the pain of change, we, being creatures who wish to avoid pain, will move in the direction of CHANGE. But at some point along the line we MUST re-evaluate our goals, because one by one those negative goals will be met. If we are relying solely on those goals to keep us "motivated" then the "motivation" will disappear as those negative goals are met. Examples of negative goals: **I don't want to be the largest one in the room anymore **I don't want to be wearing jeans whose size begins with a "2_" **I want to be off my BP medication or insulin **I just want to be able to get off the floor without a furniture prop to rely on **I don't want to have to have a seatbelt extender on the airplane **I want my knees/back to stop hurting from carrying around 100 pounds of fat I don't need Do you see that these are all "negative goals" meaning things we are running away FROM? So, what happens when you start meeting them? Your Doc cuts your medication in half. You wake up with NO pain in your back. You move into a size 18 jeans. You can get up from sitting on the floor playing with your kids on your own strength. You aren't the biggest one in the room anymore. When this happens, you tend to lose some motivation bit by bit. How do we stay on task? How do we stop being "comfortable" with where we are, and therefore, lax on the program? Now, let's think in terms of "Positive Goals" **I want to wear Medium tops and size 8 jeans again **I want to be able to run a mile without stopping **I want to fit into my wedding dress again **I want to look great for my 25-year reunion **I want to skydive **I want to horseback ride **I want to walk into a running store and look like I belong **I want to buy a size 8 dress off the rack at Macy's and not have the cashier ask if I want a gift receipt with that **I want to be midrange of a healthy BMI for my height **I want Optimal Health These are examples of things or events that you are moving TOWARDS, not trying to AVOID. So you look FORWARD to them, and they help draw you in to making your lifestyle change a permanent one. So my homework for myself this week is to review my list of "why's", of why I am doing this plan, and to begin to change my negative goals into positive goals. How about you? Dr. A talks about all these things in his book "Habits of Health" which I can highly recommend. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One of the lovely catch-phrases that float around my head every so often is "You could always be bigger", the "you" referring to yours truly. Scares the dickens out of me, and it is so true! Let me tell you a story. Disneyworld, 2009 trip with Kurt Warner's family and 8 other families of "Make-A-Wish" Kids. I was nearing my all-time high of 268, and that is my highest "recorded" weight although I'm pretty sure I actually was in the 270's coming home from that trip. You enter into a certain numbed out mindset as you are gaining weight that you'll hit a certain ceiling, say the biggest you were before losing weight the "last time" and somehow you'll stop gaining. I think it is some sort of self-protection that the brain figures you can't handle the truth, and so you delude yourself into thinking life at that high weight wasn't UNBEARABLE, I mean, you still laughed, you still had fun, you know, denial. But then something that happens that makes you realize the hard truth. Just when you thought you were as big as you could be, you GET BIGGER. How do I know this? I mean really, who can measure? I'll tell you who can FLIPPIN' measure, those SEAT BELTS on the AIRPLANES. That's who. And they are as objective and cold-hearted as they come. So I managed to get TO Disneyworld without an extender. I even managed to buckle my belt on the way HOME at the gate before departure. But then something happened SO TRAUMATIC that it left an indelible impression on my very SOUL. ...... Are you ready for it? ..... Midway through the 4 hour flight I got up to use the rest room. When I came back to my seat and attempted to buckle my seatbelt.......(cue ominous music).... It wouldn't click. How do you explain to a flight attendant that, ahem, you need an extender NOW, midflight, when you DIDN'T need one at the gate? I realized I wasn't just expanding by the month, or by the week, or by the day, I was EXPANDING BY THE HOUR. By the HOUR, people. So. When I say "you could always be bigger" to myself, I know that I mean it, and I KNOW that I KNOW that I know what that means. Fear. Fear is not a bad motivator, it gives me that little edge of protection against my inner-brat. I'll keep a little healthy fear in the back of my brain. It's in my little bag of tricks that I pull out if I am particularly tempted by something not on plan. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you ever seen a baby try to walk? They take a few steps, they fall down. They take a few steps, they fall down. Have you ever seen an adult who never stopped walking like a baby? Literally? Take a few (real) steps, fall down. Take a few (real) steps, fall down. I think if we saw someone doing this who was NOT a baby or a toddler we would wonder why they weren't walking "normal", why the whole "walking" thing never quite took, never became natural. I think of that in terms of the Medifast program. Balance. Objective. Goals. Determination. Perseverance. All of these words come to my mind when I think about a baby who is learning to walk. It is also what we need while we change our life utilizing Medifast! And most of all, commitment. Babies never give up trying to walk, and neither should we. No matter how many times we fall down. As far as my personal experience, anyone who knows my story knows that I not only fell down, I tumbled off a 140 story building. But I didn't stay there. And I began again with a renewed goal, which was to be the best version of myself that I could possibly be, to live up to my God-given potential. There came a point in my Medifast experience when I hit my stride. I stopped falling down. I stopped kidding myself that it was "OK" to fall down every once in awhile, that everyone "falls down" and it is only a matter of getting back up, or that if I had a "planned falling down", or a "falling down with a wine glass in my hand" then it wasn't really falling down because I CHOSE to do it, etc etc. For me, and for my Medifast Story, the falling down is over, Lord willing. I make my good decisions and ask the Lord to back those good decisions up with His strength. But He has never made the good decision for me. That part I get to do on my own. Will I never ever make a single new bad decision for the rest of my life? Can't and won't say that. But for today? Nope. I will make no bad decisions TODAY. I have made a choice to be constant and consistent, and I am doing this. One meal at a time, one day at a time. I am a 41 year old woman and I can finally say that I know how to walk. What took me so long!!! =) Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last week I gave all of my specialty dessert/cake baking cookbooks away. This is no small thing, as I had several BOXES of them. You see, I love to cook. I am a foodie, a cook, and I used to decorate wedding cakes. And oh boy did I have a good collection of those types of books. But here is the thing. I will never be using them again, not for myself, and not for my family! The only cookbooks that remain on my shelves are those which contain healthy fare. Simple ingredients, lots of veggies. Some vegetarian. I have made this a lifestyle change, and that includes ridding my house of The Cake Bible and Collette's Cakes and even Paula Dean. Gone. Have a great day! |
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