| "I am not feeling restricted and deprived, I am free and choosing"... is what I wrote on a comment of a blog today. And it really got me thinking about "the" difference for me. I have had an interesting journey. The first time I did Medifast was in 06/07, and I lost 140 pounds, and I felt restricted and deprived the entire time I did the plan. I white knuckled it through and lost the weight. This time, I'm down 113 pounds, and I am NOT feeling restricted and deprived. I have really wrapped my head around the fact that I am FREE, and I am CHOOSING to do that which will carry me TOWARDS optimal health. Not just AWAY from feeling bad about myself. There IS a difference. I am so excited to see what it is I will become in this process, to continue to see how my life will change even more. It has already changed so much I can't even tell you. But my motivation is optimal health and ultra health, NOT just "feeling better about myself and not hating myself". That only got me so far, then I realized that I STILL didn't feel great about myself because I hadn't given myself anything to work TOWARDS. So when I got to my goal the first time, sure I looked great on the outside, but all I was left with was a big void of NOT being who I WAS, and being GLAD for that. But if you AREN'T who you WERE anymore, who ARE you? I didn't understand that concept last time. And therefore I didn't stay at goal long. This time I am dreaming of and falling in love with and BECOMING my AUTHENTIC self. The person I 'might have' been, the person I AM becoming! If I love her I'll want to take care of her and preserve her good health. So I am doing this thing. I love who I am, I love who I am becoming. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| Honestly, he did. My husband began Medifast yesterday, and he is on day 2 today. He has used Medifast on and off over the last 5 or 6 years to maintain his weight, so this in itself is not a surprise. What did shock me is that he took my copy of Dr. Andersen's Habits of Health to the coffee shop today and came back a changed man. I kid you not. He read through the introduction, the forward, the preface, and chapters 1-3 and he came home babbling all sorts of things about inspiration, potential, positive goals, changing one's destiny, moving towards optimal health.... All the same FREAKING THINGS I have been talking to him and the world about these last 6 months! =) I am so happy! =) An afternoon spent with Dr. Andersen and my husband is ready to shout it from the rooftops! Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| Will you be ON PLAN or OFF PLAN? Make the choice first thing, then get on with your day, doing your Medifast in the background of your life. The more you bring individual food choices into the rest of your day, the more the food has won because it is dominating your thoughts. Don't let it. Decide today whom you will serve....optimal health, (and all the hopes and dreams of health you have for yourself), or FOOD. I look at it is a spiritual choice for myself. To live as the person God intended me to be (a healthy weight, as He designed me to be), or indulging my flesh with the yummy food and being a glutton. Because if I am gaining weight, I am consuming more than I need. And that makes me a glutton. I am a Christian. I love the Lord. I make no secret of it. And when I think about it, gluttony is a serious sin as far as scripture is concerned, but in the Western Culture we have taken the fangs out of it and made light of it. We have church potlucks and go back for seconds. We go out with the church lady friends and indulge in a heavy meal complete with dessert. We have ice cream socials and teach our children that food is worthy of celebration. Food is worthy of honor and that we bow down and serve....food. Food determines what kind of day we will have. Food determines whether we will feel deprived or not today. Food makes us angry. Food makes us sad. Food makes us giddy and euphoric when we cut loose and indulge in the drug aspect of it. Food has power over us. Our kids see that too. They are learning that from us. My hope and prayer is that I can continue to become indifferent towards food. Yes, that is correct. Indifferent. Food is fuel. It is not an event. For me, anyway. Those are my thoughts for today. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat. |
| Oh Yes. It is in fact a PINK Vespa 150CC Scooter. Oh, YESSSSS! This is what I could picture me riding on a year ago when I began. And I bought it today. 28 more pounds, when I get to 128, I get to ride it!!! Attachment: pinkvespa.jpg |
| It is so interesting how this journey changes our perceptions, slowly, over time. I would have hardly noticed a year ago to read a blog that claimed that a certain situation or person or scenario or time of the month "caused" or "made" someone go off plan. "Of course I went off plan"....the blogs sometimes state, as if it is inevitable, and, well, who wouldn't? Now when I read those statements I cringe. I don't cringe out of anger, I cringe out of sorrow. Sorrow that I can't communicate in any real way except as an anonymous person on a website to this person that NO, their intake truly IS in their control, and NOTHING makes or causes ANYONE to go off plan. Going off plan is just such a conditioned response for so many people, they forget that they have a CHOICE. Stress has always = a pint of Ben and Jerry's or a margarita at the end of a long day, so why ever WOULDN'T it mean that now? I am here to say we all have a choice. Sometimes I want to change my avatar back to the pink shirt picture, my "before" picture, because when people see my avatar now I almost lose credence in some people's minds I am sure. "Well, she's made it, how could she possibly know what I'm struggling with"....or "Easy for HER to say, she doesn't know what it is like..." I want to say I've been there. I've been there for MOST of my life. I have been morbidly obese for most of the last 2o years. There was a stint in 06/07 when I briefly hit my goal weight, then it was right back up. I am 30 pounds away from goal now. Still considered overweight. Looking forward to transition and maintenance. And I'm here to say that the only thing that separates me from the person who just fell off the wagon after their first 2 days is a single choice. Some days I am so close to letting it slip away I can almost taste the failure. Again. Then I remember that I get to choose. Nothing is inevitable. So I work the Dr. A's Habits of Health, again and again. I read that book again and again. I do the exercises in that book again and again. Because the only thing separating my size 6 tushie tush from the size 26 kadonkadonk I started with is...the...next...choice. What will it be today? Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| Some days we can walk on air because we are so elated at what this process of becoming a healthy BMI/weight is doing to our quality of life. Sometimes we just don't feel like it. There is no "trick" to being successful. But the underlying theme is that we go through the motions even on days we don't feel like it. Because it is our intake that determines our success, not how we feel about it. Whether we are anxious, sad, happy, glad, elated, dejected, mad, embarrassed, overjoyed, peaceful, or resentful, it doesn't matter. As long as we stick to the plan. Now IF these emotions are dictating and controlling our intake, instead of our commitment to the plan controlling our intake, then we will not be successful in the larger picture. Because if you allow your emotions to determine the success of your Medifast day, then if for example you happen to eat when you are anxious, sad, happy, glad, elated, dejected, mad, embarrassed, overjoyed, peaceful, or resentful, and you don't deliberately STOP that process, then your day is shot. But if you can practice the STOP, CHALLENGE, CHOOSE method as outlined in Dr. A's Habits of Health book (available for purchase in the MyMedifast store), if you can detach your intake/actions from your emotional state, and do the plan because you are committed to doing the plan, then day in and day out you will see the results you are looking for. It is not rocket science, but I see many people including me sometimes, banging our heads against the same wall. And usually it is tied to the fact that we are looking to FOOD to fulfill a purpose it is not meant to fill. How many times do we see or experience ourselves the "Such and so situation in my life MADE me go off plan". Really? It did? Such and so situation tied you to a chair, forced your mouth open, and shoved those M&M's in, forcing you to swallow upon threat of death? Really? And so begins the process of disentanglement. Disentangling our every thought, experience, or stress from the immediately following thoughts of food or binging. So begins the process of becoming less "Food Focused". Some may be cringing even at the THOUGHT of giving up their security blanket. Well, if we don't give up our security blanket of food, we can't give up our security blanket of fat that we have so insulated ourselves with for much of our lives. Do BE different we must DO differently. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| Commitment. To ourselves. Funny, how sometimes when we break a commitment to ourselves we don't think it is a big thing. Maybe that is one of the reasons this program seems to get harder as time goes by. One little slip can turn into 5 little slips and before you know it you are spending more days OFF the plan than ON the plan. It seems to be harder after we let that first "cheat" in the door. Why? Because we aren't valuing our commitment to ourselves. Then we find we cannot even spend one full day on plan, because why? We have decided that our commitments to ourselves aren't worth honoring. So how do we fix this? I don't know THE answer, but I do know something that helps! Re-evaluating our primary goals is first. What do we want and why do we want this? If we don't have this target we will never get there, and if we don't have a specific target we risk making Medifast more of a maintenance program. A few days on, a few days off. A few days back on to get what we just gained back off. The problem with this type of "maintenance" is that it IS short-term. Medifast was never meant to be worked like this, and it is inevitable that unless we regain our focus and begin honoring the commitment to ourselves daily of "I will be on plan today" then we WILL gain our weight back. So today do what matters most. Stay true to the plan, stay true to yourself. Do what matters most. Get to goal, transition, then maintain. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| I've decided to be bored with Medifast. I've decided to be bored with the food and bored with the process. Why? Because I have decided that just as I never again want to be an emotional EATER, neither do I want to be an emotional DIETER. Neither works out well for me. BOTH are giving food an improper place in my life. Food is not meant to fill a place in my soul, and neither is "dieting". When I try to stay all pumped up and all excited about the process, well, that is when I know I'm in danger of a fall. Because I need to focus on other things in my life besides food or, well NOT EATING food. So I don't get jiggy with all the recipes that float around. I don't seek to make a concoction with all of my condiment and snack allowances in order to satisfy my craving. Because it's never satified. I'm not satisfying my craving, I'm FEEDING an addiction when I do that. And that's just me. No judgment on those who do yummy up their food. For me, I gotta make it liveable, tolerable, and that's about the extent of it for me. Honestly? I want to be DONE with the weight loss portion of this program, and IN to my transition program. So I medifast. And I rinse and repeat. And I fall every once in awhile, and I pick myself back up and look forward in the direction I am headed, which is optimal health. REALLY living. I hope you'll join me! Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| We all have at our disposal a life changing tool. A 100% life changing tool. A tool that, if used correctly, and as it was intended to be used, has the potential to CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Remember that this weekend. It is your choice. Utilize Medifast as written to CHANGE YOUR LIFE. That seemingly small decision to have that drink, or to have just a "bite" of the BBQ sandwich, or to skip a Medifast meal or two because you aren't hungry, all of these seemingly SMALL decisions add up to THE DIFFERENCE between those who are successful and, quite frankly, those who are not. You read many stories on these blogs/board. Guess what? Not all of them are going to be successful. They just aren't. It is a statistical certainty. But do you know how you can ENSURE that you WILL be part of the 5% that takes it off, then keeps it off? Stick to the plan, as written, including transition when you get to your goal. THAT is the recipe for success. So don't think that little piece of soft black licorice that is sitting so innocently in your pantry is harmless. It has the power to be your undoing. If you choose IT over your goals and dreams you have for yourself. Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| Shout out to Wearebobo and her awesome blog today, about her dream which she is determined to make a reality of world travel and living abroad. It got me thinking about things. First, I wondered if Wearebobo would have discovered this about herself had she not had the courage to begin and commit to the process of Medifast. Next I began to wonder in my own mind how I have changed over the last year, and I saw some similarities in our desires. I too wish to travel. When my son goes to college in 12 short years (hee hee) my husband and I want to live abroad. We'd love to rent a little place on the island of Skopelos, in Greece, where we have missionary friends, and just volunteer our time. We'd love to spend a year in Tuscany, and Venice. We want to really see the world. This last year those desires have really come to the surface for us. And to take it even deeper in my own life, I have noticed that I am de-cluttering my house and donating a TON of stuff to Goodwill on a monthly basis. I have cleaned our garage, and will be finishing that project up in the next month, and I have removed appliances that just aren't needed or used from my kitchen. I have entered the phase of giving things away. And I feel mentally lighter because of it! My mantra for deciding what to keep and what to give away is coming down to this: What would I be willing to ship 1/2 way around the world in a steamer trunk by boat? If I won't be taking it with me then, and I'm not REALLY using it right now, then why keep it? Why take up the space in my garage or my house? Things are burdensome and sometimes they just end up owning us! Now I'm not going to give EVERYTHING I own away and go become a monk with nothing but the clothes on my back. As appealing as that actually sounds sometimes, no joke! But I do see a parallel attitude of unburdening myself of unneeded possessions at the same time I am doing so with my fat. I sense a paradigm shift. Most of my life up until July of last year I have been a hoarder. Hoarding collections of plates, of quilts, of clothes. Hoarding food. Hoarding fat in my fat cells. Accumulation. Excess. Bulge. Everywhere. Excess weight. Debt. Everything. But last July (a year ago) when I began Medifast for the second and final time, I began to do the head-work and the soul-work necessary for this to be a lifetime of chasing optimal health. And the results have been AMAZING both physically and on the inside. I am giving things away, people. I continue to give things away. I am helping people become the best versions of themselves possible by encouraging them along their journey of weight loss! Man life is good! Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
| There's never REALLY an optimal time to start a "diet". But every day is an opportunity to change your LIFE. We are currently headed in to football season. Cool, crisp nights, tailgating, BBQ's, beer. Followed briskly by Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, which are what I call the "Heavy-Hitting 4" one after the other. Then there is Valentine's Day, Easter, Anniversaries (many people get married in Spring!), Memorial Day, and back to summer with the pool parties, long hot evenings, and more BBQ's and cookouts, not to mention camping. Finally, Labor Day brings us back full circle. Many people give up before they start. Because they are looking at this as a diet. But the changes that we make are really LIFESTYLE changes, and they change our lives and ourselves for the better. If you have 60 lbs to lose, do you realize that if you had started Medifast right after Easter last year, you would most likely be sitting at your goal today? "If Only"...... So if you are lurking on the boards, wanting to change your life, but skeptical about the "Holidays" coming up, don't be. There will be more of them next year. And you will be a healthier, happier you!! Happy Medifasting! Rinse and Repeat! |
Monday, September 19, 2011
Recent Blogs...September 8- Sept 19 2011
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