Today on my 3 mile run around my
neighborhood I was amazed (again...always...) at how light I felt.
Lighter than air, actually! Nothing jiggling, nothing wiggling, no
black eyes (only women will know what I mean by that LOL TMI)....and I was simply
ENJOYING being in MY SKIN. I was enjoying MOVING. I was enjoying
listening to some great tunes on my playlist (Coldplay, The Script,
Nickelback, Capital Cities, One Republic, the list could go on and on!),
and I was just grateful. Grateful for the tools that provided me the
opportunity to create health in my life. Grateful for the support
system that I have and the people I have befriended along the way.
Grateful.
Then I began to think about other people who I know who
have brought a similar level of health into THEIR lives. I was
grateful that THEY recognized their own capability to write their OWN
stories of health.
I am not unique. There is nothing that I have been able to do on my
journey that anyone who desires the same thing can't bring into their
own, with the right tools and the right support (message me if you'd
like my support!). Again, grateful for the tools and support Take Shape
For Life has given me. I would recommend no other program! And believe me, I KNOW what is out there. Some of it is downright DANGEROUS.
I am reminded of those
"Choose Your Own Adventure" stories that I read and loved as a teenager,
and I was struck by how similar my journey to health has been to a
Choose Your Own Adventure book. You know the ones I'm talking about,
don't you? Those books where at the end of every section you have the
opportunity to choose what action the hero/heroine of the story takes
next, then depending on the action you chose you turned to a different
page in the book to see what happened? And then at the end of THAT
section there was ANOTHER opportunity to choose what your hero/heroine
does and then turn the the corresponding page to THAT choice? There
were many different story combinations you could end up with, many
different adventures and endings depending on what you chose, contained
in ONE BOOK.
I feel that way about my health journey. Just
think about it, we have the power to CHOOSE our story, to CHOOSE what we
will do, and to LIVE the life we desire based upon our CHOICES! How
awesome is THAT?
We have always had the power of choice. I'm not
saying that every choice I have made in my life had a happy segment to
experience. In fact, many of my choices as regards my health in my
college years and 20's and 30's had pretty dismal segments to read as a
result. But it was NEVER too late to change the story, to change the
outcome, to become the heroine of my own story. I simply changed my
choices.
And guess what?!!?? YOU can change YOUR story too!
Your story from here on out can be an exciting adventure of health and
inspiration! I started somewhere 4 years ago in a new chapter of my
choosing. Anything I have accomplished, anything I have done (which
included losing over half of me and maintaining a healthy weight for 2
years now) is NOT UNIQUE to ME! I simply changed my choices!
Whether
you are just beginning a new chapter, or are in the thick of the story,
remember THIS. Sometimes things get a little messier before they get a
lot better. It is the essence of story. What will YOUR story be in a
year? In two years? In three years? In four years? Will you be
writing a blog like this that says "Hey! I did it! I succeeded in
bringing health into my life, I love my newfound health, I feel great in
my skin, I love to move, I love to help others, I love to write blogs
like this!"
Or will you, like in the game Candyland, keep making progress and sliding back down the slide time and time again?
It is YOUR choice. YOU choose the next section. YOUR adventure has just begun. YOU are the heroine. Now go write your story!
Here are the lyrics to an awesome song that is one of my favorites:
Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield:
"I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Oh, oh, oh
I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten"
Rinse and Repeat!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
The "I-Just-Don't-Know-What-Happens-When-I-Get-Home" Syndrome
Yes. IJDKWHWIGH Sydrome is, by
definition, seen most often on Mondays-Fridays between the approximate
hours of 5:30 pm and 11:30 pm.
You can recognize IJDKWHWIGH Syndrome if you have 4 or more of the following symptoms, or behaviors:
1) You are PER-FECT on your plan ALL DAY at work or at school or at home going about your business. You drink your water. You sing the praises of how good you are doing (and rightly so! You are DOING this thing! You are COMMITTED!) You rip open those packets of Medifast Meals with hope and optimism because TODAY you have it HANDLED and you are feeling GOOD!
2) There is no temptation that can tempt you at work/school/home between the hours of waking and 5:30 pm. You have loads of willpower and you bypass that bowl of M&M's on the receptionist desk in the lobby without a second glance.
3) At lunch social or business meetings at restaurants you always order an entree salad with dressing on the side and no cheese, no croutons, no dried fruit, and none of those little candy-glazed nuts that take those salads from being 178 calories to 778 calories (LOL). And you are content.
4) When you get home you are a little tired and hungry because you've gone a little too long after your last Medifast Meal and it's been 3.5 hours since you've eaten last and now you have to make a Lean and Green, which you are running a little late on because you remembered on the way home that you were out of vegetables so you had to stop for them. And you picked up a rotisserie chicken because, let's face it, by the time your prepare your vegetables you will need a Lean that is already cooked or else it will be 7:00 pm before you actually eat ANYWAY and your last meal was at 2pm. Oh, and you stopped drinking water around that same time because you didn't want to have to STOP on your commute home to use the restroom but you ended up having to do that anyway when you stopped at the store.
5) NOW you are hungry. With a capital H. And you are tired. And you haven't had anything to eat or drink since about 2pm so you start to pick at the chicken while preparing dinner for the family and making the salad or cooked green beans. It's ok, no biggie. It's only protein.
6) Half an hour after dinner you FEEL hungry again. You know it has to be emotional, because you had a really long hard day at work/school/home and now your spouse reminded you about something you forgot to do today that was R*E*A*L*L*Y important and you dropped the ball.
7) The kids are in bed, and you are still 2 meals shy of getting all of your Medifast Meals in. You don't feel like doubling up on your Medifast Meals at 8:30 pm, so you go in to the pantry just to see if there is anything quick you can have. Maybe a handful of nuts. That should kind of offset the 2 Medifast Meals and is much more tasty.
8) After the handful of nuts remorse sets in. Just a little bit. So you head to the refrigerator because really the thing you need that will allow you to unwind from your day is some cheese. You start with a laughing cow because you can't remember if you had all your healthy fats at dinner. After all, you don't ACTUALLY measure those healthy fats, I mean who is going to do THAT. Really? Get a tsp measuring spoon out and MEASURE 1 tsp of olive oil? Who DOES that?
9) After the 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese you surmise that you are still WAY too wound up and what would REALLY relax you (and you deserve it) is a glass of wine. MAN it has been so long since you had a nice glass of wine. Well, about 24 hours anyway, because you had one last night too under similar conditions. So why not just go one more day. After all, tomorrow is a new day, right?
If I have described to you anything that sounds reasonably similar to your experiences on weekdays, just know that I do NOT have a hidden camera hidden in your pantry, your refrigerator, or indeed your kitchen. Events described are purely fictional. If any similarities are noted, they are purely co-incidental.
SO, then the question arises WHAT do you DO about it?
WHY do you DO it? HOW can you STOP it? WHY does it feel like a switch has been flipped in your brain, why do you care SO MUCH during the day about being ON PLAN and then seem to care SO LITTLE at night?
Here's the thing. You do it because it is a habit. Simple. That is it.
You do it because you have been practicing that habit for some time. It doesn't make you a bad person. You are not BAD when you are off plan and GOOD when you are on plan. It is morally neutral. It is SIMPLY a habit you have gotten into, a habit that is not going to take you where you say you want to go in your health.
SO then, the next question is HOW do you achieve your health goals?
You create a NEW habit. You can't SIMPLY focus on NOT DOING what you've BEEN doing, you need to CREATE something ELSE to do which will be positive and will take the PLACE of that which you have been doing that you don't want to do anymore.
Habits are funny things. They seem to be so unconsciously done. So, the first thing to do is to become MINDFUL of what you WANT. Mindfulness results in PLANNING and ACTION so START that process at 2:30 pm, don't wait until you get home. Set your cell phone alarm RIGHT NOW for 2:30 pm, and then again for 5pm. Why? At 2:30 pm I want you to eat a Medifast Meal, the one you eat for your next meal after lunch. If your lunch is Medifast Meal at noon (or your Lean and Green at a restaurant), then set your alarm for 2:30 pm for your next meal, and drink 24 ounces of water at that meal. Then at 5:30 pm as you are driving home, have your NEXT medifast meal with 24 more ounces of water. YES you may be stopping to use the restroom at a Circle K or Safeway on your way home. No biggie. You have set the groundwork necessary for you body to be fully nourished, hydrated, and for you to have stable blood sugars when you walk through your door. Eat your last Medifast Meal or your Lean and Green at 7:30-8pm.
IF you arrive home from work/school and you can't really recall the last time you ate/drank anything, your blood sugar and your hydration is going to have set you up to be a forager. The stress of the day coupled with your lack of nourishment/water between the hours of 2pm and 6pm has set you up physiologically to be in a state where you health goals may be pushed to the side while you satisfy the cravings that inevitably will come around 6-8pm as a result. You have habitually satisfied this very real physiological response with nuts, cheese and wine and now it is time to take CARE of the physiological aspects that are working against you during that time frame.
OK. Have that part handled? Let's move on to the EMOTIONAL side of the habit. ONCE you have dealt with keeping yourself properly nourished and hydrated in the afternoon hours you will have a much easier time filling your evening hours with activities that don't include pantry or refrigerator surfing. Find something you think you might like to do that BREAKS the habit chain of what you HAVE been doing.
For example, do you plop down on the couch and flip on the television after you put the kids to bed? Does that action cue mental hunger? Then break it up. There are two things you can do if you are a sit-in-front-of-the-television-and-eat-snacks type of person. Firstly and most obviously, do something ELSE tonight when the kids go to sleep. Pick up a book of fiction, write in your journal, work on that short story or novel you've been meaning to write, re-organize your sock drawer, ANYTHING that will put a pause in that habit loop. OR, you can "change the middle".
In Duhigg's book "Habit" he speaks about changing the middle. What does changing the middle mean? It means when you have something that cues a particular habit, in the past you have done an action which gives you the reward. Whether that reward is feel good endorphins brought on by eating chocolate, wind-down rewards brought on by drinking wine, or even experiencing that feel-good substance that is in cheese, there is SOME reward you are obtaining, directly or indirectly from that habit that you seek to change. So, next time the cue hits (ie kids go to bed) and you want the REWARD, change the middle, which is the ACTION that you previously took to obtain the reward. Do you love to chew when you are watching TV? It is proven that a simple piece of sugar-free chewing gum can give you the same pleasure. So instead of eating crackers and cheese in front of the TV reach for a piece of sugar-free chewing gum. You may feel like that is a cliche' but it WORKS! Or, chew a piece of the new TSFL "ChillTime" gum with Thionine in it, which is a natural relaxant. (I've tried it and it works which is the only reason I'm recommending it!).
So, you can change the middle OR you can create a brand new routine. Do you want to know what I do?
8pm = usual cue, in the past, to have a snack and a glass of wine
INSTEAD make a cup of herbal tea and chew a piece of sugarfree gum
This gives me a NEW routine. Once I do this enough times it becomes my habit. It is helping me work towards my health goals so that is great all around!
Eventually, if I am diligent at creating and practicing this new habit, I can kick IJDKWHWIGH Syndrome completely.
So can you!
Rinse and Repeat!
You can recognize IJDKWHWIGH Syndrome if you have 4 or more of the following symptoms, or behaviors:
1) You are PER-FECT on your plan ALL DAY at work or at school or at home going about your business. You drink your water. You sing the praises of how good you are doing (and rightly so! You are DOING this thing! You are COMMITTED!) You rip open those packets of Medifast Meals with hope and optimism because TODAY you have it HANDLED and you are feeling GOOD!
2) There is no temptation that can tempt you at work/school/home between the hours of waking and 5:30 pm. You have loads of willpower and you bypass that bowl of M&M's on the receptionist desk in the lobby without a second glance.
3) At lunch social or business meetings at restaurants you always order an entree salad with dressing on the side and no cheese, no croutons, no dried fruit, and none of those little candy-glazed nuts that take those salads from being 178 calories to 778 calories (LOL). And you are content.
4) When you get home you are a little tired and hungry because you've gone a little too long after your last Medifast Meal and it's been 3.5 hours since you've eaten last and now you have to make a Lean and Green, which you are running a little late on because you remembered on the way home that you were out of vegetables so you had to stop for them. And you picked up a rotisserie chicken because, let's face it, by the time your prepare your vegetables you will need a Lean that is already cooked or else it will be 7:00 pm before you actually eat ANYWAY and your last meal was at 2pm. Oh, and you stopped drinking water around that same time because you didn't want to have to STOP on your commute home to use the restroom but you ended up having to do that anyway when you stopped at the store.
5) NOW you are hungry. With a capital H. And you are tired. And you haven't had anything to eat or drink since about 2pm so you start to pick at the chicken while preparing dinner for the family and making the salad or cooked green beans. It's ok, no biggie. It's only protein.
6) Half an hour after dinner you FEEL hungry again. You know it has to be emotional, because you had a really long hard day at work/school/home and now your spouse reminded you about something you forgot to do today that was R*E*A*L*L*Y important and you dropped the ball.
7) The kids are in bed, and you are still 2 meals shy of getting all of your Medifast Meals in. You don't feel like doubling up on your Medifast Meals at 8:30 pm, so you go in to the pantry just to see if there is anything quick you can have. Maybe a handful of nuts. That should kind of offset the 2 Medifast Meals and is much more tasty.
8) After the handful of nuts remorse sets in. Just a little bit. So you head to the refrigerator because really the thing you need that will allow you to unwind from your day is some cheese. You start with a laughing cow because you can't remember if you had all your healthy fats at dinner. After all, you don't ACTUALLY measure those healthy fats, I mean who is going to do THAT. Really? Get a tsp measuring spoon out and MEASURE 1 tsp of olive oil? Who DOES that?
9) After the 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese you surmise that you are still WAY too wound up and what would REALLY relax you (and you deserve it) is a glass of wine. MAN it has been so long since you had a nice glass of wine. Well, about 24 hours anyway, because you had one last night too under similar conditions. So why not just go one more day. After all, tomorrow is a new day, right?
If I have described to you anything that sounds reasonably similar to your experiences on weekdays, just know that I do NOT have a hidden camera hidden in your pantry, your refrigerator, or indeed your kitchen. Events described are purely fictional. If any similarities are noted, they are purely co-incidental.
SO, then the question arises WHAT do you DO about it?
WHY do you DO it? HOW can you STOP it? WHY does it feel like a switch has been flipped in your brain, why do you care SO MUCH during the day about being ON PLAN and then seem to care SO LITTLE at night?
Here's the thing. You do it because it is a habit. Simple. That is it.
You do it because you have been practicing that habit for some time. It doesn't make you a bad person. You are not BAD when you are off plan and GOOD when you are on plan. It is morally neutral. It is SIMPLY a habit you have gotten into, a habit that is not going to take you where you say you want to go in your health.
SO then, the next question is HOW do you achieve your health goals?
You create a NEW habit. You can't SIMPLY focus on NOT DOING what you've BEEN doing, you need to CREATE something ELSE to do which will be positive and will take the PLACE of that which you have been doing that you don't want to do anymore.
Habits are funny things. They seem to be so unconsciously done. So, the first thing to do is to become MINDFUL of what you WANT. Mindfulness results in PLANNING and ACTION so START that process at 2:30 pm, don't wait until you get home. Set your cell phone alarm RIGHT NOW for 2:30 pm, and then again for 5pm. Why? At 2:30 pm I want you to eat a Medifast Meal, the one you eat for your next meal after lunch. If your lunch is Medifast Meal at noon (or your Lean and Green at a restaurant), then set your alarm for 2:30 pm for your next meal, and drink 24 ounces of water at that meal. Then at 5:30 pm as you are driving home, have your NEXT medifast meal with 24 more ounces of water. YES you may be stopping to use the restroom at a Circle K or Safeway on your way home. No biggie. You have set the groundwork necessary for you body to be fully nourished, hydrated, and for you to have stable blood sugars when you walk through your door. Eat your last Medifast Meal or your Lean and Green at 7:30-8pm.
IF you arrive home from work/school and you can't really recall the last time you ate/drank anything, your blood sugar and your hydration is going to have set you up to be a forager. The stress of the day coupled with your lack of nourishment/water between the hours of 2pm and 6pm has set you up physiologically to be in a state where you health goals may be pushed to the side while you satisfy the cravings that inevitably will come around 6-8pm as a result. You have habitually satisfied this very real physiological response with nuts, cheese and wine and now it is time to take CARE of the physiological aspects that are working against you during that time frame.
OK. Have that part handled? Let's move on to the EMOTIONAL side of the habit. ONCE you have dealt with keeping yourself properly nourished and hydrated in the afternoon hours you will have a much easier time filling your evening hours with activities that don't include pantry or refrigerator surfing. Find something you think you might like to do that BREAKS the habit chain of what you HAVE been doing.
For example, do you plop down on the couch and flip on the television after you put the kids to bed? Does that action cue mental hunger? Then break it up. There are two things you can do if you are a sit-in-front-of-the-television-and-eat-snacks type of person. Firstly and most obviously, do something ELSE tonight when the kids go to sleep. Pick up a book of fiction, write in your journal, work on that short story or novel you've been meaning to write, re-organize your sock drawer, ANYTHING that will put a pause in that habit loop. OR, you can "change the middle".
In Duhigg's book "Habit" he speaks about changing the middle. What does changing the middle mean? It means when you have something that cues a particular habit, in the past you have done an action which gives you the reward. Whether that reward is feel good endorphins brought on by eating chocolate, wind-down rewards brought on by drinking wine, or even experiencing that feel-good substance that is in cheese, there is SOME reward you are obtaining, directly or indirectly from that habit that you seek to change. So, next time the cue hits (ie kids go to bed) and you want the REWARD, change the middle, which is the ACTION that you previously took to obtain the reward. Do you love to chew when you are watching TV? It is proven that a simple piece of sugar-free chewing gum can give you the same pleasure. So instead of eating crackers and cheese in front of the TV reach for a piece of sugar-free chewing gum. You may feel like that is a cliche' but it WORKS! Or, chew a piece of the new TSFL "ChillTime" gum with Thionine in it, which is a natural relaxant. (I've tried it and it works which is the only reason I'm recommending it!).
So, you can change the middle OR you can create a brand new routine. Do you want to know what I do?
8pm = usual cue, in the past, to have a snack and a glass of wine
INSTEAD make a cup of herbal tea and chew a piece of sugarfree gum
This gives me a NEW routine. Once I do this enough times it becomes my habit. It is helping me work towards my health goals so that is great all around!
Eventually, if I am diligent at creating and practicing this new habit, I can kick IJDKWHWIGH Syndrome completely.
So can you!
Rinse and Repeat!
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Mars Attacks!!!!
One
of the movies I think is hilarious is Mars Attacks. I had it on this
morning as I was doing some work at my kitchen table, and the scene came
on where the Martians are SAYING "Don't run, we are your friends," at
the SAME TIME they are laser-gunning every human in their path.
It struck me, the difference between what we SAY and what we DO. It was a very teachable moment for me.
In this scenario, what do you think was a better indication of the Martian's true intent? What they were SAYING? Or what they were DOING?
I believe, in the movie anyway, the evidence was very clear that the Martian's TRUE intent was being displayed in what they were DOING and not what they were SAYING.
I thought that was so appropriate in our health journey. What are we SAYING? What are we DOING? Our actions truly represent our core value, our true intent. We can SAY all day long "I'm going to stay on plan today" and then when we get home and begin the "bites licks and tastes" while preparing dinner, when we just have "one little piece" of halloween candy that we have already purchased for Halloween, when we pour that glass of wine or nibble on that brick of cheese or grab that extra handful of almonds out of the pantry we are really displaying our true intentions.
I think that remaining "on plan" can't just be about SAYING we are going to be "on plan" but we really need to follow that up with action or things just aren't matching up.
Now, the difference here is that the Martians had ill intent and were flat out lying. We, on the other hand, do HOPE at the beginning of the day that we will stay on plan. But we don't really BELIEVE it or we would DO it.
So the question is, what do I EXPECT from myself today? What are my VALUES in my health journey and what to I BELIEVE myself capable of DOING? Then, as Epictetus said, "First say what it is you would be, then do what you have to do." In other words, WORDS are important and then they need to be FOLLOWED UP with the ACTION that actually AGREES with the words.
I look at this in my own life with regards to what example I am setting for my 9-year old boy. Aside from the fact that I let him watch some of Mars Attacks (don't judge me LOL!) I really want to be authentic with him, and I want him to SEE that Mama does what she says she is going to do. Because he is watching. If I am SAYING "Mama is getting healthy!" and then he sees me acting in a way that is diametrically opposed to what I just SAID, he will not only learn that but he will ADOPT that into his own life. I don't want that. I don't want my son to think "Hey, it's OK for Mama to do, so it's OK for me to do!" And our kids ARE watching.
Part of my journey towards health was motivated with an intense desire to be the best role model for my son that I could be, because he needs to learn healthy habits himself to set him up for longevity. He has a kidney transplant which he received at age three. While he is doing fantastically well, the nephrologists told us that we needed to model health for him so that he would not be at a higher risk for obesity since what they are seeing these days in transplant-kids is that excess weight and obesity in the kids puts unnecessary and in fact harmful stress on their kidney, and will actually REDUCE its longevity. WOW. His doctor had the guts to say that to us when I was 150 pounds overweight and my husband was 50 pounds overweight.
We ran with it, and we absolutely CHANGED our life and our health. Now our son hardly remembers when Mama was so big she got stuck in the turnstiles at Disneyworld on his Make-a-Wish Trip. He hardly remembers when Mama had a cane because her knees hurt so badly. He hardly remembers when Mama had to utilize any nearby piece of furniture to hoist herself up off the floor after playing with him. He sees Mama as a fit and healthy Mama who isn't afraid to strap on her running shoes and go run up a mountain (I'm headed out the door as soon as I finish this blog to go up South Mountain here in Phoenix). He sees Mama as someone whose ACTIONS as regards health MATCH her words.
I wish that for all of you! =)
Rinse and Repeat!
It struck me, the difference between what we SAY and what we DO. It was a very teachable moment for me.
In this scenario, what do you think was a better indication of the Martian's true intent? What they were SAYING? Or what they were DOING?
I believe, in the movie anyway, the evidence was very clear that the Martian's TRUE intent was being displayed in what they were DOING and not what they were SAYING.
I thought that was so appropriate in our health journey. What are we SAYING? What are we DOING? Our actions truly represent our core value, our true intent. We can SAY all day long "I'm going to stay on plan today" and then when we get home and begin the "bites licks and tastes" while preparing dinner, when we just have "one little piece" of halloween candy that we have already purchased for Halloween, when we pour that glass of wine or nibble on that brick of cheese or grab that extra handful of almonds out of the pantry we are really displaying our true intentions.
I think that remaining "on plan" can't just be about SAYING we are going to be "on plan" but we really need to follow that up with action or things just aren't matching up.
Now, the difference here is that the Martians had ill intent and were flat out lying. We, on the other hand, do HOPE at the beginning of the day that we will stay on plan. But we don't really BELIEVE it or we would DO it.
So the question is, what do I EXPECT from myself today? What are my VALUES in my health journey and what to I BELIEVE myself capable of DOING? Then, as Epictetus said, "First say what it is you would be, then do what you have to do." In other words, WORDS are important and then they need to be FOLLOWED UP with the ACTION that actually AGREES with the words.
I look at this in my own life with regards to what example I am setting for my 9-year old boy. Aside from the fact that I let him watch some of Mars Attacks (don't judge me LOL!) I really want to be authentic with him, and I want him to SEE that Mama does what she says she is going to do. Because he is watching. If I am SAYING "Mama is getting healthy!" and then he sees me acting in a way that is diametrically opposed to what I just SAID, he will not only learn that but he will ADOPT that into his own life. I don't want that. I don't want my son to think "Hey, it's OK for Mama to do, so it's OK for me to do!" And our kids ARE watching.
Part of my journey towards health was motivated with an intense desire to be the best role model for my son that I could be, because he needs to learn healthy habits himself to set him up for longevity. He has a kidney transplant which he received at age three. While he is doing fantastically well, the nephrologists told us that we needed to model health for him so that he would not be at a higher risk for obesity since what they are seeing these days in transplant-kids is that excess weight and obesity in the kids puts unnecessary and in fact harmful stress on their kidney, and will actually REDUCE its longevity. WOW. His doctor had the guts to say that to us when I was 150 pounds overweight and my husband was 50 pounds overweight.
We ran with it, and we absolutely CHANGED our life and our health. Now our son hardly remembers when Mama was so big she got stuck in the turnstiles at Disneyworld on his Make-a-Wish Trip. He hardly remembers when Mama had a cane because her knees hurt so badly. He hardly remembers when Mama had to utilize any nearby piece of furniture to hoist herself up off the floor after playing with him. He sees Mama as a fit and healthy Mama who isn't afraid to strap on her running shoes and go run up a mountain (I'm headed out the door as soon as I finish this blog to go up South Mountain here in Phoenix). He sees Mama as someone whose ACTIONS as regards health MATCH her words.
I wish that for all of you! =)
Rinse and Repeat!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Everybody CAN have success but not everybody WILL have success
Everybody CAN find success on this program, but not everybody WILL be successful. What do I mean by that?
I mean that the number ONE REASON why people do NOT succeed in creating health in their lives is that they don't DO the plan. Simple as that. They don't ADHERE to the Quick Start Guide instructions on "How To."
They buy the nice little package full of hope, it is delivered to their front door, but some don't realize that "assembly not included, batteries not included".
They don't ship a new YOU to your front door. They don't ship new habits and behaviors and ways of thinking about health to your front door.
You get the tools. You get the nuts and bolts. Then YOU have to go out and do the work. Action. Daily action.
What I CAN tell you is THIS:
This program offers PREDICTABLE TRANSFORMATION if and only IF you follow the instructions.
And the instructions are simple. Anyone CAN do this plan. Not everyone WILL do this plan. What is the plan?
Well, the plan is achieved in stages. Many of us think we're just in this to lose some weight. But then we realize the potential to truly create health in our lives, and we realize that the weight loss phase is simply the first phase in a lifetime process of becoming optimally healthy.
Weight Loss: Medifast 5&1 Plan:
*5 Medifast Meals per day
*1 Weighed and Measured Lean and Green assembled yourself choosing from the options listed in the Quick Start Guide, with the appropriate REQUIRED healthy fats added after cooking.
* No more than 3 condiments added daily (Additional healthy fat and condiment options can be found in the expanded Condiment/Healthy Fat publication).
* At LEAST 64 ounces of water (Dr. A recommends drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, for example you weigh 200 lbs so drink 100 ounces of water)
* Eat within 1 hour of waking
* Eat your allotment of meals every 2.5 hours
* Do no exercise in the first 3 weeks of the program UNLESS you have been exercising regularly prior to starting the plan, and in that case you will cut your duration and intensity by HALF
* After the first 3 weeks on the program, no not EXCEED 45 minutes of moderate activity daily
Simple, right? Then why do many people never make it through the weight loss phase? Because they abandon the principles in the Quick Start Guide.
Predictable transformation can come to EVERYONE who is on the path. The path is fully spelled out in the Quick Start Guide. So, are you having the results you wanted/expected on the plan? If not, consult the quick start guide and STOP thinking that you know better, you know your body, you want to exercise more, you are hungry so you eat 2 string cheeses because you are hungry, you get famished at night and HAVE to have something or you'll DIE. STOP taking bites, licks and tastes, STOP adding extras to your Medifast Meals and thinking they won't matter, STOP eyeballing your lean protein, STOP drizzling salad dressing on your salad without measuring it, STOP having that glass of wine or that drink on the weekends or with friends, STOP using food as comfort, STOP using food as entertainment, STOP using food in ways that have necessitated you needing to begin this plan in the first place.
START adhering to the Quick Start Guide. START setting your cell phone alarm for your mealtimes. START leaving the house every morning with a "go-bag" of atleast 5 portable meals so you will NEVER be able to say "I didn't have my Medifast Meals with me". START limiting your exercise to 45 minutes maximum. START carrying an awesome water bottle with you and tracking your water. START reading Dr. A's Habits of Health. START with reading and fully understanding the instructions on how to create predictable transformation in your lives.
If this hits a little close to home, then good. I have to remind myself monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily that if I knew how to live a healthy life on my own I would have done so before I was 40 years old and class IV Super Obese at 5 foot 3 and 272 pounds. If I knew how to live a healthy life I would have been doing that already. So I admitted that I didn't know everything. And then I surrendered to the published plan in all aspects.
What will you choose? Predictable Transformation or Same-ole-Story?
I choose health.
Rinse and Repeat!
I mean that the number ONE REASON why people do NOT succeed in creating health in their lives is that they don't DO the plan. Simple as that. They don't ADHERE to the Quick Start Guide instructions on "How To."
They buy the nice little package full of hope, it is delivered to their front door, but some don't realize that "assembly not included, batteries not included".
They don't ship a new YOU to your front door. They don't ship new habits and behaviors and ways of thinking about health to your front door.
You get the tools. You get the nuts and bolts. Then YOU have to go out and do the work. Action. Daily action.
What I CAN tell you is THIS:
This program offers PREDICTABLE TRANSFORMATION if and only IF you follow the instructions.
And the instructions are simple. Anyone CAN do this plan. Not everyone WILL do this plan. What is the plan?
Well, the plan is achieved in stages. Many of us think we're just in this to lose some weight. But then we realize the potential to truly create health in our lives, and we realize that the weight loss phase is simply the first phase in a lifetime process of becoming optimally healthy.
Weight Loss: Medifast 5&1 Plan:
*5 Medifast Meals per day
*1 Weighed and Measured Lean and Green assembled yourself choosing from the options listed in the Quick Start Guide, with the appropriate REQUIRED healthy fats added after cooking.
* No more than 3 condiments added daily (Additional healthy fat and condiment options can be found in the expanded Condiment/Healthy Fat publication).
* At LEAST 64 ounces of water (Dr. A recommends drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, for example you weigh 200 lbs so drink 100 ounces of water)
* Eat within 1 hour of waking
* Eat your allotment of meals every 2.5 hours
* Do no exercise in the first 3 weeks of the program UNLESS you have been exercising regularly prior to starting the plan, and in that case you will cut your duration and intensity by HALF
* After the first 3 weeks on the program, no not EXCEED 45 minutes of moderate activity daily
Simple, right? Then why do many people never make it through the weight loss phase? Because they abandon the principles in the Quick Start Guide.
Predictable transformation can come to EVERYONE who is on the path. The path is fully spelled out in the Quick Start Guide. So, are you having the results you wanted/expected on the plan? If not, consult the quick start guide and STOP thinking that you know better, you know your body, you want to exercise more, you are hungry so you eat 2 string cheeses because you are hungry, you get famished at night and HAVE to have something or you'll DIE. STOP taking bites, licks and tastes, STOP adding extras to your Medifast Meals and thinking they won't matter, STOP eyeballing your lean protein, STOP drizzling salad dressing on your salad without measuring it, STOP having that glass of wine or that drink on the weekends or with friends, STOP using food as comfort, STOP using food as entertainment, STOP using food in ways that have necessitated you needing to begin this plan in the first place.
START adhering to the Quick Start Guide. START setting your cell phone alarm for your mealtimes. START leaving the house every morning with a "go-bag" of atleast 5 portable meals so you will NEVER be able to say "I didn't have my Medifast Meals with me". START limiting your exercise to 45 minutes maximum. START carrying an awesome water bottle with you and tracking your water. START reading Dr. A's Habits of Health. START with reading and fully understanding the instructions on how to create predictable transformation in your lives.
If this hits a little close to home, then good. I have to remind myself monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily that if I knew how to live a healthy life on my own I would have done so before I was 40 years old and class IV Super Obese at 5 foot 3 and 272 pounds. If I knew how to live a healthy life I would have been doing that already. So I admitted that I didn't know everything. And then I surrendered to the published plan in all aspects.
What will you choose? Predictable Transformation or Same-ole-Story?
I choose health.
Rinse and Repeat!
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