Peggy and Bob - June, 2012 |
I
have a very important anniversary approaching.
It was August 4, 2010, that I signed up for the Ideal Protein WeightLoss program. That was the day that I
began my new life!
During that time, I have come to an important conclusion.
IT'S NOT WHAT YOU DO ONCE THAT MATTERS!
For
instance. I did not become
"morbidly obese" by eating one Hershey bar - having one mocha laced
with whipped cream - one apple fritter - one dish of broccoli or cauliflower
covered in rich, creamy cheese sauce. It
was when I allowed those one times to become habits that I was on my way to
obesity.
Conversely,
I did not lose all those excess pounds by following the Ideal Protein program
for one day - or one week - or even one month.
It was when I allowed the program
to become habit that I truly felt I had conquered my tendency to be fat.
"We
first make our habits, and then our habits make us."-
John Dryden
We
have made many changes over the past two years!
We put much more thought into our shopping. As we were told at the IP seminar in Seattle
- shop the outside aisles of the grocery store.
That is where you will find produce, dairy, meat, and bread. The sugary, high carb, prepared foods fill the center aisles of the
store. Cereals laden with sugar and
fat. Soda. Chips.
Candy. All of the things that
lead to obesity. Each has its own
healthy claim displayed proudly on the face of the box. Heart healthy! Low fat!
Fewer calories! But, "low
fat" doesn't equate to healthy - or to fewer calories. "Sugar free" can be laden with fat
and with sugar substitutes that are equally as harmful as the sugar. READ THE LABELS!
When
shopping on a weekend, you are faced with - not one, but several - carts with
samples of every kind of food imaginable.
And, each tastes so good that it takes super human strength to pass them
by and pick up a package of asparagus instead.
"Destiny is not
a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a
thing to be achieved." - Winston Churchill
In a
few days, we will graduate to phase 2 of the program. Within a month, we will be on maintenance and
on the road to a lifetime of healthy choices. We will be faced with different
choices - ones that are much harder to control.
We will have fruits and breads and even a glass of wine and/or dessert
now and then. We will order off the
regular menus when we go to our favorite restaurants. But, we have learned to question the servers
about what ingredients are in the foods.
I have learned to assert myself in asking for my foods to come without
heavy sauces or butter. We have learned
to enjoy a glass of iced green tea rather than the mochas that we consumed on a
daily basis. We will step on the scale
each and every morning and if we notice an increase in our weight, we will make
different choices for whatever time it takes to maintain our new bodies.
"Everyone who got to where they are had to begin where they were." - Richard Paul Evans
Green iced tea - unsweetened |
This
is a lifetime commitment! What we did
once - and then again and again - became the framework for our new 'normal'.
New habits have been developed, but just as they have become a part of
our daily lives, they can be replaced by bad habits if we allow them to. A dessert once a week will not hurt us. In fact, it is encouraged during the
maintenance phase of the program. It's
when we allow the dessert to become a normal part of our every day diet that
new, bad habits will again be formed.
"Always bear in
mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one
thing."
- Abraham Lincoln
Hooray and congratulations to you on the upcoming anniversary! I hope to be in your shoes with similar habits a year from now!
ReplyDelete-Lanza
thank you Peg, love you, whats left of me that is.
ReplyDelete