Happy T-Day

I relate to Thanksgiving this year as T-Day to help me remember of the trials of D-Day at the end of WWII. I knew that today was going to be difficult because of being on the Medifast Program with Take Shape for Life. I am allowed 5 Medifast products - shakes, puddings, oatmeals, bars or soups and one Lean and Green. That means our turkey dinner took on a whole new meaning for me. My supper consisted of a large salad, 7 oz of turkey breast and some mashed cauliflower (which I was trying for the first time and have to say it was darn good). While everyone else was chowing down on pie, my daughter and I took a couple of the dogs for a walk in the park.

Honestly, this wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Since I have lost almost 65 pounds since Sept 21st, many people have noticed and have reacted very positively towards me. Those victories have been able to keep me motivated to stay on the plan and continue to work towards my goal. I started this journey at 313 pounds. At that time, I wouldn't even state how much I actually did weigh. Now that I am down to the 250's, I am OK with admitting my starting weight. My goal is somewhere around 150. I know I have a very long way to go, but I am sure I will get there. Most days I am able to take this plan one day at a time, but there have been many times when I was down to one hour at a time. A popular Medifast saying is "I can do anything for 2-3 hours" which is the interval between meals. I find myself chanting that often some days, though most of the time I don't even think about it anymore.

I call this my "Medi-zone". Now that I have found that place where I am just coasting through the program, I am content with what I am doing. At this point the plan has become habit. Sure, I still crave a bacon egg and cheese bagel from McD's sometimes, but I work through that craving by reminding myself of why I chose to start Medifast. I want to be alive to enjoy my daughter's life, I want to watch her graduate from high school and go to college, fall in love and all that stuff. I want to be a part of her life, not just standing on the sidelines watching. She is very active and leaves me in her dust right now, and I am not happy with that situation. When I remind myself of the many reasons I chose this path, I am able to get over those cravings.

Sure the apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies and sweet breads all looked very good and I REALLY wanted to chow down on some of them. That would have kicked me out of ketosis (fat burning stage) for at least 2-3 days. Those days would have been spent on the program trying to get back to where I was - back tracking - in my opinion, wasting time and money. Everytime I knock myself out of ketosis, I spend those 2-3 days catching up when I could have spent them losing fat. Medifast is not cheap, but it works. As long as I remember the investment I have made both financially, and physically to this program I am able to stay compliant to the plan.

I am a member of a forum and I try to help others through this program. Many of the members are genuinely trying to succeed, but many are self sabatoging themselves into oblivian. I get so frustrated with them constantly posting that they cheated her or messed up there. "OOPPS, I fell off the plan again today, just like I did yesterday and the day before." They are so blaze' about it as if they have no concern. They don't realize the damage they are doing.

I have this one friend who realized that she was falling into that trap so she decided to take a "time out" to re-evaluate her situation and decide if she wanted to recommit herself to the plan. She was the smart one! She realized how much time and energy AND MONEY she was wasting by constantly falling victim to a sandwich here and an extra snack there. By taking time off the plan and considering her options she realized how she was sabatoging her own success. Now she is ready to get back on and go gung ho toward her goal. I totally applauded her decision to take a break and evaluate her situation, but others on the forum chose to beat her up and kick her while she was down. She got responses saying how hard it would be to get back on and what a bad idea this was. Such hipocracy drove me insane. I finally blew my top and posted my "keep it real" post that really stirred the proverbial pot. It is bad enough to lie to each other, but for GOD'S sake, we HAVE to quit lieing to ourselves. She was doing that and I admire her courage to do so.

Ok, so - tomorrow is the "official" start to the Christmas season. I am NOT getting up at 3am to get to stores by 4am to fight for some silly item that is marked 1/2 off. This year, I am going to focus on who I am giving gifts to. I want to put some effort into gifting this year, not just get whatever looks good and is cheap. I know I can find "just the right gift" for each person on my list and still not go completely broke, if I just take my time and consider each person. This is where "its the thought that counts" comes into play. I plan on making the thought count by actually THINKING about it. I may even make most of my gifts, if I can get away from the computer and get in front of the sewing machine.

Speaking of getting away from the computer. I should be doing that now. I am putting a period at the end of another Thanksgiving. I find that I am thankful for many blessings and even some not so blessed things in my life that make up who I am. Most of all I am thankful for my God, who I know loves me and wants the best for me. He has guided me to at least one very important person in my life this year and blessed me with many memories with my daughter and other family members. I am not finacially rich, not even close, but I am truely blessed.