The Program Doesn't Work...

If you ever want to make the hair on my neck stand up, utter the words "the program doesn't work" with nothing to back up your words. This seems to be happening quite a lot lately, and I feel the need to vent, so pull up a chair or log off immediately.

Doing the program is not about starving yourself. It's not about going to the gym or working out several hours a day and not eating properly to refuel yourself. It's not about "getting in the points" but paying no attention to the quality of them. It's not about regularly eating below your points and then complaining that you're "starving all the time." DUH!!! This is not a "design your own" program. We give you guidelines to follow FOR A REASON! You can be flexible within the guidelines, but you should be following the guidelines and THEN doing your spin. It's hard to help a struggling member when there's no tracker to look at ("keeps track in his/her head" or "I eat the same thing so I don't need to write it down"), when there are no good health guidelines checked ("I don't have enough points to get in the oils and milks"), when no meeting is attended (those of you who attend regularly know what I mean), when activity is not tracked ("I don't ever use those activity points anyway" or "the machine said I burned 1000 calories in 30 minutes") OR when activity is avoided like the plague.

Look, we give you the basics, but YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW THEM! You can keep verbalizing all of your old excuses (I'm really not into it, I have too much going on in my life, I'm in menopause, It's too hard to make choices at the ballpark/soccer field/pool, I don't want to "punish" my family, I travel all the time and it's so tough to find good things to eat, My job is a challenge, None of my friends have to worry about their weight, I'm too stressed right now, It's too hard to do this, and, my personal favorite, I need to take a break from this. Frankly, and this is going to hurt the feelings of some of you, kids, those words are, almost always, your built-in excuses to keep eating what you want whenever you want it. There are a few times when logistics prevent us from staying on as members (loss of job, health issues, etc.). It's HARD WORK to change. I know that. Remember? I do the program, too. BUT...only in doing the hard work will you get eventual and lasting results. The hardest part of losing weight is not what you put in your mouth but what you put in your head.

We ALL have stuff going on in our lives that challenges our choices. Some of us are verbal about it; others of us are not. But, trust me, we all have challenges. There are some of us who feel the need to say "no one has it as tough as I do right now." You would be surprised, people, at what your neighbor has going on--you just don't KNOW about it. So, acknowledge that life might stink right now, but don't minimize other people's struggles to be less than yours and don't magnify your issues to be ten times worse than everyone else's so that you can, once again, use food to comfort and de-stress yourself "because you deserve it."

Do you want to lose weight right now?"
If so, what are you willing to do in order to make that happen (not what you are NOT willing to do but what you ARE willing to do)?
Will you do that today?
Then, get to work!

So, if you don't want to lose weight right now, then say you don't want to lose weight. Accept it and move on. Stop beating yourself up. But don't blame the program--it works if you do it! If you DO want to lose weight, then embrace all that you have to offer and all that you are believing you will accomplish, and enjoy the journey...