"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all, other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."
Jeffrey Gitomer
(American author and sales trainer)
A good friend of mine is in big trouble - she can't seem to stop eating. Every time I see her, which is not too often - she lives in another city - she appears to be putting on more weight.
My rapidly expanding friend recently visited another good friend of ours who then called me with the report in a panic. She begged me to send our gal pal one of my motivational, come-to-Jesus, kick-in-the-butt, lose-weight-now-or-die-before-your-time, e-mails that I send from time to time, personally, to keep many of you motivated, reminding you to eat right, walk or do some other form of cardio an hour a day, and squeeze in weights three times a week - to lose weight. This is all it takes to shed those ugly, unwanted pounds you've been hauling around with you since, well, forever.
This, and cutting the white starch and sugar from your diet.
Sounds like a lot? Trust me, it's not. But it sure works.
My friend needs to get a serious hold of her self and only she can do it. I can prod, but she needs to be sick of hauling herself around. She needs to be sick of squeezing herself into her way too-tight pants, skirts and tops. She needs to be sick of her husband's humiliating remarks. She needs to be sick of the way she looks: like an old bag, and the way she feels: probably like an even older bag. There's no excuse - period.
She also needs to acknowledge that she's addicted to white starch and sugar and that's probably why her eating is totally out of control. She has to break that addiction. A modified Atkins diet did it for me and continues to keep my weight from piling back on.
My friend has to take the horse by its reigns and do something about her self-destructive behavior. I've been there a time or two, myself, so I know.
She has to stop hurting herself with food and drink. Neither she nor her husband would dare miss an evening's cocktail hour, but daily cardio? Fugeddaboudit.
She must close her mouth and mind to all that useless, extra junk she's putting in her body - those white, starchy, sugary carbs that are so abundant at this time of year. It's these "poisonous" carbs that fool us into thinking they comfort when they really only keep us addicted and coming helplessly back for more and more and more. And before we know it - you guessed it - we're in bigger trouble with our weight than we ever were before.
In the meantime, she, and maybe you, too, need to hop on that scale, imprint those numbers in your mind, take a long look at yourself in the mirror - right smack in the eye, actually - and promise yourself to take immediate steps to do something about your health, weight, fitness, and appearance, prontito.
If you're anything like my friend, you need to begin walking - and I mean serious daily walking - even if it's just around the health club, horse farm, beach or block at first. Even if it's only twenty minutes a day for the first week or two - it's all a matter of developing the habit, then increasing and building on that habit. You gotta start somewhere. And you gotta do it every day for thirty-five straight days to develop the habit. No excuses.
Easier said than done, you say? Not really.
All you have to do is want to - You Gotta Wanna - no one can wanna for you.
You have to acquire the desire to change, to get better, healthier, slimmer, more fit, more active, more attractive, more vital, more lively, more spry, more agile, more vibrant, more beautiful, more of everything - get the picture?
Nothing and no one is worth overeating over. You have to begin to love yourself more than anyone or anything else on this still-green earth; more than your husband, significant other or kids.
In the long run, you are all you have and all that matters.
No matter where you are in your life with your weight, fitness and eating, you can begin to turn things around for yourself right now. But you really gotta wanna. . . .
What's the absolute worst that could happen to you if you lost weight? You'd be healthier. You'd move more easily, compared to how you feel right now when you move, or walk, or go to the bathroom, or climb a flight of stairs, or get in and out of a car, or whatever. Moving will begin to feel almost effortless once you lose your excess weight. And those aches and pains you have? Gone, or nearly so, once you get all that junk outta your trunk.
Aren't these benefits worth far more than those candy bars you stop for everyday at the 7/11? The sodas you sneak? Isn't the feeling of increased well-being and the fact that you're probably going to live longer once you lose weight worth more to you than any favorite, carb-laden comfort food or drink on earth?
If you wind up choosing food over all the positive benefits weight loss can bring, you have my sympathy. No food on this planet is worth what we have done and continue to do to ourselves by destroying our once-healthy bodies by eating the wrong things.
Doing what I did, losing 130 pounds on my own in a little over 2 1/2 years is a monumental achievement. I still can't believe what I've done or how I managed to do it. I can't believe I'm still maintaining that weight loss for over four years, and now it's time to get back on a little slower, but steadily downward weight loss spiral shaving off another 20 to lighten the load on my new knee.
Just keep your chin up, your eyes looking straight ahead and take the whole thing meal by meal, step by step, mile by mile, pound by pound. There is no other way.
If there's anything I can do for you, any question you need answered with regard to all of this motivation and moving and weight loss stuff, do not hesitate to ask. I'm at your service and here to help you benefit from my successful experience.
If the low carb way of dieting worked for me, it certainly will work for you, my friend and everyone else who struggles with their current weight loss plan.
If you run into a diet and walking roadblock, begin again, right at that very moment. Make what you do each and every day count toward your improved health and a better way of life.
Meanwhile, what are you waiting for? Chanukah or Christmas?
PS: OK, Kids, you know me well enough by now to know that when I slip off the middle of the motivational radar screen, something's up. Well, something is up: I'm having a total right knee replacement this coming Tuesday, June 16th at Northwestern, here in Chicago.
I'll be sending more frequent motivational emails as soon as I can think straight again. Should be in a week or three. Please forward all of them to everyone you know so that my pro-health, anti-obesity movement can finally get off the ground. I need all of you to help me take the grass by the roots and tip this point in favor of better health the low carb, daily cardio way. I'm living proof that it works.
Laura Dion-Jones Casey
550 N. Kingsbury St. #120
Chicago, IL 60654
312-933-7325
June 14, 2009©
dionjones@aol.com
www.lauradionjones.com
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