I know the drill……we all do! It’s the day after Christmas, and our attention shifts to the New Year! Ever year at this time, we all sit down and start resolving to do something…lose weight…. exercise.. get healthy…. and invariably, January 2nd, our faculty room is full of treats no one wants to eat because everyone is on a diet. Everyone signs up at a gym, everyone is totally focused on reinventing themselves. After the year I have had, I am in that place too, although I am not much about resolutions. I am more about goals.
And like every year, I get a bunch of well meaning people giving me helpful well intentioned advice about how to get myself on track, moving in a better direction. What most don’t realize is that I am faithful to what I do, have remained faithful, but stress took its toll. And that’s okay. I totally get it. However, I am beating it, it’s just taking a little time.
People are always inviting me to go on some new diet. Ughhhhh…….There certainly are enough of them out there. And so like every year at this time I get a lot of email or texts that begin with, “Can you tell me more about the plan you are on?” Or “Would you like to try something new with me?” Ummm….sure I can tell you about it and …… no, not trying anything else…. been there done that….I am on the last thing I will ever be on. I really should make a pamphlet because I give the same speech all the time.
I am actually not on a plan anymore. I was…. for about six months and then I decided to pick this whole thing up as my way of Life. Granted, this summer? Yeah who knows what I was doing. But for most of my days, this “plan”is how I live. I do the best I can, some days are harder than others. And I forgive myself for not being perfect. I don’t need anything new, because I feel best when I eat the way Dr. Jack told me to. And I feel like garbage when I don’t. Simple.
And the truth is, that I am healthier now than I ever was in my thirties. Am I at the ideal weight I want to be? Not yet…. “yet” being the operative word. I would like to be healthier, after all I have a sweet grandchild coming and I need to be healthy for that! I need to stay healthy for my family, my kids have enough to deal with, but most importantly I have to do it for myself! I am making some big changes and those changes are paying off in big ways. It’s just taking a little time. That was to be expected.
If you are considering trying Dr. Jack’s way the truth is that in a month, you will totally feel different, totalllllyyyyyyyyyyyy different. Everything starts to shift. Your mind, does, your weight does, your sleep patterns do, you feel like you never felt in your entire life!
This way works. And for me? It’s the only way to go, That’s really all I know. I have been on everything else. So in some ways I feel like am expert! Ha ha.. I get all the well meaning people… “Want to try weight watchers for a while with me?” Umm… no…. can’t do weight watchers at all. Paleo? Didn’t work. Atkins? Six seven eight go rounds, nada….. South Beach? Only if you are talking vacation! Tried that on the advice of an endocrinologist. Lost? The cost of the book and a lot of time. Thyroid diet? Please, don’t make me laugh. American heart! Dash? No no and no…. none of those work for me because they never fixed what was really wrong. See that is what this plan does, it fixes the problem.
Want to join a gym? Umm… no thank you….. I have a Y membership so I can go and do what I want, when I want, but the truth is, most of my weight came off before that! And the truth of that is when I started exercising my weight lost slowed down…. ask Dr. Jack to explain that. He has awesome answers! “A trainer would do you good.” Had a trainer! They told me that they were shocked I didn’t eat carbs and how your brain needs pasta. And a whole litany of advice. Uhhhh… no it doesn’t. And I had better mental clarity than ever in my entire life. So apparently, he was right and that advice is wrong.
New Year’s goals? Of course I have them! But mine are all about one thing. Get healthy in all ways, physically, mentally, emotionally…. keep growing. After all, I didn’t even get to the best part yet!