When people ask me how I stay thin, I always start by telling them about this:
I read a book a few years ago that changed my life – mostly in the area of health / weight loss, but it applies to anything. I had been carrying around an extra 30lbs or so since the birth of my first child that I just “could NOT get rid of no matter what I tried.”
In Andy Stanley’s book, The Principle of the Path, he states that “Direction – not intention – determines our destination.” Here’s my paraphrase: The destination (goal) I wanted was weight loss. My intention was weight loss, but my direction (the daily choices I made) were not on the path that led to weight loss. When I chose to eat brownies and chips instead of apples and almonds, I was choosing the direction toward maintaining the extra weight, even though my intention was to lose the weight.
Understanding this helped me see each choice as, well – a choice. I began to understand that every choice mattered…each choice had a consequence. Eating an apple leads to weight loss. Eating a brownie leads to no weight loss. I had a choice.
As I began to take responsibility for my choices, I began to make wise choices more often. I was accountable for each choice I made – no one else was…not even the screaming baby. Each healthy choice I made, led me down the path of health. Each unhealthy choice I made, led me down the path of, well, un-health.
When every choice counts – you can’t start tomorrow, you can’t “blow it” for the day, you can only “blow it” for that choice. Each choice is a new choice, a new chance to make the wise choice. If you eat a brownie and “blow it” you can then choose to eat another one, or to not eat another one. If you choose not to exercise today, you don't have to make that same choice tomorrow, or even this afternoon. One unwise choice does not negate your responsibility for the next choice.
This applies to anything – not just food and weight loss. It applies to any area of your life, even to your finances (don’t get me started!!). Every choice you make, every minute of every hour of every day, has a consequence. If you want to change your life, you have to make different choices – you have to choose different behavior. It’s not always easy – but nothing worth having is easy! The more often you choose the wise choice, the closer you become to your destination.
When you stop making excuses for your problems (extra weight) and take responsibility for your choices (food & exercise), you will begin to see change and make progress. And yes, sometimes I still chose the brownie – but I also accept the consequences for that choice. And because my goal is to be a healthy weight (destination), I make intentional choices every day (direction), all day long, in order to stay on the path that will lead me to, and maintains a healthy weight.
You have a choice to make. You alone are responsible for that choice. Will you make the choice (direction) that will lead you to your goal (destination)? Or will you make another excuse? Will you stay stuck where you are and make excuses to why you can’t change? Or will you take responsibility for your life?
Your diet doesn’t start on Monday. Changing your life starts TODAY!!!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Scratch the Resolutions and Set some Goals!
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions every year? Do you find that by February, or even Jan 10th, you’ve given up? There’s a good reason why resolutions don’t work… A resolution is defined as a “formal expression of opinion or intention made.” It’s a wish - what you want to happen, how you want to be different, what you hope to accomplish in your life over the next year.
While it’s true that in order to change your life, you first have to decide that you are willing to change (make a resolution), but if you don’t have a plan behind that decision, you have no way of knowing how to get there, nor will you be able to measure whether or not you have reached your goal or even progressed.
This year, why not set goals? Real goals. Goals that matter. Goals are not just a wish, but they are backed by a plan. When you put a plan behind your wish, you can determine the steps necessary to reach your goal, and whether or not you achieved your goal.
Get out a pen & paper and start writing…
1. State your goal.
This is your resolution. This is what you want to change or hope to accomplish.
2. Determine your starting point.
If you don’t know where you are starting from, then where will you start from? If your goal is weight loss, you need to step on the scale. If your goal is debt freedom, you need to know how much debt you have. A guess will NOT work here. If you aren’t willing to make the effort to find out where you currently are, then you won’t be willing to make the effort to reach the goal either.
3. Set a date
What is the time frame in which you want to accomplish the goal? Many of the goals we set this time or year are annual goals, so most of our “dates” are Dec. 31st. However, if you want to go on vacation in June, your “date” should be prior to June.
4. Divide your goal up and decide what you need to do TODAY.
If you want to lose 50 pounds by Dec. 31st…that’s almost 1 pound per week…that’s 1/7 of a pound per day. Once you have a specific (daily) goal, you can hold yourself accountable for each choice you make…to exercise or not to exercise…to eat the cookie or have an apple instead. Daily goals are much easier to focus on because you know what you need to do at every choice to get there. And if you blow it today, you get to start over tomorrow!
One of mine & Nathan’s favorite date nights of the year is our January date. We review our goals from the previous year and see how we did. We don’t ever reach all of our goals, but we reach some and we always progress! Then we talk about our dreams and get to set new goals for the new year. (BTW – one of our goals every year is date night…when we don’t make it a priority, we forget to date each other).
What are your dreams? Where do you hope to be next year? What can you accomplish? Why not set some real goals? Why not spend the energy to figure out how you can reach the goals? Why not you? Why not now? Wouldn’t you like to look back next December and see the progress you’ve made? You really can change your life, stop making excuses and start today!
While it’s true that in order to change your life, you first have to decide that you are willing to change (make a resolution), but if you don’t have a plan behind that decision, you have no way of knowing how to get there, nor will you be able to measure whether or not you have reached your goal or even progressed.
This year, why not set goals? Real goals. Goals that matter. Goals are not just a wish, but they are backed by a plan. When you put a plan behind your wish, you can determine the steps necessary to reach your goal, and whether or not you achieved your goal.
Get out a pen & paper and start writing…
1. State your goal.
This is your resolution. This is what you want to change or hope to accomplish.
2. Determine your starting point.
If you don’t know where you are starting from, then where will you start from? If your goal is weight loss, you need to step on the scale. If your goal is debt freedom, you need to know how much debt you have. A guess will NOT work here. If you aren’t willing to make the effort to find out where you currently are, then you won’t be willing to make the effort to reach the goal either.
3. Set a date
What is the time frame in which you want to accomplish the goal? Many of the goals we set this time or year are annual goals, so most of our “dates” are Dec. 31st. However, if you want to go on vacation in June, your “date” should be prior to June.
4. Divide your goal up and decide what you need to do TODAY.
If you want to lose 50 pounds by Dec. 31st…that’s almost 1 pound per week…that’s 1/7 of a pound per day. Once you have a specific (daily) goal, you can hold yourself accountable for each choice you make…to exercise or not to exercise…to eat the cookie or have an apple instead. Daily goals are much easier to focus on because you know what you need to do at every choice to get there. And if you blow it today, you get to start over tomorrow!
One of mine & Nathan’s favorite date nights of the year is our January date. We review our goals from the previous year and see how we did. We don’t ever reach all of our goals, but we reach some and we always progress! Then we talk about our dreams and get to set new goals for the new year. (BTW – one of our goals every year is date night…when we don’t make it a priority, we forget to date each other).
What are your dreams? Where do you hope to be next year? What can you accomplish? Why not set some real goals? Why not spend the energy to figure out how you can reach the goals? Why not you? Why not now? Wouldn’t you like to look back next December and see the progress you’ve made? You really can change your life, stop making excuses and start today!
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