The Journey to get to where you want to be. Just Suck It Up!

     So this summer we went on a 17 day road trip to Utah and Wyoming.  6 days in Utah, 6 days in Wyoming and 5 days on the road.  We planned ahead and saved some money, bought some snacks for the road, set up our reservations for the drive, planned our activities for each stop and had the Magellan GPS ready to guide us along the way.  We went on our journey, had a great time making memories with our family and made it back safely to resume our day to day activities.  What made this vacation a success?  We had a plan, we followed it with some deviations and we had a good idea of what we wanted to do.
     Why do I mention this?  Because I have found going on a diet requires a plan, a destination, and a mindset for what you are going to do when you get there.  I am amazed at the success stories of people who have lost weight on their diets.  30 days and 20 pounds.  They cheer about it.  They go out to the buffet and fill up, go grab a shake and celebrate their victory.  And they deserve it.  But it's not always a smart thing.  The next morning they see the scale laughing at then by adding five pounds in one day!  After all that work to drop 20, and one whirlwind of a celebration and they have gained 5 back.  Then guess what, and I know this one.  They will show that scale up and go pig out for lunch and they spiral out of control and gain the weight back.  Then it is a pity fest.  Where did their map go?  Where is the plan?
      In the past I never had a plan.  I knew I wanted to lose weight, and I knew how much.  But I wasn't sure how to get there, and I certainly didn't know what to do when I got there.  I lost 15 pounds on the cabbage soup diet.  I was elated to drop that much.  But I didn't change anything after and finished and I gained it all back and then some.  I tried the Atkin's Diet.  Boy did I love that journey for the first two weeks.  All the meat I could eat!  A half pound of bacon each morning with thee eggs.  A half a pound of nature's candy every morning!  I lost 12 pounds, in 10 days, but suddenly I couldn't stand the sight of protein for a week!  A week later, I gained the 12 back plus 5 more.  I was so frustrated.  I knew where to go, but had no clue how to get there.  Where was the map?  Does this sound familiar to you?
       This time it has been different.  It had to be.   I knew again where I wanted to go.  The goal, drop 50 pounds.  That was a good goal.  And I had a road map.  My Father-in-law Roy had a diet.  He gave me the tools to lose the 50 pounds.  But this diet, the HCG diet, was only the road map.  I knew where I wanted to go and how I was going to try to get there.  But then one thing different this time, what was I going to do when I got there?  I needed to plan of what I was going to do differently when I got there.  This is where we all can learn and we must be ready to change.  We need to learn from our past failures and have a plan for the lifestyle change.  To be successful on this road trip, you have to have a plan for when you get there.
      So here I was with my road map, and I wasn't going to deviate at all.  I grabbed my mechanic and started on the journey.  My mechanic, and we all need one, was my beautiful wife Jodie.  She knew my restrictions, she was my encouragement, and she was the guardian of the pantry and refrigerator.  And the best part, she vowed to eat the same food as me and to rid the house of all of the junk so I wouldn't be tempted to break my diet.
    It is so important that you have a personal mechanic!  I remember when I was low on oil one night, ready to give up and follow the same path I always had before. I had lost 18 pounds in the first 20 days of my 60 day diet.   I wanted to eat some real food.  I wanted something more than my 500 calorie alotment.  I was on the couch throwing a temper tantrum like a four year old at Disneyland who wanted the colorful lollipop but who's parent's wouldn't buy it.  I wanted a lollipop and I wanted it now.  Jodie called Vicki, who was our expert on the HCG diet.  She asked Vicki what I could have to make me happier.  Jodie was on the phone for about fifteen minutes nodding her head, saying yes, asking the questions.  I waited patiently for her to end the conversation and to let me know what I could have to ease my burden.  I was excited, eat a cookie, a bagel with a block of cream cheese.  Anything to reward myself for losing the 20 pounds.  Jodie, lay it on me and give me my reward.  "Vicki said to suck it up."  Wah?!?!?  Suck it up?  Suck it up?  How dare you say that!  The world was going to end because I wanted some cheese and you are telling me to suck it up!  She may as well have wrapped her steel toed shoes in barb wire and kicked me in the nuggets.  I wanted my lollipop and all she could do was tell me to suck it up.
     I sat on the couch for about 20 minutes wallowing in self pity.  Suck it up.  SUCK IT UP!  Reward myself and break off the path?  Eat a luscious lollipop, or suck it up.  This was the crossroads of my diet, and for the first time in my life, I was ready to accept that I could return to my normal life, be glutinous and over weight, or I could put my head down, suck it up, and plow through this roadblock.  So I sucked it up, and this was the turning point of my new life.
     So my mechanic helped me follow the map, and I got to my destination.  50 pounds in 47 days.  But this was just the beginning of my journey.  I had arrived, but now it was time to enjoy myself now that I had reached my destination.  So I decided to change my life.  I did Weight Watchers and learned how to eat.  How to really eat (I'll talk about this more in the future because I think this made a huge difference for me and it is critical for anyone who diets.).  And I learned to love to run.  In fact, I ran 10 miles today.  I think that is more than I ran from 2005-2010 combined!  This is not the person I once was, and I hope to never return to the, as my ten year old Turner would say, "Fat Dad."
     So set up your journey, find you road map and mechanic (or mechanics), make sure your tools are available and have a plan for when you get there so you will know how to live it up.  Celebrate along the way, but don't over do it.  Then your nick name will go from "Fat Dad' to "The Bobblehead."  (My new nick name at work because they say my head is way too big for my new body.)  Until next time, cherish the journey and avoid too many pit stops!
The Bobblehead