The Next 100 Days

Everyone needs a really good best friend. I’ve been lucky that way. Yesterday, I was at an all-day conference for the F.A.S.T. Diet Program I’ve been doing over the last couple of years. The thing that’s so different about this than any other program is it’s designed to be like getting advice from your best friend…only better. Because I’m not talking about the “you look great and there’s nothing you ever have to do to improve!” compliments from someone who really doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. I’m talking the down and dirty, nitty-gritty honest assessment and assistance you need to change your life. Honesty can sting sometimes but it’s invaluable in the quest to get what you want.

We came away from this conference inspired! We were not told that we got the way we are because of some outside influence we should blame. We were told that this is the way we are – this is the hand we were dealt. We are eaters – the lot of us. There’s no quick fix. We were told that we deserve everything we want in life IF we take personal responsibility and work really hard. What a concept!

There’s a segment of our population – an ever growing segment – that doesn’t want to hear anything about this. They want to blame their genetics, their disease, their busy-ness (I work full-time and have a family!), or they claim they just don’t care what they look (or apparently feel) like. I think these are people who haven’t felt well in so long, they’ve forgotten the feeling.

One of the speakers yesterday is a woman in her mid-thirties with Multiple Sclerosis who lost 164 lbs. Did you hear that? ONE HUNDRED and SIXTY-FOUR POUNDS: the weight of a robust-sized human. She runs 10 miles a day. She is vibrant and beautiful – one of those people you look at and say, “I want to look like THAT!” She’s a poster-child for what the F.A.S.T. Diet can do.

I am guilty of complacency – I have a case of the “good enoughs.” I feel good in my clothes. I’m stronger than I have been in all of my adult life. I just feel good – really good. But, I haven’t reached my goal yet. I haven’t finished this thing! And there I go again – talking as if there is an endpoint. That’s another thing we learned yesterday – there is no endpoint. This is for life – this struggle. There will always be some excuse for inattention to our health and well-being – we can use any circumstance to avoid being accountable. I’ve been reminded of this so many times – I feel like I need to tattoo it somewhere so it finally sticks. Tattoos probably don’t work that way.

So, my plan is to get to goal weight by Friday, October 4, 2013. I chose that day because my weigh-in day is Friday. That’s a nicely paced 1.5 lbs/week. In order to get this done I will need to follow all the rules of the program. My short-term goal is to do it perfectly for 100 days. I’m going to take the extra step of calling Tony, Ed or Charlotte (at the F.A.S.T. Diet) every day to ask a question. That’s one of the rules anyway – if you can’t follow the rules you have to ask a question. I’m going to ask a question about something every day regardless. I chose that because I tend to think that I’ve been doing this for 2 years, I should know this all already…but I obviously don’t, so I need to ask. I need to be in-my-own-face about this thing. I need to glean all the information I can from these people.

The longest I’ve done this flawlessly has been 50 days. Those 50 days passed just like any other 50-day period – but I felt and looked better and had a wonderful sense of accomplishment at the end of it. These next 8 months will pass so quickly – they always do. I wrote about mojo a week or so ago. Mojo or no mojo – I will do this for 100 days, then the next, and the next as flawlessly as humanly possible. I will reaffirm that choice on a daily or hourly basis if I have to. I will come back here and reread this to remind myself how inspired I was on this day. I will make sure I am putting myself first. I am ready for the challenge. What a perfect time – at the beginning of racing season! Who’s signing up with me?

I'm going to print this and cross off the days!