Week 9: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Okay, well...this is the week where the rubber meets the road.  Where what I've said is applied to the reality. 

I lost one pound this week.  It's a loss.  I should celebrate. (And I will.)

This week was terrible.  I think worse than my first week on the plan.  I guess I was hoping for some great reward on the scale for my perserverence.  But sometimes reward comes in other ways.

There's a lot associated with the numbers on the scale right now.  I am two pounds away from being at my ending weight when I finished the second season of PPA.  There's a negative connotation here for me.  I struggled so badly to make the scale budge even down to this weight when I did PPA.  It was agonizing.  And then...I gained so much weight when it was over.  I'm STILL losing the weight I gained.  I think there is a subconscious fear that the scale won't go beyond this weight.  I know...it's ludicrious, I'm just being honest.  I've felt very trapped here in the past, so I just want to fly past these numbers so I can get over it. 

And, since we're talking about this, I will also confess something else.  Many of you have congratulated me on my pictures and how good I must feel when I see them.  It is exciting, of course.  But would you like to know what else runs through my mind?  I look at my before pictures as they compare to my eight week shots and I think, "Look at all the weight I gained!" 

These thoughts aren't all bad.  I don't ever want to go back there to that "before picture" girl.  Which requires resolve.

I just talked to my awesome coach, Shirley.  I would never recommend anyone do the Medifast plan apart from Take Shape for Life and a health coach.  She is there to grab me when I'm having any doubts, or just to remind me of good truth.

Like how this week has reaped other benefits for me that can't be measured on a scale.  Like the reminder of how awful it is to get back into fat burning phase...so why in the world would I ever want to cheat?  It's good to be reminded and to feel the pain again.

Like how I am not trapped, and how I KNOW the weight will continue to just drop off.

Like how hard this week was, but I didn't give up.

Like how amazing my husband is and how supportive my friends are.

Like how God is at work for a greater purpose in my life than a number.  Optimal health for HIS glory.  Not for mine.

Like how it doesn't matter where I've been--it matters where I'm going.

I love Take Shape for Life.  Week 9 was hard, but totally worth it!