I have a confession. I haven’t been as strict this time through as I should. In fact I’ve full blown cheated. A few things have happened that have caused this. First of all, this is my second time through. So it’s easy to look at the first straight 60 and be proud of myself for doing it and thinking I don’t need to be so strict again. Also, it’s really easy to look at what I’ve accomplished so far and be content with where I am. I said something in last week’s blog, about how I’m ok with slowly dropping the weight, since I know I’m on the right path. I’ve had that comment on my mind for the past week. While that still holds true, I am still on the right path, I know I can do so much better and I want to do better.
So how did I fall into cheating? Well, as the title suggests, the slippery slope has something to do with it. It starts with one compromise, whether it’s having a green apple and berries that day, to pushing the amount of tomato sauce, to eventually blatantly cheating. When I was still in school, we had a guest speaker, a chiropractor from Atlanta actually (I went to school in Buffalo) who was talking to us about insurance fraud. He was still in the process of his trial, and going around talking to schools about the issue in hopes it would help his case. He was facing up to five years in prison I believe. He said the way it happened, was a small compromise initially, which he would justify or rationalize to himself by thinking, “the insurance company owes me money that it’s going to deny, so I’ll make that up by billing this little extra thing (that he didn’t actually do) and it will all even out.” He started small, but it grew, to where he became a target of an FBI investigation.
So relating this to the diet, obviously we’re not going to prison for cheating this, but if we really look at this whole thing for what it really is, we can argue it’s just as important, if not more. My health, my life is dependent upon me doing this right. I have a lot of good reasons to allow myself cheats. We just joined a small group through Watermarke Church, we meet weekly and eat a meal together. This is where most of our cheating has happened. It’s really hard to say no to delicious food new friends prepare, in fact it can come across as rude. But, I said it’s hard, not impossible, and it really isn’t rude if you just tell people why, and maybe we could inspire the rest of our group to join us. Another “reason” I can justify cheating is because I’m exercising harder now than I ever have. I’ve also been watching the scale pretty closely, and as long as I’m losing or not gaining, I’m OK. Probably my best reason is the whole “I’m preparing or treating this, how I would like to eat after the diet.” So, don’t get me wrong I have not strayed far. For the most part I’m keeping the diet, and I’ve only cheated here and there. So, yes, I think I would be doing great for a “graduation” type diet. The problem is I’m not there yet.
It’s not easy sharing this, but my hope is that it will help those of you doing the straight 60 to avoid these “justifications, compromises, and/or reasons” for cheating and see them for what they are, excuses. But the most important thing to take from this is to NOT GIVE UP. It would be very easy to cheat and get down on yourself and talk yourself into submission. The old me would have been done after one moment of weakness, and those thoughts of hopelessness would come right back in. I’d really advise to avoid cheating, because once you do it gets harder to avoid it, but if you have already had that moment of weakness, it’s OK, pick yourself back up, refocus, and get right back on the path.
This week I stayed at 204 lbs., like I mentioned above, this would be great if I was at a healthy weight, eating a good diet with some sugars. But I’m not there yet; I still need to drop weight and promote healing, so I’m getting back at it, strict from here to the end. Even in our small group, we’ll stay the course. We’ve planned our meals for this coming week again, mostly salads. I’ve noticed as we’ve found more recipes we’ve had less salad. Getting back to having salads regularly should be a great way to get back on this diet the right way. Thanks for reading
-Dr. Mark