Remember: You are not alone!

This journey that many of us have been on for sooooo long often seems very lonely because most of this journey goes on in our head, which let's face it, can be a really scary place!  Often when we're hurting we withdraw into the darkness of ourselves instead of searching for the light of others.  And, unless you're a mushroom or mold, you can not thrive in the dark!

Joining in the Weight Watcher meetings will bring the light back into your journey!  The positive, and non-judgmental, energy of the group is contagious and reminds you that you're not alone.  You'll feel motivated, inspired and buoyed up....all the feelings you need to help carry you through the week! 

So don't go it alone, the load is lighter when it is shared!

We can't always wait until the timing is right!

I started a Facebook page (J. Hartman's "If not now, when?") last week. It was something I've wanted to do for a long while now because I'm hoping you all will join in, share and feel connected.  It took me a long time to do the Facebook page, and this blog too, because I kept telling myself I wasn't ready and I wanted to wait until I could do it perfectly.  

Ha!  Well, I can tell you my blog and FB page are not, and will never be, perfect! Whew, what a relief...striving for perfection can be so tiring! And I'm OK with that...for the first time in my life, I'm really OK with that.  I finally started because I KNEW if I waited until I was ready, and could do it perfectly, I would never do it.  Sound familiar?  It was just an excuse because I was afraid.  I was afraid of failing, afraid no one would read it and/or Like it.  I was also afraid that people would read it and/or Like it!  So I did nothing.  Again, sound familiar??

We hear many times "it's just not the right time" and "I'm not there yet", I'm not in the right head space"....these are excuses to not start, not reasons. If we wait until we're ready there will always be a road block and most of them will be self-imposed. I know because I've used these excuses many times but I now know they come from fear.  Fear will hold us back like no other emotion!  And the only way to get past the fear is to believe that we only truly fail when we do nothing.  If we try and never give up we have succeeded! 

Just start, you'll learn as you go along just like the rest of us!  And once you've started you will find that the fear will leave you because it can only hold on to you if you refuse to let it go.

Believe that we only truly fail when we do nothing, so just start!

Check out my facebook page!

I think it may be easier to interact with everyone with a Facebook page!  Hope you'll Like it!

www.facebook.com/jmhartmanifnotnowwhen

It's not enough to know what you want.

We all know what we want.  I can wager that the next sentence pretty much wraps up "what" we want in a nutshell:  We want to lose weight and feel good about ourselves.  Am I right?

It's pretty simple so why is it so very hard for us to achieve?  It's hard to achieve for some of us because we are only doing half of the process...it's not enough to know what you want, you must "do and be" what you want".  Does that make sense?

Here's a very simple example: If you want to be a doctor, you don't become a doctor by just saying it or thinking it do you?  You have to go do what it takes to be a doctor and losing weight is no different.
To be a doctor you must:
-get into med school (sign up for Weight Watchers)
-attend the classes (attend the meetings)
-study anatomy and do your homework (learn the plan and work it at home)
-become a intern and practice what you've learned (live as a Weight Watcher and practice what you have learned)
-you get a piece of paper that says you're a doctor so everyday you do what a doctor would do (you get a piece of paper that says you are a Weight Watcher so everyday you do what a Weight Watcher would do)
-you are a doctor (you are a Weight Watcher)

 It's not enough to know what you want....You have to do what you want!

You are a Weight Watcher, do what a Weight Watcher does!!

It's pretty hard to stay motivated when you're always doing The Hokey Pokey with your goal!

A major topic these days at meetings is motivation, or lack there of.  As anyone who comes to a meeting that I lead knows, I like to use the great pearls of wisdom I borrow from successful people to motivate and inspire us into meaningful conversation.  Last week someone asked me, "How do you stay motivated to stay on plan?"....and I have to tell you, I was stumped for a second!  I was stumped for an automatic answer because I have been motivated to lose weight for sooooo long, 43 years to be exact, that it is ingrained in me to never give up and always jump back on the next wagon. 

Thankfully ,(whew!) I did have an answer, and it was:

"I keep my weight loss goal front and center at ALL TIMES...

I fit my life into Weight Watchers, not Weight Watchers into my life." 

When Weight Watchers is just one of the many things that you do, how easy does it  fall to the bottom of your daily list?  Very freakin' easy, right? We all have many parts of our lives that demand our attention and demand to be at the top of our list.  So here's the question: If Weight Watchers is simply on your list, what chance does it have of ever being at the top of your list when it has to compete with jobs, family, household chores, social commitments etc?  That's right...slim to none  most days. :(

But if you make Weight Watchers the center from which the rest of your day flows, your choices will automatically be different.  They will be different because you are making the choices as a Weight Watcher, not just as someone who goes to Weight Watchers.  See the difference?  "I go" to Weight Watchers or "I am" a Weight Watcher....which one are you?

Believe it or not, it's actually easier when you live it because it takes a lot of the dabbling out of it. It's kinda like The Hokey-Pokey..."you put your left foot in, you put your left foot out"....which means sometimes you're in and sometimes you're out.... and that's called dabbling.  And dabbling never allows you to swing into your own personal high gear and, here's the thing Peeps.... it's those moments of personal high gear that keep you motivated!  They motivate you because you created them and you own them!

We can certainly can an "aha" and be momentarily super motivated by the words and actions of those around us BUT lasting Dear-Lord-get-me-through-the-weekend motivation must come from within!  And I believe the best way to get, and more importantly to stay, motivated is to live it, live it, live it, until you know no other way to live!

Stop dabbling...Live your goal everyday

and you'll see how successful you can be!

And remember, it's called a lifestyle 

because it is the style in which you live!

So, just how committed are you to changing?

"If you do what you've always done, 

you'll get what you've always got."

Many of us are in the same boat and that boat is floatin' down denial!  We want to lose weight but we really, REALLY, don't want to make the changes necessary to do so.  We join WW, we get our allotted daily Points Plus Values and what are the very first foods we look up in our Pocket Guides?  We all rush to find how much pizza, ice cream, chips and pie, oh my, we can eat and still lose weight! Right?  We don't want to change.

Even though we are advised that the way to lose weight is to put most of our Points Plus Values towards Power Foods, we don't....we don't want to accept that in order to lose we must change.  And for most of us that means changing what, and the way, we've been eating for much of our lives....."If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got." 

It's not easy but I truly believe WW can guide you through those changes IF you commit to making small, consistent, daily efforts.  So try the monthly routines and member tips, put more Power Foods in your daily diet, add that walk into your day.  Do those things and, presto-change-o, you're no longer doing what you've always done!

No, it's not easy but guess what?  It's not that hard either.  

And if you want to change and just won't, or can't, do it,

perhaps you need to ask yourself "why?".  

Maybe the answer to your "why" is holding you back.  

Think about it.