The Decision/Choices

   Today I saw this photo posted on the facebook page "Amber's Journey from 400 lbs to Healthy"

[image with caption: "Hey you, weight loss and a healthy life is not a fairytale. If you want it, get off your a** and work for it."]

   I LOVE it and HATE it. Why?

    I love it because it contains a very pertinent truth: Weight loss comes not from a magic Chinese tea, not from a fad diet, but from an honest-to-goodness evaluation of what is keeping you from living in a healthy way, and then making the choices that are needed to get there.

   I hate it because the forever-thin population is unlikely to know just how hard weight loss can be. I can see them smugly throwing this line to every obese person they know. And they may have no idea of just how difficult the journey can be.

     [ I have written previously on this topic HERE in a similar vein, including Jewish sources.]

    Thin people often think that the overweight person just has to "make up their mind" in order to lose the excess poundage. But in reality, true weight loss is not caused by a one-time decision, but by a 1001 choices, moment-by-moment, day-by-day. The slim population needs to realize that keeping that type of extended commitment to weight loss is an accomplishment akin to the success of a marathon runner: you only are going to achieve results with a consistent, sustained change in the way one views food and living.

   And those who are overweight need to  grasp that each individual choice is not that difficult. It is doable, and even enjoyable. If you take the journey step-by-step, you will arrive at your goal eventually.

   So to make life more fun, I have created two poster-pictures:

[image of trail sign with caption "Weight loss is not from a one-time decision. It's a series of choices, moment by moment, day by day."]

And:

[image with caption: "People who are thin don't know how hard weight-loss is. People who are overweight don't know how doable it is…..."]