Tough Choices become Natural Choices

I got on a scale and weighed my self yesterday. I used to do that once a week, but the last 4 months I have done it
about every three weeks, it is'nt something I think about much anymore. The reason I have still done it is because I wanted to see if I could maintain my weight without really thinking much about trying to maintain my weight. I don't count calories.

I have found that I still have to make choices about what I am going to eat, and that is the toughest part about losing weight, making the choice to eat the right thing instead of the thing you really want to eat . There are a ton of weight loss products on the market that promise to relieve you of the burden of making those choices . "Take this pill once a day, eat whatever you want and still lose weight !", "Take this pill and suppress your appetite!" "Take this pill and burn up all the fat from that double cheese burger and fries you just ate !".

People who market these weight loss products know that people hate making choices about food. We do not like restriction when it comes to food. Like William Wallace in "Brave Heart" we hold our forks high and shout "FREEDOM !!" as we charge toward the Buffet Table like a mad man. The truth is, that is not freedom, it is slavery. I remember the first few days of my
RESET Program how tough it was for me to make the choice to see it through but about the third day something "broke", something changed, and the choices became easier.As the weeks and months went on I kept making the right choices and as I did those choices became easier and easier. Now, they are'nt even choices anymore, It's just the way I naturally eat. I started thinking about "How" I made the decision to eat the right thing instead of the wrong thing. This will help you. When I struggled with a decision between two food items I found myself thinking about how I would FEEL after I ate that. Let me explain .
A while back I ate a McDonalds sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit, I did'nt feel guilty about it, I was in a hurry to get to work, I had my weight well under control, so I justified it to myself. I ate the biscuit and a cup of coffee. Ten minutes after I ate it I had this enormous "stuffed" feeling, I felt like I just ate a whole cow . It lasted about 45 minutes and at lunch I could still taste that sausage. I decided that I did not like that feeling . I can feel it now just writing about it. In the past that never would have bothered me, I could have eaten TWO of those without a problem .
Think about how you will feel after you eat that donut or burger or candy bar, really let that feeling sink in.Think about how your stomach will feel, think about that stuffed bloated feeling that will last for an hour after you've eaten. Think about how after you eat that candy bar, you will feel like you just drank a whole bottle of pancake syrup.
The emotional state that you are in goes a long way in determining what kind of food you will want to eat. If you are depressed, you will eat some high sugar or high carb food that will drive your blood sugar up and then crash it down, because what you really want deep down is that depressed feeling that the crashing blood sugar gives you. It is important to be aware of your emotions when you eat.
When you look at the good food think about how good, and light and energized you will feel.

The tough choices you make now will get easier, then they won't even be choices any more, they will become natural, then like William Wallace you can hold that fork high and shout "FREEDOM!!" as you charge the Buffet Table like a madman. Now that is real Freedom !

See you soon,

James Lange
You can click here to get more information on the RESET PROGRAM

The Roller Coaster to Obesity

Over the last twenty years I have dieted and exercised , I have drank more water every day than I really really wanted to . I wanted to stay healthy so I made the effort and did what it took to keep the fat off and stay strong . I love to run , so that is what I did , I ran and watched what I ate . I was 29 years old , 6'4" tall , weighed 195 lbs and had a 34 inch waist .

Well, I moved down the highway of life and in the course of two years, my disciplined running program was just physical fitness roadkill. I still watched what I ate though, in fact I was always watching for something else to eat. When it was over I weighed 230 lbs and had a 36 inch waist.

I decided to take action .

I scraped up my roadkill running program and started working out .I loved working out, so there was not much of a struggle to get that going again .
The food on the other hand was a different story, I was happy with eating whatever I wanted to eat , so changing that was like torture . I would decide on a Friday that on Monday I would start my diet. So the whole weekend I would eat whatever I wanted and as much as I wanted because, Hey, I was starting my diet on Monday, I might as well party this weekend because on Monday I was going to put the clamps on and really get down to business on this diet thing.

Right.

It took a month of Mondays to gather the courage to actually start getting my eating under control . I gained 8 lbs just planning to go on a diet.

Eventually my desire to get back into shape became greater that my desire for food and I did it. Sort of ... I didn't get back to 195lbs but I did get down to 205lbs , not really back were I started but I was happy . My waist was not exactly a 34 , I could fit into 34's but they were a little snug . The size 36 jeans were much more comfortable though with room to spare . People congratulated me and commented on how much weight I lost .I was proud of myself , I felt great.
Had I stopped right there and maintained the gains I made in my diet and health this would be a very short story , but the fact is this scenario repeated itself about every 18 months for the next 20 years.
The one thing I just could not overcome was the relentless craving for food , especially the wrong kind of food .

My wife and I would go out to a nice big dinner with appetizers, steak, and baked potato, coffee , and desert. I would be stuffed . We would go back to the house and 20 minutes later I would be pulling something out of the cabinet or the refrigerator . She would say " If you eat one more thing you're going to make me throw up ". I couldn't help it, I wasn't really hungry, my stomach felt just as full as my wife's did ,yet I really felt like I had to eat.


If I stopped for gas somewhere I always got something to eat , in a grocery heck out I would grab a candy bar or those little fat pills they call salted peanuts . My energy levels were very low during the day, there were times when I would have these deep sinking feelings like I all wanted to do was go to sleep.

Eventually I would get sick and tired of being sick and tired and pull myself out of it only to repeat the cycle all over again .


Remember how much I weighed when I started ? I was 195lbs and after two years topped out at 230 lbs but then I decided to get healthy again and lost 25lbs to wind up at a respectable 205 lbs .
So I lost 25 lbs right ?

NO !

I gained 10 lbs

My Ideal weight is 195 lbs , thats the standard to measure from in order to tell how well I am doing in terms of my health . Every time I went through one of these cycles and got healthy again I was thrilled if I got to within 10 lbs of my last weight gain . I kept mentally moving the benchmark .

By February of 2006 I weighed 286 lbs and had a 42 inch waist , strike that , I wore a size 42 waist pants . Thats another bit of fat math that guys do . In high school I wore a size 34 pants because I actually had a 34 inch waist . Ten years later I've gained 50 lbs and still wear a size 34 pants and say to myself " I'm in great shape, I'm in the same jeans that I wore in high school " . The problem with that is , I'm wearing my belt 5 inches south of were my waist actually lives . The low rider jeans fad was not created by Britney Spears , think about it .

Over the course of 20 years I gained 91 pounds , how did I do that ? 20 years = 240 months 91 lbs divided by 240 months = .379 lbs per month
That's 6 ounces per month , six ounces ! why should anyone be concerned about gaining 6 ounces ? Because like compounding interest in a savings account it continually drips in little by little and after 20 years your bank has a big fat savings account and your body has a big fat ....

I work in commercial construction, on the fourth day of working on the project that we are currently building I fell onto some wire mesh and and wound up with 15 stitches in my knee . I went back to work the next day and understood that I had to make a choice , either find an easier, lower paying job or lose weight and get in shape . I chose to get in shape .

At 286 lbs I had a long way to go so I started again , fought the cravings as best I could and started to lose a few pounds .

About a month into my new program I found the solution !

The Answer to the out of control cravings and those sinking feelings of lost energy during the day . The Answer had been right in front of my face for two years ! I take nutritional supplements , when I was younger I had no use for them , but as I am heading toward 50, and the strength of youth can no longer make up for my lack of wisdom, I see how valuable and neccesary they are . The company I buy my supplements from has a line of weight loss products .
I knew about them but basically ignored them because I had pretty much given up on the whole weight loss thing .I was not real excited about starting this five day program but I read some literature on the product and the idea of getting rid of the cravings for all the wrong foods was very attractive .

I also thought about the benefits of losing weight , like being able to bend over and tie my shoes ...... and breathe at the same time.

I did the five day program and all I can say is .... WOW ! By the beginning of the fourth day the cravings were GONE . I mean absolutely GONE . I lost 5lbs , which was great, but I was really excited about how I FELT . What a relief to be able to make good decisions about what I eat without that nagging " I gotta eat feeling ". I walked by foods that had always defeated me in the past candy bars , muffins ,pasta , pizza , fried chicken , soft drinks and thought " Naaaa " I really don't want that . This time I wasn't forcing my self to not want it, really deep down I was not interested in eating that stuff . Imagine how you would feel , being able to walk by that stuff and say "Naaaa" , I don't want that and you really don't want it .

After the five day RESET Program I did the Phase Two follow up program and on November 15, 2006 I weighed 214 lbs. I lost 72lbs in 9 months.

I did it without the nagging craving for food, I have the freedom to chose the right food without it seeming like torture .

The RESET Program will put your body into the proper metabolic state , basically your blood sugar will move up and down in the narrow range that it is supposed

to operate in , this controls your false cravings for food and sets your body up to

get rid of fat instead of storing it .

The follow up program will keep your body in the right state so that it you will

continue to burn fat and make steady healthy progress toward your goal .

It is a life changing journey !

You can go to ourdreams.usana.com to check out the RESET Program .

See You soon ,

James Lange

Welcome to my Blog

Losing weight and gaining control of your own body will radically change your life . The way you think and feel about yourself and even how other people interact with you will change. This may sound like a radical statement, but I know this to be true out my own experience and my hope is that I can help others achieve the same thing . Welcome to my Blog ! I will be sharing my experiences , information , motivation and some great products that will propel you forward to the body and the health that you always wanted .


See You Soon ,

James Lange