I just read a report that Consumer Reports ranked weight loss programs this year and put Jenny Craig in first place, followed by (can you believe it) Slim Fast in second and Weight Watchers in third place.
Huh.
(I find it rather amusing that I got all huffy with the article as I read it. Apparently, I found that Weight Watchers worked for me and am offended that anyone could possibly put it in third place!!!)
It makes sense, of course, that for weight loss, if you eat only what someone else puts in front of you that you will likely lose weight—because you aren’t making choices throughout your day. Since Jenny Craig is a program with counseling and prepackaged food, there aren’t as many choices as you would face in the grocery store, food court, amusement park, cafeteria, or restaurant. With the second place winner in the ranking none other than Slim Fast, I’m seeing where the dieters were going with this.
They wanted easy.
And simple.
And fast.
And no thought.
And no work.
Hmm. Sounds like a lot of “we know we should but it’s just sooo muuuch wooorrrk” things out there. Like, for example, keeping yourself healthy!
I don’t know where anyone got the idea that staying healthy and fit was supposed to be easy. I don’t think it was ever supposed to be easy. Sure, living with diabetes makes a lot of things more complicated than average, but I don’t think anyone has anything easy!
Maybe the yo-yo diets have a lot to do with the “on a diet/ off a diet” concept, where you eat dramatically differently (or, in the case of Slim-Fast, you drink dramatically differently) when you are “on” than when you are “off.”
The thing is, though: your body needs to always be ON. It functions best that way!!! You can’t really have months where you do exercise or watch what you eat, and months where you don’t care. As it goes with your blood sugars, you know it doesn’t work to your benefit that way!! You need to keep a closer watch on yourself and your body.
All the time.
In real world scenarios.
So that when you DO need to find something to eat at an amusement park or vending machine, you can make good choices for yourself. When you have a high you can’t seem to bring down, you know that taking a walk after a meal can help as much as an extra shot of insulin.
It’s all about real world living every day.
How could it be anything else, really, when it comes down to it?
You can do it. You can make your life work with the body you have. You can make your body work better for you if you work on it slowly but surely and steadily.
Go for it!
