New Year’s Day, 2024. It’s as cold as Iceland outside, but your living room is warm and comfortable. You are surrounded by your loving family. The fire crackles and smells like all your favorite winters rolled into one and the Rose Bowl parade is on the massive new high definition television you gifted yourself for Christmas. You nudge the dog from your feet so you can get up and have a slice of pie-after all, what goes better with winter and contentment than pie? Besides, you reason,‘tomorrow I will start my diet and this is the year my resolution will stick!
As you begin to move, you become aware that it takes all your strength just to push off the couch. You are struggling to breathe. Your clothes have become uncomfortably tight, much tighter than they were in early November. “It’s ok”, you tell yourself; you expected this–planned for it even. As you cut the pie you remind yourself there is no reason for deprivation today, the diet starts tomorrow. Still, you experience a choking, bloated feeling. Is it the pie, or the guilt?
How many of us have lived this scenario? The story we tell ourselves seems entirely rational, “It’s the holidays, a time of celebration and indulgence. I’ll live it up a little and then when the New Year comes I’ll get serious about my resolutions and lose all of the weight that I have gained in the past 2 months.”
It is a contract we make with ourselves and one we likely will not keep but, even if we did, it is an absurd contract.
Let’s change the language of this agreement to make it more honest and forthright…
“For the duration of the holiday season, I will abandon self-control and responsibility for my health. will likely gain weight and suffer all the consequences of said weight gain: guilt, decreased energy, shattered self-esteem, increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, etc. etc. On January 1st or 2nd, I will begin a weight loss program (and this time I mean it!).
Under no circumstances will I deviate from this plan or seek to increase my health/longevity before January 1st as that would be; A) Difficult and B) Un-American”.
Still want to sign?
To paraphrase an old Chinese proverb, “The best time to begin was years ago, the second best time is now”.
It is possible, even preferable, to start a weight loss (aka: health restoration) program during the holiday season. Let the other guy wake up on New Year’s Day 10 pounds heavier and in a sugar-induced fog. You can sprint into 2024 leaner, cleaner and healthier.
Make no mistake about it, health is a battle for control. You’re either dictating terms to your body or your body is dictating terms to you; it is not a democracy. And control is a NOW proposition. A general does not say, “OK, we’ll let them capture the capital today and resolve to take it back after Christmas”.
So here is the challenge… Begin now! Set a health and weight loss goal not for the New Year but to be accomplished by the New Year. Deprive yourself the “pleasures” of increased girth and decreased space in your blood vessels. Suffer the barbs of the envious who try to tempt you with pastries and alcohol and see if your victory isn’t that much sweeter come the first of the year. This is the new, updated contract.
It may not be Christmas or New Year but I’m sure this story resonates with you in some way. Today is the day. If you struggle with weight loss for physical or emotional reasons, then I would like to help you achieve a lifestyle of wellness. I’ve been there and have helped others like yourself achieve their weight loss goals.
Dr. David Rendelstein D.C., D.PSc is not only the owner of ThinTech Weight Loss & Wellness, Cranford in NJ, he is a walking testimonial for ThinTech’s program, having lost over 100 pounds himself on the program! Dr. David enjoys sharing his weight loss success with his patients and helping them get healthy. Call us today, (908) 276-4393, for a consultation and see the immediate gains from our weight loss program.
