It's Your Choice

Saw this quote today, and I thought it fit our weight loss journies.  

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

There might be a lot of factors in our daily lives that make us want to grab the ice cream and chow down, but ultimately, it's our choice.  It's our choice to treat our illness.  I learned yesterday that an old friend I had lost touch with died due to not taking care of his diabetes.  No matter how much his wife and friends urged him to make the changes necessary to live, he chose to give in to his urges to eat, and urges to smoke.

You may want to rant and rave about unsupportive friends, family members that just don't understand, or how life in general gets you down.  But how you react to adversity really is the hallmark to whether or not you'll be successful.  It's your choice!

It's crazy how that TV show, "My 600 lb Life" has affected me.  This week's episode I felt bad for Christina, the 21 year old who weighed almost 700 pounds.  Her family members felt she could die in her sleep at any given time.  It's made me think of my WLS journey and how I cannot take it for granted.  Yes, I have struggles but that's ok.  I can live with it. 

It feels great to be in control of ourselves.  No one puts junk in our mouths but it does help to have the support and encouragement from family & friends but we are in charge of our own destiny.

Thank you for this post!

Jenn, I totally watched that last night with my mouth hanging open the whole time.  It has really affected me as well to stop sitting on my butt and get moving.  Not that I could ever get close to 600-700 pounds but being complacent and in denial is just not gonna cut it.  So incredibly sad.

Last night's epidode really moved me too. And it's funny because while I was watching it I thought to myself, "wow, I could never get anywhere close to 600 pounds" but sitting here reading your post made me realize that not so very long ago, I never imagined I could ever be over 300 pounds. I mean really!! All that to say, Christina's story made me realize that it could happen to anyone, one bite at a time and if I don't do someting now, I could be right there where she was asking myself "how did I get here?"

I know - me too!  Most of the time I want to shout at the TV and shake some sense into those people!  With Christina, it was her enablers trying to push her down, with Penny it was herself fighting against change.  When Christina's mother said how much she loved her, I wanted to shout "no you don't - that's not love!  Love would mean doing anything in your power to make sure your daughter doesn't die from obesity!"

I was wondering about some of these people because obviously Christina doesn't work, her hubby & her mom don't work... they both say it's a full-time job to take care of Christina, because it is!  But ... I just hope they aren't relying on some type of disability check because of Christina.  Sometimes families don't want them to be successful for that reason.  I just hope that wasn't the case here.  I dont think so because Christina started to lose the weight after her first 6 months.  I wish her the best!

YES. Christina's story almost made me ANGRY. Her mother's attachment to her is obvious and kid of sad. She kept going on about how she'd never left her before when Christina was admitted to the hospital. Christina is 22! She isn't supposed to still be a baby that has to be taken care of... fed, cleaned, etc. But that's the state she was in, so that 's how her mother saw her. When she was in the hospital and complaining about how bad the food was and her mother started going on about how "if I don't go get her something to eat, then she won't eat." Umm. No. She'll eat when she's hungry. It goes back to the OP: It's a choice that she doesn't want to make (just like a child).

I hope that they do follow-ups on the patients featured on this show. I'd love to know how she is doing in a year (along with Penny and others).

I wish they would de follow-up shows to this show & the Biggest Loser.  It would be very interesting to see the results.

My heart ached for Christine. To live in family of such disfunction! I am so glad that I made the choice to have surgery. I know that was just the first of many choices that I will make during this process to return to health! When I have doubts then I will remind myself that I made the choice of surgery and that was right! I am 9 weeks out and have lost a total of 49 lbs. I am .7 lbs away from Onderland! Before surgery I was just hoping that I could get down to the low 200's. Now that I am there I know that I can get down to a healthy weight, of course that involves making choices to ensure that I get there! All I can say is that I FEEL AWESOME! 

You are doing awesome!!!!!