- Visualize the entire event. Picture yourself arriving at a friend’s home, for example, and eating the food she serves. Given your new eating habits, how will you feel when the meal is over? Satisfied? Bloated? Frustrated that you’ve eaten “toxic” foods? Happy because it all tastes so good? Likewise, imagine the day you have a big holiday party to attend, a party that tempts you into skipping your workout routine. How will you feel when the day is over? Glowing with the pleasure of the party? Tense and frustrated because your muscles haven’t been used? Imagining the entire event will help you choose what you need to do to make everything work for you.
- Be as matter-of-fact as possible about what you need. If you were allergic to, say, peanuts, you simply wouldn’t eat them, right? You wouldn’t politely eat a big handful, and then ask your hostess to take you to the emergency room. You can treat your new eating and fitness needs exactly the same way. Figure out what you must tell other people about, and what you can simply handle on your own. The more casual and yet committed you are, the easier it will be to continue with the activities and eating habits you’ve chosen.
- Remember that the Fat Flush Cookbook offers lots of fabulous recipes. The whole point is for no one to feel deprived. If you’re hosting friends and family, you could probably go a whole weekend without anyone even noticing that you’re eating differently—though you might get lots of compliments on your cooking!
Fitness for the New You
Emily, whom we met in Chapter 1, was delighted with the changes she had made in her life. Going on the Fat Flush eating and fitness plans had enabled her to lose weight, gain boundless energy, and feel better than she had in years. This busy ER nurse found she had more patience with her children, more energy for her patients, and more joy and optimism about herself.
“I think it’s great,” she told us. “But I’ve got to admit, sometimes I get worried about how long it will last. I’ve been pretty good about staying on track so far. But what happens in a year, or two years? I’m not so sure I’ll be able to keep this routine up, just because that’s the way life seems to go.”
“Well,” Joanie told her, “I’ve met hundreds of women who have attended my fit camps. Lots of them check back with me after a few months or even a few years. And here’s what I’ve noticed: the ones who stick with staying fit are the ones who keep making changes in their lives. Now that fitness has made so many new things possible for them, they keep going forward, trying new things, developing new goals. My sense is that in life, there’s no such thing as staying in the same place. You’re either moving forward or you’re slipping backward.”
Emily thought about this for a moment and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I guess I’ve achieved all the goals I set for myself when I started this plan. Now maybe it’s time to set some new goals.”
As we approach the end of this book, that’s the best advice we could possibly give you: when you’ve achieved your fitness goals, set some more. Your new goals won’t necessarily involve fitness per se. Maybe, now that you’re feeling so healthy and energized, you’d like to learn a new language, or go back to school for an advanced degree. Maybe you’d like to become a Big Sister or a foster parent. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn to weave. Or maybe the other day you were passing by an airfield and it suddenly hit you—you’d like to learn how to fly a plane.
None of these goals are directly related to weight, health, and fitness. But that’s the point—your health, fitness, and new levels of energy are for you to use in any way you choose. We hope that staying fit and active will always be a part of your life—because it broadens all your choices while
keeping you in touch with the simple pleasure of being alive.
So take a moment to envision some new aspect of your existence. Then write a pledge in which you tell yourself how you plan to bring it into your life. If you keep coming back to this process again and again, you’ll be enjoying the best recipe for happiness we could ever share with you.
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