Live "Purpose-Driven" Days

There is a religious movement out there called "The Purpose Driven Life," and I think they've copyrighted the phrase, but the term "purpose driven" is necessary to be used in this context.

I'm not talking about living your days Religiously, by the way, but religiously.

Set your goals, and then do what you have to do to achieve them. Typically, in order to achieve goals, you have to work on them every day, and when you're not working on them, you have to think about them.

But I'm not talking about losing weight, in this context.

The more you obsess over losing weight, the harder it will be... perhaps not to do so, but to maintain that weight loss once you've finally achieved your desired weight. I've made this analogy before... weight loss (or your nerves) is like a rubber band, stretching further and further. When you achieve the goal, and "release the band" it comes together with a snap, and all of a sudden every precept you'd held on losing weight - eating only small portions, having a treat only once a week, exercising every day - they go out the window and all of a sudden you're eating larger portions and more often, treating yourself twice a day, and not exercising.

And worst of all...you can't stop.

With this sudden "snap", your body - and your subconscious - wants to return to the way it was...and does what it can to achieve that.

Which is why once you achieve your desired weight, you can't stop "cold-turkey." You need to gradually increaes your food portion size, gradually give yourself a treat every other day, and NEVER stop exercising.

(And when I say "treat" - I don't mean to say that prior to this you've cut out treats entirely. The example I use is freshly baked cookies. I can't have freshly baked cookies in the house, they don't last two minutes. But I can have Oreo cookies. I eat two for dessert, they satisfy my chocolate craving, and I don't yearn for more. My "treat" is to go out to a Mrs. Fields Cookies in a mall - once a week, and have one of their freshly baked cookies.)

No, when I say "Purpose Driven" days, I mean something quite different. While eating should be an enjoyable part of your life, your whole life's goal should not be to stay at a healthy weight! No, your life's goal should be to achieve something...to accomplish something.

The accomplishments can be small - at least, small to some people - like reading a book every day on a different subject. Creating a miniature model train set. Learning to draw. Creating a garden. And so on.

Or, it can be large - inventing a new piece of equipment that can simplify life for others, Volunteering to visit the aged in nursing homes, or helping disabled kids at Special Olympics, or teaching adults to read...

But those are important goals in life.

And more often than not you can't achieve them unless you set yourself smaller goals each day, goals for the week, goals for the month, goals for the year.

With your mind on important things, and with food reduced to its proper scale of importance in your life, you can get on with your life and enjoy it!