From Mark ...

Hi ladies… I may be gone from your Monday activities… but I’m still here in spirit.
I continue to read your blogs and send you all positive energy and love.
For what it’s worth, you are actually doing very well!
Normally there is a steep decline immediately after I step out of a group because I am not there to hold everyone accountable (when the cats away…).
But in this case you are doing a fabulous job of supporting each other.
Kate I know if feels like you’ve failed with the ten lb gain… but its still 7 pounds less than you once gain for the holidays… just think of it as using up some of the reserve you had build up during the holidays.
The important thing for ALL of you is to focus on the IMPROVEMENTS, ignore the ‘back slips’. Although it will take longer to get there, even if you lose 20 pounds and put back on 10 then lose 20 and put back on 10, you can eventually lose 200 pounds! How many pounds have each of you lost and how many have you put back on since we began? Are you still ahead of the game? If so… than you’re winning!
Keep in mind… the ultimate goal here isn’t weight loss… it is to turn you into a Healthy Fit human being… are you becoming that? Do you think and feel differently than before? If so… then you are winning… the weight will eventually keep coming off because this is becoming your nature.
The problem with surgery Kate is that it’s a crutch… it doesn’t address the real issue which is your psychological predisposition toward being unhealthy and unfit. So even surgery wont make you ‘Healthy & Fit’ it will just make it less obvious to the outside world. Due to your diabetes and my lack of a medical degree I can’t advise you against getting it, but CAN say that the REAL ‘cure’ will be in staying on track with your efforts to alter your perceptions and habits (whether you get the procedure or not).
And when it comes to ‘being hungry all the time’… figure out WHY. Is it psychological or is it because you are burning so many calories that you NEED the extra food to keep from wasting away. Chances are… its all in your head… it’s a habit… its in your programming… its just JAWZ messing with your head. So what do we do when our habits take over? First recognize them for what they are… accept that you really aren’t ‘hungry’… it just SEEMS that way. Will you starve if you don’t eat more? What need is this food really filling? Can you fill it in some other way? Can you fill the pit in your stomach with water or healthy Arbonne products that expand your stomach without expanding your waistline… until the hunger pangs go away or until you change your focus? Once you accept that you probably don’t really need more food, it allows you to look for other alternative. And this ‘always hungry’ thing will eventually go away.

As for you Suzanne… we know why you’re hiding… and we understand because you are more like us than you realize. But in every group there is someone at the front of the charge and someone trailing… never are they all progressing at the exact same rate. Girls… just as the geese do when a comrade falls behind… we need to increase our efforts to drop back and pull her up. In helping Suzanne to believe in herself and get on track, WE too will become stronger.

Love to ALL of you!!! And NEVER… NEVER… NEVER… NEVER… NEVER give up on YOURSELF… it’s the one ‘sure thing’ you will ALWAYS have! If you never give up, sooner or later you WILL master your nature! Mark