Feeling Like Bill Murray Trapped in Groundhog Day?
Finding Your Hill to Die On
Be honest: Do you wake up every morning and find yourself entangled in an endless loop of dieting? Do you dive headfirst into the chaotic waves of weight loss plans, restrictive eating, and calorie counting?
Millions of people do.
And then they wonder why every diet day feels exactly the same.
Why their days “run away like wild horses of the hills” to quote the poet.
Why their weight “yo-yos up and down like a crazy out-of-control roller coaster ride.”
Why can’t I achieve lasting weight loss?
Why can’t I seem to find a diet that works for me long-term?
Why am I always losing weight only to gain it back again?
Here’s why…
Dear Gary,
I wasn't aware of the pitfalls and cycles of dieting.
I had no structure or guide to get better. My thoughts were cluttered with an overwhelming stream of diet plans and weight loss strategies. I welcomed the temporary successes just to say I achieved something...but never really addressed the underlying issues causing the weight fluctuations.
My life was like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day - living the same diet cycle over and over again with no end in sight.
What is my life like now?
I'm very aware of my inner battles with food and the well-intentioned but unhelpful diet advice from others.
I have a consistent time each morning to read, pray, journal, and set a mindful course for my eating habits and health goals.
It's a new day of real possibilities. I can see more clearly what I want to achieve and how to get there.
Although scary, it’s like seeing again for the first time in life...like Neo just unplugged from the Matrix.
I feel more relaxed and less stressed about food and dieting.
I'm more mentally present when enjoying meals with my family and friends - appreciating the moments rather than obsessing over calories.
And my intuition about my body’s needs has taken a leap forward!
Me getting up early in the morning has inspired my husband to join me in healthier habits. He has rediscovered his enjoyment of morning walks to see the sunrise. We've also been taking evening walks to see the sunset.
I was encouraged by your single-focus approach to health. That day, I committed to it and have been seeing lasting changes!
I've shared my journey with other friends who struggle with dieting. Several of them have sent me messages about making healthier choices and breaking free from the diet cycle.
I've unsubscribed from diet fads and stopped following restrictive eating plans. I've deleted apps that promote unhealthy diet culture from my phone. I've unfollowed social media accounts that made me feel inadequate about my progress. (It's amazing how my conversations have shifted from "Did you try this diet?" to "How are you feeling today?")
Cynthia
Go, Cynthia, go!
How did Cynthia transform herself from being trapped in an endless parade of monotonous, never-changing diet cycles to achieving total clarity, presence, and sustainable health…in just 30 days?
Follow me along on my own story of repeating struggle and resolution with the same issues to see answers revealed in a new light.
My Personal Groundhog Day
My Groundhog Day weight loss journey goes back for years with a yo-yo cycle of losing weight, only to gain it back time and time again.
My weakness is sweets and sugary treats.
I grew up in a home where cakes, pies, platters of fudge and sweets of all kinds were plentiful, especially around the holidays. I would often make chocolate brownies late at night with my mother’s approval and consent.
So, my eating patterns and sugar habits were set from a very early age. And unfortunately, these habits have followed me through my entire life until today.
Indulging on these sweet treats when I was younger had little effect on my weight at that time. I was very active in my youth and burned lots of calories, so I was very slim as a teenager. I had no weight problems at that time.
It wasn’t until I was older that I became less active, and my metabolism slowed that I began to have the weight gain problems. My metabolism slowed, but my appetite for sugar and sweets remained the same. Yikes! This set me up for all kinds of problems.
I would hit a certain weight after the holidays, become alarmed, and then go on a diet and exercise routine to lose the excess. This went on year after year of my adult life. Up and down, over and over.
Then recently, I had an eye-opening meeting with my doctor. One day at a regular check-up he shocked me to my core. “Did you know that you have diabetes?” He asked.
“No,” I answered, “I’ve never had that issue before.”
“Well, you have Type 2 Diabetes,” he explained further.
That day shocked me and changed my life forever. My grandmother died from diabetes, and I remembered everything that she went through. I became determined that none of that would ever happen to me.
I began reading and researching and everything I learned about diabetes made me even more determined to beat it.
A Simple 2-Step Plan
After doing quite a bit of reading and looking around online, I spent a few weeks just meditating and digesting all I had learned. I was determined to beat the sugar habit once and for all.
After some deep soul searching and self-reflection, I came up with a simple plan that I knew would work for me.
My plan was informed from things that I learned years ago about testing ad copy online and how to make that testing the most successful it could be. Stay with me here, because this is important.
These are things that I learned when I owned my own website a long time ago and had to pay for ads to bring traffic to my pages. This was long before the days of Substack. Understand?
Anyway, I remembered that when you test ad copy or elements in an ad, it's important to change just one thing at a time for a successful test.
For example, you might change the headline (or even just one single word in the headline), the main text, or the button that says "Buy Now" or even just the color of the button. By changing just one part, you can see how that change affects how well the ad works.
After making a change, you should wait until enough people have seen the ad to know if the change is good or bad. If the change works better, keep it; if not, go back to the original and try changing something else. This way, you can keep improving your ad step by step.
Anyway, the conclusion I made was to Change Just One Thing.
It made so much sense to me because it made everything so much easier.
Don’t you agree?
For greater success then, I would only work on one thing until I mastered it.
Nothing More.
Understand?
From all of that I came up with a simple plan with only 2 steps.
Are you ready?
Here it is.
My simple plan involves just 2 steps:
Change Just One Thing
Make the Changes to Your Diet Irresistibly Delicious
Let’s look at these more closely and in greater detail so you can clearly see how I have successfully applied them so far in my own life.
Change Just One Thing
For me, the greatest threat to my health at this time was sugar. So, the One Change I would make to improve my overall health and wellness would be to completely eliminate sugar from my diet.
I was not going to worry about counting calories. I was not going to worry about “good” or “bad” fats and getting the right amounts of those. I was not even going to worry about getting “enough exercise.”
Do you see how I narrowed down all the confusion into one single step that I needed to take right now?
My sole and total focus at this time was plain and extremely simple: Eliminate Sugar completely from my diet.
Understand?
My next steps became incredibly clear. Find the best possible substitutes.
I researched all the sugar substitutes. I thoroughly educated myself about all the other possible options.
Which brings us to the next Step.
Make the Changes to Your Diet Irresistibly Delicious
This is the most important of the 2 steps. You must have options that are as delicious and decadent as the foods you are trying to eliminate.
For me, this meant having sugarless desserts that were in every way as delicious and decadent as the ones with the sugar.
Do you understand?
This is the most important point of the whole article that I’m writing today.
Great options will lead to great success. Let me say that one more time. Great options will lead to great success.
If you have great options in your food choices, then you have little reason to ever fall back to the old, unhealthy way of eating.
After hours of reading and researching, I finally have volumes of sugarless recipes that rival anything made with sugar.
I am well on my way to mastering a sugarless diet.
A Hill to Die On
In life we will each end up being faced with a hill to die on. And for each of us, no doubt, that hill will be a different choice. But no matter the hill we must face, the courage required to endure the struggle upward will be measured the same.
For me, that hill is ending my sugar addiction once and for all. Now listen, I’ve attended too many 12-Step meetings to pretend that such a thing is easy. So don’t judge me here. But I’ve made my choice, determined my hill, and I’m ready to stake that claim to the death.
Perhaps, some will choose to go with me on that climb so that my journey will not be a lonely one. Perhaps not. But either way, I am determined to plant my flag on that far-away summit that for me God has ordained and only angels can see.
Here is one of the books that I found in my research. It helped my gain clarity and to come up with recipe ideas that were great alternative options and have been a big success for me.
It is called Keto Diet Cookbook by Dr. Josh Axe.
It’s got lots of dessert recipes as well as regular menu items. Check it out here.
Meals-n-Minutes is Now Officially a Paid Subscription
After a year of being a totally free publication, I am happy to announce that Meals-n-Minutes is officially a paid subscription.
I debated long and hard and did a lot of research about how much to charge for a monthly plan. And I finally decided on $5 a month, or $50 for the year, which gives you a big discount if you go for the yearly plan. I think this is totally fair and worth it for what I know you will be getting.
The Paid Subscription plan will give you 4 recipes a month, one published each Tuesday, plus 2 more posts each month (published every other Wednesday) from my Lessons I Learned in the Dark category.
Lessons I Learned in the Dark is a new category that covers my own struggles with dieting, weight-loss, sugar and food addictions, and other such issues. This article that you are reading is from this new category and is an example of what you can expect here. You will have the opportunity to comment and share your journey and struggles on all these pages. So, I hope you will make the decision to come along. I believe that in this community we can help each other a lot.
In addition, don’t forget that all recipes shared will include Keto, Vegan, and Paleo versions. That alone gives you enormous value and benefits.
The Free Subscription will still be available and will include 1 free recipe per month. You can remain on the free subscription as long as you like.
I hope that you will make the decision to upgrade to a paid subscription. I pour my heart and soul into this publication, and nothing gives me more satisfaction that providing valuable content to my loyal readers.