The New Raw Food Rehab 11 Week Initiative has begun and I am excited and ready for change! I have to admit that I have been here before with this same excitement and determination and while I can say that I have made progress with my raw food transformation during the last two Initiatives, I have to be honest and say it wasn’t even close to the best that I could do. So now on the first day of the new one I am wondering what I can do to make sure this time is different. How do I insure that this one gets my best efforts?
It’s not enough to sign up and state the intention to “do the Vault for 11 weeks.”(the Vault is where the challenge resides and to participate, weekly weigh ins are mandatory otherwise you get the boot!)) It’s not enough to take the “before” pictures and measurements, or even to weigh in every week. What are we really trying to do by “doing the Vault?” Lose weight? Get in shape? Eat better? Reach better health? What are the reasons- the specific reasons for doing the vault? Are we clear about them? Have we written them down?
Have we taken inventory of where we are now? Part of it is the “before” picture, the measurements, the weight declaration. These are outside snap shots of where we are. But what are the feelings of where we are right now? Bill Phillips says in his Transformation that more than anything we experience life through our feelings. Its’ not about how out of shape we are or how much we weigh, or what our health situation is but how we feel about it that shapes our experience and our lives. Getting in touch and real with these feelings gives us the reason for why we want to change. It becomes the internal motivator that helps keep us on course. The “whys” of what we are doing are so important to identify and then to come back to on a regular basis.
We have a clear deadline for this challenge – 11 weeks, but do we have a clear picture of what our goal is for the end result? Still being able to log into the Vault because you haven’t missed a weigh in is not a good goal. “Losing weight” just isn’t good enough either. It’s a weak goal, which will get weak results. Is 1lb enough for 11 weeks worth of work? Maybe it is and if so then identify it but for most, we want more than that. Goals are only goals if they can be verified and have a deadline or timeline. A good identified goal can be to be to lose 15 lbs, to lose 10 inches, to be off a certain medication, to be able to walk 10, 000 steps a day or even to be at 50% or even 90% raw by the end of the Initiative. Also important to picture is what does achieving that goal feel like? “I am energized. My mood is lifted. I feel joy and excitement to wake up in the morning. My clothes are looser.” These feelings are what help you visualize your change and also become reasons. Write it down. Review these goals and reasons everyday when you wake up or go to sleep or better yet- both!
Now that we are clear on our reasons and goals, how are we going to do it? Do we have a plan? If losing 15 lbs is our goal we don’t just sign up and hope we can do it. We need to look at how much weight loss that breaks down to per week. How many raw meals a day does that take? How many times a week do we need to engage in body movement? Then when the urge strikes to eat something off plan or sleep in instead of get up and go for a walk, we know if that will take us off plan for our goals. Can we afford to miss this day and stay on track? Maybe so and we have planned for those days but at least we know and are not undermining our goals.
What does working the plan look like on a daily basis? We all know what we should do to achieve our goals but have we defined what we must do and daily? Commit to those musts and we are on our way. It takes consistent work to achieve change. It doesn’t happen all at once and especially as time is running out. The last Initiative had a lot of people fasting as a way to make up for lost time and to make good numbers for the finale. Crunching has its place but we are going for real and lasting change here. Let’s take it one day at a time, with a reasonable plan, reasons and goals and reach them this time.
I wish you all success with whatever your goals are this year. Let’s make it the best one ever! I know I plan to!![]()
It’s not enough to sign up and state the intention to “do the Vault for 11 weeks.”(the Vault is where the challenge resides and to participate, weekly weigh ins are mandatory otherwise you get the boot!)) It’s not enough to take the “before” pictures and measurements, or even to weigh in every week. What are we really trying to do by “doing the Vault?” Lose weight? Get in shape? Eat better? Reach better health? What are the reasons- the specific reasons for doing the vault? Are we clear about them? Have we written them down?
Have we taken inventory of where we are now? Part of it is the “before” picture, the measurements, the weight declaration. These are outside snap shots of where we are. But what are the feelings of where we are right now? Bill Phillips says in his Transformation that more than anything we experience life through our feelings. Its’ not about how out of shape we are or how much we weigh, or what our health situation is but how we feel about it that shapes our experience and our lives. Getting in touch and real with these feelings gives us the reason for why we want to change. It becomes the internal motivator that helps keep us on course. The “whys” of what we are doing are so important to identify and then to come back to on a regular basis.
We have a clear deadline for this challenge – 11 weeks, but do we have a clear picture of what our goal is for the end result? Still being able to log into the Vault because you haven’t missed a weigh in is not a good goal. “Losing weight” just isn’t good enough either. It’s a weak goal, which will get weak results. Is 1lb enough for 11 weeks worth of work? Maybe it is and if so then identify it but for most, we want more than that. Goals are only goals if they can be verified and have a deadline or timeline. A good identified goal can be to be to lose 15 lbs, to lose 10 inches, to be off a certain medication, to be able to walk 10, 000 steps a day or even to be at 50% or even 90% raw by the end of the Initiative. Also important to picture is what does achieving that goal feel like? “I am energized. My mood is lifted. I feel joy and excitement to wake up in the morning. My clothes are looser.” These feelings are what help you visualize your change and also become reasons. Write it down. Review these goals and reasons everyday when you wake up or go to sleep or better yet- both!
Now that we are clear on our reasons and goals, how are we going to do it? Do we have a plan? If losing 15 lbs is our goal we don’t just sign up and hope we can do it. We need to look at how much weight loss that breaks down to per week. How many raw meals a day does that take? How many times a week do we need to engage in body movement? Then when the urge strikes to eat something off plan or sleep in instead of get up and go for a walk, we know if that will take us off plan for our goals. Can we afford to miss this day and stay on track? Maybe so and we have planned for those days but at least we know and are not undermining our goals.
What does working the plan look like on a daily basis? We all know what we should do to achieve our goals but have we defined what we must do and daily? Commit to those musts and we are on our way. It takes consistent work to achieve change. It doesn’t happen all at once and especially as time is running out. The last Initiative had a lot of people fasting as a way to make up for lost time and to make good numbers for the finale. Crunching has its place but we are going for real and lasting change here. Let’s take it one day at a time, with a reasonable plan, reasons and goals and reach them this time.
I wish you all success with whatever your goals are this year. Let’s make it the best one ever! I know I plan to!
