Reality Bites

I got some bad news this week. My family and I were on a reality television show. The title was not pretty - "Honey we're killing the kids" on TLC. But it was a once in a life time experience for our family. The news was that it may not show now until November. It was originally scheduled for July 17, than rescheduled for August 27, and now off the schedule without a for sure date. Now we were not notified of these changes, we only new because we as well as our family and friends are waiting for the show to air and keep calling unwilling and calling TLC to see what is up. I am getting a little upset. I feel they are being a little unkind. When I applied to be on the reality show it advertised for parents who are worried about the future health of their children. I was. I was in a bad place myself. It was like I was at the bottom of the hole and could not claw myself out. I could not follow a diet plan to save my life, I was exhausted all the time, and was just about out of hope. Then I applied for the reality show. And amazingly enough our family was chose. We were kept in the dark regarding exactly what we would be doing and what the show would be called for a while, but by the time we learned about the premise of the show we were committed for the long hall. I do believe it was a blessing in many ways. The premise was that they would computer generate what my kids would look like at 40 if we kept up our current lifestyle. They flew me and my husband to New York to film this part. This was the great part about the show we had never been to New York and were excited to get to go to the big apple, but when they showed me the computer generated pictures of my kids all I could do was cry. No one wants to raise unhealthy, obese Children, but the pictures indicated that was what I was doing. I was so upset, I even cried on the airplane home just thinking about the pictures. But the upside was that the host of the show was a nutritionist and she would be coming to our house to help us change, teach us a new lifestyle, or so I thought. It didn't quite turn out that way. The nutritionist showed up for 2 hours once a week to give us three new rules and a book to explain them. We had maybe 10 minutes of her time to ask questions, and that was not quality time. I got the feeling from her and her make up artist that it was an inconvenience, but she was there so we made the best of it. Our family embraced the rules each week, got to do some great things, and were successful. At the end they flew back our whole family to New York, again a great experience, and showed a us new computer generated pictures of our kids and what they would look like following our new healthy lifestyle. I cried again, but this time because I was happy to see pictures of happy healthy adults. So now the show was over and we had been successful for three weeks, but what about the rest of our lives. It is easy when your every move is being watch by a camera, someone else buys your groceries, money not being a limitation, and your menus our planned out for you. But what about when we really go back to reality?? Have to spend our own hard earned money, plan our own menus, and real life schedules return to your daily routine. It is not as easy to succeed, but we continue on with the struggle. Every day is a new day. But what a let down for our family waiting to see their show, and receiving disappointment after disappointment. I don't know about you but that can effect anyone and their efforts. I know I am rambling on about this, it just sucks, my kids have so looked forward to their show being on. I have so looked forward to it just being over. I am here to tell you that reality TV is not as real as we think. Real life, not in front of a camera, is reality and much, much, harder, but I know in the end with our own efforts my family will succeed!!