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ARE YOU READY TO STOP FAILING? 

Time to get off the diet wheel: an honest look at losing the weight, keeping it off, and managing expectations about the process. 

How many years now have you said the same thing, ‘this is going to be the year I get the weight off…get healthy’. Statistics tell me a majority of Americans either want to lose weight or are currently trying. 

For more than a decade, I stumbled around the diet wheel never achieving success for a sustainable period of time. Oh, I’d hit my goal weight with some diet or deprivation, and then, like Oprah, put it on again and then some. When my weight soared up over 200 pounds after having children, my embarrassment and disgust with myself increased right along with it.  

So, my first question is are you ready? Truly, are you ready to do whatever it takes to accomplish this goal? Here is the reality staring at you in the mirror: the next 364 days are going to pass and you can accomplish your goal or be well on your way within that time or not? Which will it be? 

If you can answer ‘yes’ that you are ready, then let’s start setting some expectations about how you can achieve your weight loss goals and better health. 

Once I admitted my readiness, I quickly learned to quit making excuses. No longer did I allow my feelings to dictate if I worked out or not. My comfort no longer mattered. I got up when I was tired and worked out. I went to the gym even when I did not feel like it or faced the embarrassment of my weight. I even continued to go to a cardio class when the instructor asked me if I was pregnant. “No I am not”, I said, “just fat.” While I cried my eyes out in the car after class, I knew my health and goals were more important than my feelings.  

Many times family circumstances or schedules create convenient excuses. No more! No longer do I hit a drive through for dinner. No longer do other’s feelings dictate what I eat or how much I eat. If I chose to not eat everything my hostess serves, I refused to worry about whether I hurt feelings or not. What I find is most people understand and actually envy the ability to eat clean. It’s no secret; it’s a choice you can make.  

Vacations and Holidays also trigger excuses to overeat. From now on, however, Halloween to New Year’s Day is not licensed to indulge. The week you spend on the cruise ship no longer equates to giving in, giving up, or falling off the wagon. While it is okay to have some of your favorite treats, your new lifestyle maintains clean eating no matter what the date or where you are located.  

Even genetics and age pose excuses. My genetics, for instance, make it difficult to lose weight and really easy to gain. That means I must work harder and eat cleaner than some others in order to achieve the same results. I can whine and complain ‘it’s not fair’ but then I’d be making an excuse. It’s actually easier to just get to work and not waste emotional energy feeling sorry for myself.  Sounds like the expectation is perfection. No. But clearly, I’m emphasizing how easily we excuse an indulgence here, take the easy way out there, and then before you know it, we’re off track and the weight packs on again.  

If you find yourself in the drive thru line, okay, just pick wisely and don’t make it a regular thing. Don’t kick yourself when you indulge. Simply, get right back into your new normal lifestyle. If you spend the day depressed because your friend is thin and you are not. Stop, focus, and return to a lifestyle that supports your goals instead of emotionally spiraling out of control. 

The next realization about losing weight and keeping it off resides in the fact it means working out and eating clean the rest of your life. This is not about going on some diet and getting off it. No pill will help you take off the weight and maintain it the rest of your life. Working out and eating clean is a diet plan you can implement the rest of your life.  

Those two components are my normal daily routine. And the results worth it: no longer am I under the tyranny of food choices and what I weigh. Food is fuel and vitality. I no longer waste emotional energy thinking about what I ate, feeling guilty for what I did or did not do, or how I look. My confidence is stronger, my body healthier, and I face the difficulty in life with stability and perseverance.  

It took me three years to lose 65 pounds. I could have accomplished that in less time, but I engaged in a different lifestyle not a diet. I took small steps at first and then continued to build upon them until, well, you now find me a professional football player for the World Champion Dallas Diamonds at 42. 

If you are ready, the time is now. There may not be an immediate payoff but don’t let that be another excuse. Be intentional to do hard things outside of your comfort zone. In fact go beyond what’s expected and required. Challenge your norm and don’t settle for less than what you truly want! 

Stay inspired !

Kip