Sipping on some water out of my brand new water bottle (more Christmas loot) I am feeling really good. The sun is shining and the skies are blue. It’s New Year’s Day and I am full of optimism.

I began my day with pancakes. It is very comforting to know that I can eat pancakes on WW and still lose weight. It would be pretty sad for me if pancakes were off the menu.

Yes, I do have to lose some weight even though I’m at Lifetime. I need to stay within a two-pound range of my goal weight if I’m going to continue to sit in a free seat. There are a few ways I can think about my current situation.

1. Old habits can be subtle and creep back in without realizing.
2. If I’m going to maintain my weight loss I will have to defend it.
3. Sometimes I will make bad choices.
4. Sometimes my resolve will win out.
5. My new habits are very powerful and I can decide what happens.

All of these statements describe me and what I’m going through every day. If weight loss was easy, obesity wouldn’t be an epidemic. It is an epidemic because according to a 2017 report published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 70. 7% of Americans are either overweight or obese. This means being a healthy weight is now the minority.

Losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle is really difficult. Difficult because it’s so easy to make unhealthy food choices everywhere I go. It can be tiresome to be so aware of food. That’s one way to look at it. On the other hand, losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle is liberating. Liberating because it can be done. I’m living proof it can be done. I lost so much weight and I am now in a healthy weight zone.

Do you want to get at the heart of the matter? I’ve been reading a new book, Fierce Conversations and when I think about weight loss these are the questions that come to mind:

1. What is keeping you from achieving your weight loss goals? Write it down in one or two sentences.
2. What will happen to you if you don’t achieve your weight loss goals? Write down what is at stake for your future if you give up on this goal.
3. Answer the: How? When? Why? Where? weight gain started happening. Summarize this background information.
4. What have you tried so far? Either successful or unsuccessful. Write it down. Now you are ready to make a strategy for how to keep going.

Discussing weight loss is a tough thing to take on because it’s so personal. However, I look at it like this – I can always be honest with myself. I think the most important thing is to just think deeply about my current situation. In the book, it’s called “interrogating reality” and I sort of love that expression. I love it because it gives me permission to think objectively and critically about something I’m sensitive about – my weight.

I really hope this post helps you if you are looking for help that is. If you are in a good place, “Go you!” I mean it since this is a hard thing to do, if it’s going good then go with that.

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