As we all know, it’s important to make good choices, particularly when it comes to food.  Whether you’re at the beginning of your fitness and/or weight loss journey, if you’re currently working on it, or if you’re just maintaining your weight you know that it is absolutely crucial to be aware of what you’re putting into your body.  At the risk of sounding cliché, food is your fuel.  But avoiding the junk food is also much easier said than done.  We live in a society that has become addicted to sugar, carbs, and highly processed foods.  It is cheap, convenient, and widely available.  But while it is easy to blame the ease and cost of the food for why we eat it, it is ultimately this addiction that keeps us in the vicious cycle of “yo-yo dieting.”  So here’s a little more (calorie free) food for thought:

It’s time to kick the habit … but only if you’re ready.

I am a firm believer that if you can’t say no to the junk food, then you’re not ready to lose the weight yet.  And I also am a firm believer that there is nothing wrong with that.  I am not here to shame you into changing your diet, because that never works.  To paraphrase the beautiful words of the poet Olivia Gatwood, shame is something that we are made to feel; it is not an organic, natural emotion.  We feel shame because something about us deviates from what society says is acceptable, and when society tells us no it can be difficult to ignore it.  My point is:  nobody can make you feel ashamed unless you let them.  Of course people commenting on your body can hurt, but you need to make a conscious effort every day to make decisions for yourself, and not for them.  This same concept applies to the people you love.  You should never begin a new lifestyle because your husband, wife, mother, brother, or friend is ready for you to lose the weight.  It’s not their body to change.  It starts with YOU, and it starts in your mind.  If you cave to the pressures of the people around you, not only will you likely “cheat” on your diet and skip an exercise day but you’ll also begin to resent that person for making you feel like you need to change.  Whether that was their intent or not, resentment is as difficult a feeling to extinguish as shame is.  And if you’re anything like me, you’ll end up eating those feelings.  And feelings never taste that good.  You may have a moment when you decide you’ve had enough and need to start your weight loss journey, or you may have a series of collective moments that bring you to that point.  The important thing is that you get there, you commit, and you understand that you’re human.  Which brings me into my next point…

You will start over every single day.

At this very moment I am in the middle of my own weight loss journey (or my 200th weight loss journey, depending on your concept of time).  And in all of my research over the years I continued to find one mantra repeated over and over:  “It’s not a diet.  It’s a lifestyle change.”  I know, cue the *yawn* and eye-roll.  But the fact is, this mantra is the basis of any weight loss and/or fitness journey.  If you intend to do something short term, then you can expect short term results.  If you make real, lasting changes (even small ones) then you’re looking forward to real, lasting results over the span of your life.  This one took me far too long to learn, but now that it has finally clicked I can decide which changes work best for me, and where I can possibly make some allowances for myself.  It all depends on the type of life that you want to lead.  Make that decision first, and everything else will fall into place (it may not fall easily, but it will fall).

Once you’ve decided how you want to live, how you want to look, and how you want to feel then the real work can begin.  Now you have to prepare yourself to start over.  And then do it again.  And again.  And again.  Because the fact of the matter is, weight loss and fitness is a daily commitment.  And this mindset might not work for everyone, but it works best for me.  Rather than seeing my journey as one long, linear story I prefer to look at it as a multitude of small short stories.  Each day I write a new page, make a new change, or simply revisit something that has worked for me in the past.  By approaching my own habits in this way I have been able to forgive myself for any “failures” the day before, and plan better for the day ahead.  I have rediscovered favorite recipes, tried new foods, explored a new meditation technique, or began a new workout video.  By beginning each day with a clean slate I can decide how I want to improve my health that day, and that is a much less overwhelming technique than trying to keep up a “health streak” for an indefinite amount of time.  But if this idea doesn’t work for you, that’s completely okay.  Whether you’re writing a novel or a novella, at the end of the day you should forgive yourself, embrace your humanity, and open your mind to how wonderful your body is.  It truly is a perfect machine.  Now it’s up to you to write the manual on how you want it to function.