what does it take?

this is a repost from my last blog (on multiply.com).  i had several people tell me they really liked what i wrote about my weight loss, so i decided i would post it here as well.  i won't be doing CAPS this time... every single word is valuable here.  ;)

(click on the title to see the entire post)


so i have a friend who has recently posted her before and after weight loss pictures on facebook, and i'm so very proud of her. i speak from personal experience when i say it's really hard to accomplish true and lasting results.  this springs marks the 3rd anniversary of the start of my personal journey from big fat cow back to thin and attractive.  so i decided i should write down my thoughts as i look back on my personal experience. 

first off, everyone has different reasons to be overweight.  and not everyone is built the same, so some will work crazy hard but they still won't look like gisele bundchen.  it's important and even vital to our emotional health to come to terms with your genetic makeup and to be realistic about what you can and can't do.  but regardless, it's always really hard to have the constant self control and discipline to lose weight and then maintain a healthy life style.  it also takes time, motivation, proper prioritizing... but most of all, it takes one little quality that i've found in every successful person i've met or read about: true and deep passion.  you can only have success in whatever it is you're doing when you envision what you want, and have no tolerance for excuses that will keep you from getting there.  in other words, you become fully invested and absolutely dedicated to your cause.  if you can't do that, then you're gonna "try" all different methods of weight loss, but you'll always fail.

the one thing i did that i personally attribute my successful weight loss to was the giving up on sweet treats.  yes, i kicked the sugar habit.  the only sugar i consumed came from fresh fruits and vegetables.  i had heard from people who'd done it how incredible that was for them.  so i decided to try it.  lo and behold, the weight started melting off faster than i could have ever imagined it would.  and people noticed.  and people asked me the question i got asked the most: "what's your secret?".  and i'd share my "secret".  and you know what i got 99% of the time?  "oh, my gosh... i could never do that!"  "oh, that's just too radical!", "that's just too hard"...  all kinds of reasons why none of them could part with sugar.

so as i encountered these people and was told to my face that my method was too outrageous for them, i secretly thought to myself "well, then... you'll sure continue looking like you've swallowed a house".  i know.  mean, huh.  but that is the truth!  and not only for weight loss, but on everything that takes hard work.  there's a price for everything.  and the brutal reality is, you either pay it and reap the rewards or you don't.  we're quick to admire other people's accomplishments, and we even envy them.  but too often we lack the courage, passion and discipline to pay the same price to get there.  it's much easier to claim the grapes are sour.

successful people, whatever their endeavor, pay a very high price to get there.  so what does it take?  getting in your head you're going to do the same, and more if need be.  not quitting ever, no matter what.  making that goal and not being easy at all on yourself when you drop the ball.  but instead, picking yourself up, reminding yourself you're making sacrifices for a cause that's bigger and more important than your selfish and lazy bad habits.  taking an honest look at your life and admitting you ought to change.  and when you get there, tell yourself "well done" but realize you've worked too hard to let things slip.  so you set new goals, and you don't allow others to tell you "you've done enough".  you should be the only one to set your pace and pick the next barrier you want to break, not other people who haven't paid the price.  they don't even begin to understand how much you've worked to get there.  it's hard, but that's the way to start, that's how you get there, and that's how you stay there.  and now you're faced with the real question... are you still willing to do what it takes?

 above: picture taken in the spring of 2010, 

with my mother and grandmother during a stroll at gardner village