The Mentality for Weight Loss

I have been on a journey for the last ten months. A weight loss journey that I thought I would never see the end of. Here I am, 10 months after I began. I never thought I could do it, but I have had a huge success - a ninety two pound success that I am only one pound from reaching. Weight loss is not eacy to do. In fact, most people think it is one of the hardest goals to set and achieve. I used to have that mentality.

I knew I was severely overweight. I was in denial. I saw pictures and videos of myself and thought, oh, that is just a bad picture of me! When I looked in the mirror, I did not want to see myself at the size I had become. I would just tell myself, Hey, you look fine. It seems that over the course of the previous five years, I had tried every crash diet in the book - and gained 4-8 pounds everytime I went on one. After being on the crash diet for about two weeks, I would generally give up and label it as "It does not work".

Eleven months ago, I saw a horrible picture of myself. The next day, I saw a horrible video of myself. My family was always making comments to me about how pretty I would be if I lost weight. They always told me I was beautiful, but suggesting dieting. It was suggested so much that it turned me away from dieting. I would get depressed and just eat more to make myself feel better. But after I saw these pictures, and I realized that none of my "fat pants" would even begin to button, I knew I had a serious problem.

Even though I had not thought that I had a weight problem, I started looking at pictures from the last ten years. Every year, I could see a little bit of a difference in my size. When I compared a picture from ten years ago to what I had looked like eleven months ago, it was shocking. I started reflecting on my whole life, and how being fat was affecting my quality of living.

My husband has always loved me very much, but I realized that I was questioning his love. Because of my size, I did not sexy and desired, which made me pull away from him. With my parents and sibling, I realized that I was beating myself up, thinking I was a failure because of my looks. My health was affected as well - I had constant heart burn and was hardly able to walk up two flights of stairs without being out of breath. I dreaded going to the gym because I thought since everyone else was so skinny, people would stare and laugh at me because of my size. Outside of work, I never tried very hard to make friends, because I thought no one would like me because I was a bigger girl. I started looking at this bigger picture, and all of a sudden, my motivation to lose weight went from zero to off the charts!

I began following a program ten months ago. I have the mentality to this day that I will not cheat myself in anyway. I am very conscious of what I do because I never want to go back. Being 92 pounds lighter has opened my eyes. My husband and my family has always loved me. I am so much healthier - I feel good! I go to the gym all the time because I WANT TO! I have energy like I never imagined I would have. I have made an effort to make friends where I live, and I am a very happy person. Every aspect of my life has changed. I look in the mirror everyday, and honestly, I still see the same ole me. Just half the pants size.

You can lose weight in a healthy fashion and keep it off to. In order to be successful, you have to be mentally prepared to begin your journey. There are 3 R's that will help you get to that mentality.

1. Recognition - Recognize that yes, you do need to lose weight.

2. Reflection - Reflect on losing weight. Why do you want to lose it? What are the benefits? What are the outcomes you hope for?

3. Reaction - React! Tell yourself that today is the day for a new you. Granted this will not happen overnight, you still do not want the mentality of "Oh I will start tomorrow". Why tomorrow? React today!

I changed my mentality and set a goal that even I thought might be unrealistic. But my success just proves that when you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything! So what are you waiting for? Recognize, Reflect and React!