LOSING 200 POUNDS AND COUNTING.

I’m in awe of any and all weight loss success stories. Anytime someone shows me a before and after photo of dramatic weight loss, I’m amazed. We see these stories online all the time. The pop up on the right side of our Facebook feed. They’re attached to every major diet promotional materials. We read about them in magazines like ‘People’ where they show people who’ve lost almost half their body weight. These photos solidify success.

I praise the dedication it took for these people to lose so much weight. And then after thinking about them, the selfish nature of humanity takes over and these stories make me think about myself. This person can lose 200 pounds I think but I’ve had trouble dealing with the same 20 pounds my whole life. Insert the feeling of defeat.

Many of us have that number of pounds that we fluctuate with; 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 60. We know the times in our life when those pounds have been off and the times in our lives when those pounds are on. Every time those pounds are hanging around, maybe even right now as you’re reading this, you’re feeling like you still haven’t lost the weight. You don’t feel like an amazing success stories like the amazing people you see.

But then I thought, I estimate I’ve lost 200 pounds in my life. The same 10 pounds, 20 times, in 20 years. Some of you maybe have lost 400 pounds in your life. The same 20 pounds, 20 times in 20 years. You’ve maybe lost even more!

If you’re reading this right now and feeling like you aren’t a success story, be your own success story. Don’t let what you look like right now be the judgement you bestow on yourself. Only we know ourselves, we know how we eat, we know what we do, how hard we try. The outside is a representation of the inside but it’s not the whole story. Many of us hide in the shadows of our success because on the outside we feel like we look like failures.

The way we look on the outside often doesn’t show the healthy sacrifices we make for our health everyday. Maybe you’re 20 pounds overweight right now but you’ve been walking everyday. Maybe you’re 40 pounds overweight right now but you always choose Whole Foods over packages or processed. Maybe you’re 5 pounds overweight but you’re fridge is filled with fruits and veggies. Every little sacrifice or decision we make when it comes to eating and our health matters and is something we can celebrate.

Since writing Monday Dieter I’ve had so many people stop me and tell me about their own journey. They always lead with their flaws. “I’m 20 pounds overweight” for example. OR “I can’t stop eating dessert every night” or “I hate the way I look right now” They never lead with their successes. We fail to focus on the GOOD things we do.

I want us all to change the way we walk around. Change the height we hold our heads up when it comes to our health. We are all success stories, in our own special ways. And who cares if you don’t see a change in your before and after, you know everyday you become better than before 🙂