Alright, let’s start from the beginning. Weight loss begins with a decision to make a positive change for yourself. Did you read that right? A change for YOU, a conscious decision to make a difference in your life. If you decide to lose weight for the wrong reasons (read: your cousin’s wedding next month so you can wow your ex…) - if that’s your motivation, then what happens when the wedding is over? Don’t delude yourself into thinking you’re somehow different in this regard either. It’s human nature when an endpoint is in sight, to look forward to getting back to “normal” (i.e. chocolate cake every day, or never exercising)

A positive change for yourself doesn’t mean losing weight to fit into your wedding dress, or because you want to have a baby next year. It means, you have to decide within yourself that you want a better life, a more active lifestyle. Successful weight loss doesn’t come from exterior motivations - it has to be a decision from within to stop treating your body poorly and start being the healthiest you.

Start today with a list of all the reasons why YOU want to lose weight. Cross off any one’s that are related to how other’s perceive you, or short term weight loss goals for an event.

You may reach a point at which you decide you’re not ready yet - and that’s okay. Be kind to yourself. Weight loss is like quitting smoking: you know you have to do it, but until you’re ready you’re only going to add more stress and anxiety to your life which may make matters worse. Instead, focus on increasing your activity and making better food choices overall until you truly are ready. You’ll know when.

Here’s my list for losing weight - feel free to borrow as many of these ideas as you’d like.

1. For my longevity - I want to live to be a hundred, and enjoy every minute of it. I don’t think that’s going to be possible if I continue to saturate my body with artificial flavors and colors, sodium and massive quantities of sugar. I need to eat better to live longer, and not even queso is worth losing years of my life over. I want to enjoy my family as long as I can. And I know eating simple foods is the way to go.

2. To be Active - I’m a mother of 2 boys and I need to keep up. I don’t want to be out of breath after a 30 second jog. In fact, I don’t want to struggle to keep up, I want my boys to try to keep up with me!

3. I like my ‘thin’ clothes - I haven’t fit into them since I was 5 months pregnant with my now 2 year old. I miss them and I miss me in them. I’m human after all, and I feel better in those clothes than I do in these.

4. I don’t feel good This ties in with #1 above, but right now eating what I want and when I want to, I don’t feel good. I always feel bloated and lethargic. I feel every pound. And I know from past experience that in a week of healthy eating and exercise, even if the scale doesn’t dip, I will feel so much better for the effort, and my body will repay my efforts with more energy and less bloaty, yucky days.