What Has Worked

When you are going for a goal it is helpful to look back and recognize past success. What DOES work. You probably already know what doesn't work, but when have you accomplished a weight loss goal? And don't you DARE say never, because even the littlest thing counts. When have you said "no" to a food you knew wasn't good for you? When have you gone to a gym even if you were embarrassed by your appearance? Those are successes- what got you there? How did you do it?

For me- I first tried to lose weight after my oldest son was born. At the time I was maybe 20 pounds lighter than I am now. I went to Weight Watchers and IT WORKED!

I lost 20 lbs with weight watchers and then something happened... or actually it'd be more correct to say- "Didn't Happen".... Apathy. Big time.

I wasn't doing my part- I got over confident, started cutting corners, stopped trying... and it ended up turning into an expensive weekly guilt trip where I got to celebrate everyone else's success. I got tired of making excuses- I got tired of the +.5 / -.2 game. I quit.

and slowly but surely those 20 pounds came back- and they brought friends.

But I know that writing down what I eat WORKS- even if I ate 4,000 calories (I exaggerate- but you get the idea) I would lose weight because I KNEW how much I had consumed. Also- my inherent laziness helped me avoid snacking because I "didn't want to have to write it down"- score one for laziness, right?

I also know that weekly accountablity works- Once a week no matter what- I'd step on that scale and take what was coming to me. It really helped me gauge how my behavior affects my weight.

Celebrating victories NO MATTER HOW small- works for me. I am a validation junkie- I NEED a pat on the back, and a well done. (Which is why you all should COMMENT! ;) wink wink nudge nudge)- I know it's terribly co-dependent of me, but what are you going to do? I am the way I am.

To recap:

Write it down

Weekly weigh in

Celebrate