5 Lessons Learned from Gaining Back Lost Weight

Derailed…But Beginning Again

To ‘fall off the wagon’, according to the Urban Dictionary, is to resume an addictive/compulsive behavior one is trying to control. Some synonyms are: to get derailed, to backslide, to have a relapse.

I allowed myself to get derailed. It happened while I was distracted with stress and traveling. Those aren’t excuses, just the honest situation. It didn’t ‘just happen.’ I allowed it to happen because I wasn’t careful and I got lazy. It’s not just about looks for me, although I do feel better about myself when I am thinner and can wear cute clothes! It is also about my health; how I feel. I have fewer aches and pains when I am not carrying extra pounds and I have a lot more energy as well. I enjoy life more when I am healthy. It really all comes down to that.

So, it’s frustrating and can really leave me feeling completely defeated to be almost back where I started a couple years ago. But because I really detest the word defeat, and I refuse to fail, I will get back up, brush myself off, learn from my mistakes and begin again. This train is back on track, baby!

I know what I need to do to get the weight off. Now I am learning what I need to do to maintain my new weight, so as to not waste all the hard work and effort I put into losing it. I don’t claim to have all the answers or to have achieved all my goals at this point. I only know what I am learning in my present situation, and that I am willing to work hard to put those things into practice. I know what direction I need to head and what things I need to change for me to meet my goals. Maybe someone else will find these “6 Lessons Learned” a valuable place to restart their journey as well.

More than a Decision

So you’ve made up your mind. You are going to eat better and exercise more. Or maybe you have other goals in mind. The desire is there. You have decided to “Jump In!”

Now what? We all know that realizing success takes more than a decision. Good intentions will never get the job done!

The next step begins in the mind, and is followed up with a sheer act of the will. Determine to put one foot in front of the other and walk with purpose. Webster’s defines determination as this: the act of coming to a decision; a firm or fixed purpose. To be determined means you are firmly resolved. You are tenacious.

Be firmly resolved to succeed. You know you can do it! It is possible. Be tenacious in spirit as you go after it!

Remember, it all begins in your mind. Once you come to a decision and set your mind to it, be firmly resolved in it.

You are in charge!

You are in charge of your choices, of your actions and of your responses! Determination is an act of the will. It’s not a feeling, and it doesn’t ‘just happen.’

You purpose to make it happen.

As Christopher Robin so wisely said to Pooh Bear, “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.” I would add to that that you are more beautiful than you could ever imagine! You can do this!

Choose to be brave!

Choose to be strong!

Choose to be fearless!

Those things make you confident. They make you successful in your endeavors.

And they make you beautiful, shining from the inside out!