Is losing weight the goal?

Everyone everywhere is on some form of diet with the goal of losing weight. Most of these diets are promoted by men and women with 6 pack abs promising a bikini body in 8 weeks. The American Dream, all the results with none of the work.

I think everyone likes the idea of losing weight, and the concept of living a healthy lifestyle. But when we actually have to do the things to get us to our goals, those things aren’t easy or fun. We like fun and we don’t like hard things.

Things like giving up sugar, drinking less alcohol, exercising daily and going to bed earlier aren’t fun. Cooking at home vs. ordering out most nights of the week takes more time. Taking a hard look at our habits and actively cutting out stressful events is really hard.

Do you want to lose weight or do you want to keep it off with healthy habits in place?

Once we quit thinking about losing weight as a goal to improve our appearance . Once we understand the importance of taking care of our bodies and the health implications that are caused by treating our bodies poorly. Once we stop trying to fit our bodies into a certain cookie cutter expectation of perfection. Once we accept we can do hard things and acknowledge we are worthy of all of it. Only then will the change towards a healthier lifestyle be easy.

One donut doesn’t derail a good diet, just like eating one salad doesn’t make you healthy.

Unfortunately most people don’t make a big change, until the pain is big enough. They ignore or excuse their behaviors until they physically can’t ignore them anymore. Until there is a major health scare with their own bodies or someone close to them.

Quit chasing after a quick fix, and putting all of the power into a number on the scale. The weight will naturally change as you make healthier choices. Look past the world trying to convince you that health is defined by how you fit in a bikini and begin to recognize how good your body feels, your energy levels and how your stress levels decrease with improving your habits.

Change is hard, but we can do hard things.