It's not that hard

Today I weighed myself and I'm down 60 pounds since Leila was born and am now 10 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant with her. This has been a long process for me and hasn't just been about dropping the weight, it's been about an entire life style change.

People look at weight loss like it's this daunting task and so impossible to do. Any time you report your positive results the first thing out of many peoples' mouths is "What's your secret??" And there in lies the problem. There is no secret. It's not about a diet, or pills, or specific work out regime that magically works when others may not. While it is important to figure out what YOU can work with and manage, it's honestly just about making a commitment to be healthy. To put health, wellness, and fitness above your love of fatty, processed, and unhealthy foods. It's about knowing that it's better to walk than take the drive when you can, using the stairs instead of the escalator, choosing REAL food and cooking it yourself, not buying pre-made instant meals and eating out at fast food chains all the time.

That's not to say you can't enjoy a little indulgence now and then. It's not practical to think you can only eat lean meats and veggies ALL the time. There's nothing wrong with going out and celebrating a special occasion with some amazing steak and creme brulee. I hate diets that restrict anything, it's an automatic set up for failure. We're human and I think it's in our nature to want what we can't have. That is why I don't have anything that is off limits to me. In fact I had three super delicious chocolate chip cookies yesterday and still lost 1 lb because the rest of my day was balanced. That's what it's all about, that's what the "secret" is. Balance.

Not that I'm an expert on the topic, these are just my thoughts based on the last 8 months of losing weight. Everybody stumbles, everybody has plateaus, everybody's body is different and struggles. And I truly believe your body has a "happy" zone in which that's where it performs the functions of daily living optimally. It may be 5-10 pounds more than your ideal and therefore the only way you can get there is to starve yourself. I think that's the point when it's time to realize it's not worth beating yourself into the ground and dreaming of food you refuse to eat to be your "ideal." As long as you are active, eat well, and do your best, that's all you can do.

Of course, I say it's easy now but when I get down to my last 10-20 lbs I may be singing a different tune, I know that. But I just don't understand why it's SO hard for Americans to realize that the secret to life long health and weight loss is eating well, eating smaller, healthy sized portions, and moving your body in some form or another. That's IT. No secret ingredients or patented methods here, just real life common sense. Wake up people, and take charge of your health and wellness!