Exactly 11 months ago on July 24, 2007 I posted about the importance of not giving up. Actually it was a post about learning the importance of not giving up from Tammy Faye.

Well almost a year is a long time to go without reminding you, without nudging you to remember this most important trait of weight loss - never give up on yourself!

Right now you might be reading this post and feeling defeated, feeling like you’ve tried to change so many times and it hasn’t worked. I can relate to that because I’ve felt the same way before! But you know what? If I had given up then I wouldn’t have had my break through in my weight loss mindset over a week ago, and maybe would have even stopped this blog. (!)

Ups and Downs - It’s Life

Something that won’t change when you lose weight is change itself. You’re always going to have situations and challenges that come and go, the difference is in how you deal with them. If you turn to food every time then you’re keeping yourself in that emotional eating cycle and if you instead deal with the challenges as they come without using food, your “downs” won’t be as bad as they could.

The more times that give in to your emotional eating, binging, or telling yourself that, “tomorrow will be different, I’ll start on Monday”, the easier it will be to feel like giving up. You could even come dangerously close to truly giving up but instead of doing so, please remember this - as long as you do not give up you haven’t failed.

As Long as You Learn

So you’ve had a few false starts and you’ve had your ups and downs - ok, that’s in the past and in this moment you can start fresh - not tomorrow but now. You haven’t given up because if you had you wouldn’t be reading this, so why not take charge of your life and get a move on in this very moment? No matter where you are there is one healthy action that you can take for yourself now, like putting down the soda and grabbing a glass of water, or getting outside for a 10 minute walk.

Just look at your past as a learning experience and move on from here on out. Take baby steps if you need to and eventually you will be crossing the finish line. And if you fall again just pick yourself up and keep on going. As long and you don’t quit and you never give up you cannot fail.

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