I'll be the first to admit that restricting one's food intake—AKA dieting—sucks. I recently returned from a week in Jamaica with my husband, Casey, and during that time gave myself a week off from my diet. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, and I allowed myself the freedom to eat and drink whatever my heart desired for 8 days. In total, I gained 4 pounds.
I started my diet back up again the Monday after I got home, and that first day was pretty rough. I could tell that the size of my stomach had increased over the course of the week, and I'd grown used to eating much larger portions than I'd previously become accustomed to. So naturally, when I began to restrict my portions once more, my body fought back. I felt like I was starving for the first two days even though I was consuming an adequate amount of food. But it wasn't just my growling tummy that I had to deal with—what my mind did to me was much worse.
There's a reasoning process that your brain goes through when you're on a diet that's difficult to explain, but I'll try to put it in words to the best of my ability. I had fleeting thoughts like: Why can't I just eat this? Is it really a big deal if I don't count out this serving of Baked Doritos? Haven't I come far enough?
Both the great and the unfortunate part of this journey of weight loss is that I've been my biggest cheerleader the entire way. I keep track of what I eat in an app on my phone. I don't attend any kind of weekly or monthly support meetings, nor am I a member of a gym. I've had some really great talks with my husband and best friend/sister-in-law, but other than that, the discipline, the drive, the motivation to keep going has all been on me. Which means if I allow myself to give in to the temptation to give up now, I know that I will give up—and I've come way too far to let that happen.
Perspective isn't always an easy thing when you're hungry, but somehow I've managed to find it. It's been more than a week since I've started keeping track of my food intake again, and I'm happy to report that not only have I lost those 4 pounds, but half a pound in addition to that. Which means I'm back on track. But would I be if I'd given in to my doubts? I think we both know the answer to that.
No matter what your goals are in life, no matter how many wonderful cheerleaders you have along the way, you won't accomplish anything by giving up. There may be easier roads, but that doesn't mean you have to take them. There may be temptations, but that doesn't mean you have to give in to them. Sometimes you will be the only one motivating you to keep going, and that's okay. Because if you really want to accomplish something, you can't do it for anyone else—you have to do it for you. And when you really, truly do it for yourself, that target will get just a little bit closer every single day.
