I think I can, I think I can, I think I can……….

Just like the guy in the picture, when we get excited to start a new journey, we rise up, take the first steps, and then fall flat on our faces. I often think of why most people do not continue on their diets, exercise programs, or life-style changes and have come to one simple conclusion: comfort. We as humans simply get too comfortable with our surroundings and adapt our lives to our environments. For fourteen seconds I want you to think of the people you socialize with, your daily routine, and your habits (bad and good).

I want to make a bet that you socialize with people like you (socioeconomic, political beliefs, careers), your daily routine revolves around something that is important to you (kids, job, volunteering), and your habits were formed to cope with something that either tries to make you fit into one crowd or rebel against another. Now let me ask a simple question, why do you want to change? What is it that makes you uncomfortable in the situation you are in? Some of you may sit back and say that you are fine with what you have and who you are and I will now tell you to stop reading because I cannot help you. The truth is, you will never live up to your full potential if you are comfortable in a routine; comfort is the killer of potential. To achieve your full potential you must have a motivation to achieve something that is not for your spouse, friends, coworkers, or anyone else, but is for you!

The dictionary states that the definition of motivation as the reason for acting in a certain way. To me motivation is greater than the reason someone acts in a certain way. Motivation is the reason one gets up in the morning, trudges through the day, works through the night, and on very little sleep gets up and does the same thing the next day. When I tell people that I have lost 140 lbs. the first question is how did you do it, the second question is always, why? People want to know the reasoning behind taking on a journey of five years to achieve my goals. I’m a straight forward guy, so I tell them the real answer. The real answer is not to get healthy, feel better, or save money on food (which I did), but the real motivation behind my weight loss was girls. Some of you are rolling your eyes, some of you are smiling, but you see the motivation, it is selfish. You have to lose the weight for yourself and your motivation must be about you and nobody else. What is your motivation and are you being real with yourself when answering the question? Simply having motivation will not conquer anything, because you will have self-doubt, embarrassment, and a feeling of worthlessness along the way, but your internal motivation will drive you to your goal if it is stronger than your comfort zone.

I once heard Eric Thomas say that if your will to succeed is greater than your need to breathe, you will succeed. I could not agree more. Your motivation is not something that must be on display as a matter of fact, I say keep it to yourself. Do not go around telling people your goals, because many of them will tell you that you can’t do it or say the great line, “good luck!” When people say “good luck” it is almost certain that they will turn to the next person and say, “there is no way they can do it.” That is the reason I tell people to keep their heads down and push through the negativity, because they will get enough negative thoughts from their own mind, they do not need negativity from others.

Oh yes, the negativity from within. Most of us can become deaf to the outer noise of the world, but the negative inner thoughts are not so easy to ignore. Many of us know the tricks our own mind play on us: “why am I doing this!”, “I cannot do this anymore!”, “Is it really worth it?” There is no diet program out there that addresses this issue, that’s why I’m going to help you, right now.

The diet programs that tell you you can lose a certain amount of weight in a certain time are lies. The programs that tell you to completely cut something out of your diet, lies. The exercise programs that have you getting down and up, running around your living room like a mad person, do not work for the average person. Sure you may be able to keep these programs up for a month or a few months, but these programs usually do not last longer than that. I’ve heard people say, “I lost 30 lbs in 3 months on XYZ program.” and I will see them a year later with all of the 30 lbs back. I will not ask them what happened because I already know what happened, these programs lack the motivation factor: Is the pain greater than the reward?”

Your motivation will carry you through if you make little changes at a slow pace. Yesterday, my wife and I took the kids to see the two new Disney movies at the drive-in movies and I ate a large bag of popcorn by myself; forever the fat kid! I know that I will have to balance the calories from last night with the rest of the week to stay the same weight. The point is, you can do what you want, but you have to think of the long term goal, not the short term gain. There were times that I did not lose a pound in two weeks, but then again there were weeks where I lost an entire pound. Some of you say, “Wow, an entire pound!” Imagine if you lost one pound every two weeks, that is 26 lbs. in one year! Do not beat yourself up if you lose 1 lb. every three weeks or a month because that means that you will still have lost 12–18 lbs. in a year.

Losing 12 lbs. is really good in the first year! Remember, the journey gets easier the further you go. 12 lbs. the first year, 20 lbs. the second year, 28 lbs. the third year, you get the point. The point is, you have to continue on your journey with your ultimate goal in mind. The journey of losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight is a life-long journey, not something that stops after the goal is achieved.

When you get to the point where your mind says “stop!” and your body says “I can’t do this anymore!”, keep pushing. There is nothing better than going in to try on a dress or jeans, getting them on in the fitting room, coming out to the surround mirrors, and spinning around while saying, “Oh my goodness I make this look good!” Oh you do not know the things that you will do after reaching your goal, but trust me, they will feel amazing because you did what millions of people are struggling to do and you did it without cheating or killing yourself.