4: I've got my own weight loss easy button.

Although I wish I had realized this, say, 5 or 6 years ago, 2009 has ushered in the realization of EASY. Easy weight loss, that is. In my brief 25 years of existence, I've been overweight for at least 15 of those years and have attempted to diet and or lose weight countless times.

You know how it goes: You decide you need to lose weight. You get all pumped up. You change how you eat (probably eating very little food altogether). You begin getting active. You're still motivated. A week goes by. You haven't lost 10 lbs. You're disappointed that your hard work isn't "paying off". You're now VERY deflated and defeated. You conclude "This is pointless." You eat your junk and settle on the couch eventually. You wonder if you're just doomed to fatness forever, and probably take another bite of your Little Debbie snack. At least that's how it went for me.

That was then.

Somehow, this year, I had the grand epiphany and it actually stuck: Whether it was 1 month, 2 months, or 2 years, time would go by whether I did anything to improve myself or not. By realizing that time would, in fact, tick by without the least bit of concern for my weight problems, I decided to make sure time was on my team, and no longer my adversary. Here are 3 ways in which I made sure the defeating and time wasting cycles of my past don't win again:

1. I set mini goals that I constantly remind myself of. My habits of old didn't allow for me to make achievable goals. I focused on the end result and ONLY the end result. I didn't spend time planning how I would get there, I just assumed I would. Boy, was I wrong. This time around, I don't even dare to THINK about the end result. I focus on the week ahead and meeting only that goal. I may look ahead to the remaining weeks in the month, but I am vigilant about reminding myself that if I don't meet the goals directly in front of me, I can just kiss my mid-term and long-term goals goodbye.
2. I take pictures consistently to look back at the time I've made valuable use of. There was a time when I was afraid to take pictures, due to just how fat I was. Now, I'm afraid not to. Each Saturday, whether I want to or not, I take a picture of myself. Here's a perfect example: Today, I weigh 246 lbs. Even though that's still an incredible amount of weight I know that number will continue to be reduced. How? Because two months ago today, I weighed 264 lbs. A whole 18 lbs lost in two months time is remarkable, compared to what I've done in the past. The scale shows a number, but the pictures tell the real story. Those pictures show me that I've made good use of my time
3. I don't expect time to work a miracle. I simply expect it to give me what I work for. So far it has. When I look in the mirror, and see that my waist is narrower, or that my face is shrinking, my alliance with time grows stronger. I used to feel like a failure if I didn't see drastic changes in a short time frame. Commercials that promise a 30 lb weight loss in 30 days don't help either. In a society when we can get almost anything we want exactly when we want it, it's only natural to think weight loss works the same way. I'm learning that losing 2 lbs in a week is a HUGE accomplishment, not something to be disappointed by.
   

I'm not going to tell you that losing 100 lbs is a breeze. It's not. Going to the gym when you're upset about life is difficult. Choosing to grab a banana from a basket that rests next to a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts is difficult. But losing weight, pound by pound, becomes a whole lot easier when I remember to use that easy button.

And that button, which works hand in hand with time, is called patience.