The poster I mentioned last week is back again this week, telling me I should thank her for “inspiring” me. And when I read the guestbook entry, I had to just shake my head.

It would be so easy, wouldn’t it, if because someone was mean to us, we were miraculously able to suddenly start losing weight? The first time “A Weight Watcher” posted in my guestbook (entries I deleted for their cruel negativity, by the way), it was early March. It is now mid-April, and in the past two weeks, I have thankfully dropped 6.5 pounds and am now only 5.5 pounds over my WW goal. In 3.5 pounds I will again be considered “at goal” (goal +2 is “goal range” for lifetime members). Is it because someone continually posted negativity and criticism in my guestbook that I started losing again? Of course it wasn’t. If it was, my father’s negativity and criticism of my weight as a teenager would have had me at goal back then, and not having to deal with this now.

If I were to give “credit,” as it were, or gratitude for my weight losses over the past two weeks, it would be to the leader of the staff meeting I joined on April 3. Being with other Weight Watcher staff members - some of whom are struggling to return to goal, others who just want to ensure they STAY there - helped open something up in me. The day of the first meeting I attended, one of the other staffers mentioned that she did a storyboard of her goal and put it on her bedroom wall, where she can’t miss seeing it. I loved that idea, and did a storyboard of my own for achieving my personal goal weight of 177. When I started that day, I was 24 pounds from that number, today, shy of two weeks later, I am 17.5 pounds from it.

For me, it’s not about “being inspired.” It’s finding the INTERNAL motivation. It’s looking for the reasons that I want to be at my personal goal, and overcoming all the hurdles I know come along with the run. Today, the VP’s secretary took all the office secretaries to lunch at a restaurant that serves HUGE portions. I found the web site of the restaurant before we went and had an idea what I would order. I started with a salad with dressing on the side and took two-thirds of my meal back to the office in a Styrofoam box. When all the other secretaries ordered luscious desserts, I stuck with a cup of coffee. It’s up to ME to make my choices, not for someone else to say, “You’re going to gain all your weight back if you don’t stop lying to yourself.”

Because truth be told, I was NOT lying to myself while I was having the immense struggle with the weight creep. I discussed it with exercise professionals and they unanimously agreed the weight gain was muscular. They assured me weight gain from muscle was not a bad thing, since the more muscle weight your body carries, the more fat it is capable of burning. And I learned over the past two weeks that in order for the muscle to do its fat-burning job successfully, I’ve GOT to feed it!! I have been averaging 2-3 points a day OVER target and exercising an average of the same number of points per day, and losing massive amounts of weight in return.

My motivation now is my activity. I consider myself an active person, and an active person requires a certain number of calories to successfully lose weight. Now I emphasize with myself that I MUST exercise 5-6 days a week to average 3 APs earned on each exercise day. Some days it’s more, some days it’s a little less, but if my average over 7 days is more than 2.5, I’m happy. That’s hours more activity than I EVER did before. And it feels good. Yesterday I treated myself to my first reward on my journey back to goal – a SlimFit speedometer for my bicycle that tracks speed, distance, and even calories burned based on the weight you can input.

Find your internal motivation. What is it INSIDE you that pushes you forward? What do you find in YOUR head that makes you want to be successful? When you find yourself losing sight of your motivation, stop and re-evaluate. Maybe your previous motivation needs tweaking. Maybe you just need to find out what inspires you to plug on – and it’s WITHIN YOU. You will lose weight and keep it off because YOU want to – not because anyone tells you to. Believe in yourself, and you’re exactly where you need to be to succeed.

Have a question? Want wisdom on a specific topic? Please ask! Sign the guestbook or e-mail me!

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