I think the main thing I have learned it to CELEBRATE everything you can, every quarter of a pound, every extra step you took, everything you ate that was good for you.

Too often I think we judge ourselves by the folks on the weight loss reality shows.  They are totally focused on losing weight 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and being hounded by a personal trainer, to boot.  In the real world, life gets in the way.  We can’t evercise 8 hours a day and we can’t limit what we eat so drastically that it isn’t something we can live with forever.

This is a JOURNEY.  It is never-ending.  That is not bad news.  The things I am learning here will do me good the rest of me life.  I will continue to learn to eat more healthily, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and find little ways to do better today than I did yesterday. 

If I have an off moment, hour, or day, even week, I find something that went right for me.  It may be as important as not making and eating an entire pan of brownies!  Mental victories are as vital as physical ones and not quitting is always something to celebrate.

I did something astonishing the other day at our 4th celebration – I quit eating long before I got to the stuffed-feeling point.  And I was down a pound this morning.  Huh.  Go figger.  The other day I ate everything right and the next morning I was up a pound.  Lesson learned – I celebrate the lost pound, don’t beat myself up over the gained pound and for sure, don’t trust that scale to be honest with me.

Just keep moving forward.  Don’t quit.  Don’t beat yourself up because that will cause you to quit.  Don’t!!