Weight Loss: Treat It Like a Job

(Author’s Note: This may come across as somewhat ranty. I swear to you I’m not yelling at you! 🙂 )

When it comes to doing what’s healthy for themselves, some people like to make excuses.

• “I don’t have the will power that you do!”
• “I just don’t have the time.”
• “I hate working out.”

Know what I say to that?

It’s not will power that helps you lose weight. It’s not motivation. It’s not magically having spare time. It’s HARD WORK, EFFORT and DETERMINATION. If you master determination, hard work and effort, you don’t need will power or motivation, because those things go away when times are hard, or when you’re tired, or when you’re hungry. Allow me to define the differences between motivation and determination (because yes, they’re different, that’s why there are different words for them).

MOTIVATION: the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something

DETERMINATION: the quality of being resolute; firmness of purpose

Notice the difference? Motivation is having a good reason. Determination is having the firmness to follow through. If you have follow through, you don’t need motivation.

I give this advice to people: treat losing weight like a job. You show up on time, you put in the work required, and you get your paycheck. With losing weight, your paycheck is a loss: whether it be pounds, inches or clothing sizes. If you show up to your office and do what is required of you on a daily basis, you get paid, and the same works with getting healthy. If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, you don’t get paid. And sometimes you get fired. Do you want to know what the weight loss equivalent of fired is? I don’t think you do.

Some people hate their jobs and some love them, but even people who love their jobs have bad days. But successful people don’t have one bad day and throw in the towel. They pick themselves up by their bootstraps and go back to work. Why? Because they need to pay the rent, or get food for their families. Successful losers (of weight, of course) pick themselves up and get back to being healthy. Why? Because they don’t want to have high blood pressure, or have to buy new clothes, or feel embarrassed by how they look in the mirror, etc. Just like the employees, they have powerful incentives.

But some days? Some days even the best of us struggle with going to work, or eating right, or working out. So what do the best of us do then? DO IT ANYWAY. Dreams and wishes are great, don’t give those up, but they aren’t worth anything unless you put in the work.

My boss said something wonderful to me in a comment on the A Measured Life Facebook Page:

“I can’t help but be envious of your tenacity and your humor as you search to find the human that lives in your skin.”

TENACITY: The quality or fact of being very determined; determination

It wasn’t luck that got me where I am today. It wasn’t wishing or hoping for a thinner, healthier body. I got out of bed in the morning and did the work. I didn’t even have to decide to do it, I just did it. Soon it became a habit, a thing that was ingrained in me, like washing my face before bed, or brushing my teeth, or making sure I put on pants before walking the dog (although I’m sure some people wouldn’t mind if I walked the dog sans pants).

So if you want to be a loser like me, just make the decision to do so, and then DO IT.