The Most Important Thing You Need To Aim For To Be A Weight-Loss Winner

Know this: all you have to do to be a weight-loss winner is change your mind.

So I spent more than 2/3 of my life either overweight or obese. One of my biggest regrets now, looking back, is all the time I spent unhealthy, self-conscious, and not showing up for my own life when all I had to do was change my mind.

A lot of people focus on the scale or size when they’re losing weight. It’s that magic number they’re aiming for. I’d encourage you to not exclusively measure your goal by the scale or size because it tends to lead to a focus on numbers instead of how you feel in your body and how you feel about your life, which are the most important things.

While it’s always good to have a goal to aim for, I’d like to argue that you need to aim for something else too. That something else is all the things you’ll gain from losing weight that have nothing to do with a number on the scale or a clothing size. So here’s a quick list of non-scale wins in my life.

To be a weight-loss winner, let yourself be in pictures

When I weighed 304 pounds, I refused to be in pictures after I hit 260 pounds. It makes me sad today because my kids were little back then and I have very few pictures with us together.

Now, I no longer shy away from being in photographs with others. I’ve also been having a photo shoot once a month for my business. And I landed 3 covers of People Magazine’s Half Their Size issue.

To be a weight-loss winner, move your body

When I weighed 304 pounds, I got out of breath with even the smallest activity, including walking upstairs to my own bedroom. I felt horribly uncomfortable in my own body.

Now, I train in Krav Maga martial arts 3 times a week. I lap swim and I do yoga. I go for long walks to clear my head. I feel comfortable in my own body, and that’s what matters far more than any number on the scale.

To be a weight-loss winner, say yes

When I weighed 304 pounds, I hid in my house a lot, sitting in the living room, watching television and eating mindlessly instead of pursuing my passions with excitement. I said no to a lot of opportunities that would’ve required me to leave my comfort zone and put myself out in the world.

Now, I’ve been saying yes to opportunities that force me out of my comfort zone, including the People Magazine shoot and starting a YouTube channel and writing Start Where You Are Weight Loss to help others. I’ve also been riding horses and doing photography and traveling solo to different parts of the world. I could’ve done most of those things at 304 pounds, but I personally wouldn’t have ventured out to do them; that’s why it’s a win for me.

I have also realized that I can do anything I put my mind to, and that confidence has nothing to do with a single number.

To be a weight-loss winner, wear clothes you enjoy

When I weighed 304 pounds, I tried to hide my body in shapeless, baggy clothes that were several sizes too big. I actually loved fashion back then but I wouldn’t give myself permission to wear anything that clung to my body because I didn’t want anybody to see the real me. I also didn’t believe I was worth the expense of buying beautiful clothes.

Now, I finally dress my body in a way that feels like me. I wear clothes I enjoy instead of finding the baggiest thing to hide myself. I no longer concern myself with hiding my body and I spend money to buy clothes that make me feel most like myself. I have self-confidence now that I didn’t have before.

To be a weight-loss winner, get healthy

When I weighed 304 pounds, my knees, ankles, and hips hurt all the time from carrying all that extra weight around. My doctor also told me I’d end up diabetic if I kept going the way I was headed.

Now, my joints no longer hurt. My family doctor also told me I’m one of the healthiest patients he’s got.

To be a weight-loss winner, take your focus off the numbers

So you see, there’s a lot more to losing weight than just a number on the scale.

If your focus is solely on the number, you’re really doing yourself a disservice. There are all kinds of things to celebrate along your weight-loss journey. And all you have to do to take your focus off the numbers and put it onto non-scale victories is to change your mind.

Get off the diet-go-round. Get on with your life.^®

Stop wishing, start doing.
Create your own weight loss before and after success story.

My weight loss transformation & how it can help you be a weight-loss winner

You absolutely can break the diet cycle. I got free. Your life can be that way too.

I made my own path because I needed to get myself out of the crazy-making behavior I was having around food. I needed:

• no more dieting.
• no more restrictive eating.
• no weighing and measuring food.
• no off-limit foods.
• no more judgment around food.
• no more trying to figure out healthy eating or just what healthy foods to eat.
• no more judging my self-worth based on the scale.
• no more you’re-not-doing-it-perfectly diet rules that were only fueling my constant thinking about and obsession with food.

I needed to stop: searching for weight loss tips, wondering how to lose belly fat fast or how to lose weight fast, worrying about how to eat healthy or finding healthy snacks for weight loss, coming up with yet another healthy eating plan, trying to have quick weight loss, or forcing myself onto yet another weight loss diet. What I needed instead was to find, out of all the weight loss programs out there, the best weight loss program for me. Turns out, the best way to lose weight was to find out what works for me and do that.

• I’ve lost 160+ pounds naturally by simply trusting myself and listening to my intuition (mindful eating and eating intuitively).
• I have maintained that weight loss for 9 years and counting by trusting myself and listening to my intuition (mindful eating and intuitive eating).
• I no longer have any eating disorders, including bulimia (bulimia nervosa) and binge eating disorder (compulsive overeating).
• I no longer have a fear of food.

Just imagine what you could be doing with your life if you’d just commit to having your own before and after weight loss success story. You could be: following your own dreams and reaching your own goals, cultivating your own passions, and making both your inner and outer worlds a more blissful and peaceful place.

I got that for my life. I want it for yours. I will teach you how.

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Let today be the day you make peace with your body and with food.

For more information, check out the Start Where You Are Weight Loss^® page.