The "I'm serious this time" Merry-go-round

Hi. Hello. Hey.

So WBF has decided that she's serious this time and has to lose weight. Cut back on carbs. Walk more.

Yes! Get it girl! I've been praying for this!

But we've been here before. She is a lot like me. Or the pre-prediabetes me, anyway. She's still on the "I'm serious this time" merry-go-round. I know she's still on the merry-go-round and not yet actually had her wake-up call and is truly serious because she is still saying one thing and doing another. She's telling me about cutting back on carbs as she eats a sugar loaded Dole parfait fruit cup thing. I've eaten those things before. You think they should be healthy. Because fruit!

Girlfriend. No. They are not healthy. They are sugar disguised as fruit. Put it down.

But I can't say anything because I don't want to be the know-it-all friend. I hate that friend. Also, I don't know everything so who am I to give advice or tell anyone what to eat or not to eat? I've lost 41lbs, sure, but I'm still not even sure what the heck I did that finally got the weight moving off. I know I cut out sugary lattes and cut way, way back on soft drinks. I know I cut out 90% of my snacking and I at least feel guilty when I eat an extra piece of chocolate. I know I started working at 10,000 steps a day and was really successful at it for a couple of months. I know I drink a lot of water. But what part of that worked? I dunno. The combination, most likely.

What I do know for sure is that starting somewhere is the key. Making your mind up for real, for real. Education. Working. Trial and error. Working at balance. Wanting it is good. Putting the work in, though, is the thing.

So when she told me she ate one less slice of bread with her sloppy joe last night but then ate a fudge round, I gave her some positive reinforcement. Baby steps. We all know that's a start and to make things stick, you gotta take it slow. Changing your habits and attitudes toward food takes time and effort. So I told her what I wish people had told me all my life...that every little change makes a difference. Will she lose a lot of weight that way? Eventually she'll lose some if she continues to make small changes.

It's hard, though, not to really tell her all about my experience. All the struggles. But nobody REALLY wants to know all that. I mean, I get a lot of people asking me what I'm doing to lose weight but they don't REALLY want to know all the mental work it takes. All the insecurities. The fact that I still can't believe that I lost 41lbs in six months. That I still feel like a failure because I've stalled out at 41lbs. That when I look in a mirror, I still see all the fat that I haven't lost. So I don't tell anyone outside of this blog. I just say, "I watch what I eat and stay active." And they're still disappointed because I haven't discovered any magic pills or drinks or some quick fix.

She has all the same tools I do. She could have attended all the healthy workshops I did. She attended two of five. She has access to all the same sidewalks I do and has the same amount of break minutes that I have. She either sits at her desk or gets a latte from Starbucks, instead. She has access to a dietician and internet and Walmart (for dumbbells) and she even has a diabetic mother who she could learn from. However, I know from my own experience that until she's had her own wake-up call, in whatever way it comes, she will stay on that merry-go-round and all I can do is be supportive and set as good an example as I can.

One piece of wisdom I've gained and hope to impart to her and anyone else who'll listen is a quote by Kayla Itsines, a fitness trainer I follow on Facebook: "Success is achieved in small steps, repeated every single day."