When I set out to write my book, I wanted it to be set apart by two facts: I had actually lived what I write about and the book is not a memoir.
The overwhelming majority of weight loss books are written by people who work in fitness, nutrition, psychology, or some medical field. If they’ve dealt with weight themselves, it’s usually not much. All these books share the same flaw: They are instruction manuals. Want to lose weight? Just eat this food and do that exercise. Do it and you’ll succeed. Don’t do it and you’ll fail. They talk a lot about weight loss motivation that you’re supposed to demonstrate. If these books were truly effective, there’d be no obesity epidemic.
People who’ve worked very hard to lose a lot of weight tend to write a memoir—the story of how they overcame all their obstacles and accomplished their amazing feat. People think these books are extremely “inspirational” and “motivational.” It’s a story about something that worked. For someone else.
I happened upon a series of websites this weekend for people who sell motivation and inspiration on the Internet. They do it by being motivational and inspirational. What are they actually accomplishing with all this positivity? Just selling it, for the most part. I look up their bios and usually it says how motivational and inspirational they are. Whatever it is they’re selling, it’s supposed to help you become successful. If you buy something these people are selling, you’ve helped make them successful.
A lot of people involved in weight loss and fitness are all about spreadin’ the inspiration. They’ll send out emails and tweet about weight loss motivation. They’ll post inspirational sayings and images to Facebook. But what does that really help you do? Maybe you’re all fired up for a little while but then you’ll go do…what?
One hundred and seventy pounds are in my past. That really is over and done. But maintenance is never over and done. And vestiges of why I needed to lose 170lbs continue to hover around my life. I still have to exercise; I still have to manage what I eat; I still have to deal with cravings that try to come back. I will always be someone who used to weigh 340lbs and I have to make sure I am never that person again. As long as I am involved in working with weight loss and fitness, I will be living it every day.
We all know obesity is a problem in America. We all know obesity impacts health. We all know what we should be eating and what physical activity we should be doing. We all know being really fat feels like crap and makes your life suck. So why isn’t it an easy choice to follow all those warnings and instructions and just lose weight? Because THAT is the real obesity issue, my friend. I know you know what you should be doing. How do you get yourself to do it? That’s the crux of it. Inspiration isn’t enough to get you there. All the motivation in the world still isn’t a specific plan. Nobody else’s story is yours. Nobody else’s motivation is yours. Nobody else’s roadmap is yours. You must draw your own. Don’t go looking for answers from someone else until you’ve completely accepted and deeply understand what your own questions are.
