Showing Up

Yesterday, I was listening to Jillian Michael's podcast. She was talking about her biggest loser contestant (who apparently won the whole thing). She said that the distinguishing factor between her contestant that won and the other contestants is that this contestant "Showed Up" every day.

This got me to really thinking about my weight loss this time around compared to all the numerous times I tried to lose weight in the 10-15 years before that. I think one of the biggest differences is as simple as showing up.

Back when I was trying every "diet" under the sun, I would show up for the day or two days, I would then not see the results I wanted or it would be too hard. I would then quit and try a different "diet" or quit and binge or quit and starve myself.

This time around I have been working on losing weight for a little over a year and a half. The difference is that I show up every day. I may have days where I want to eat more than I should or days when I don't feel like exercising, but even those days I don't say "Screw it, I quit." I show up and say "Today, I'm allowing myself to take a little break with full knowledge that I am in this journey for life and will be continuing it for the long haul."

This thought was also in my head this morning when I went to the gym. Everything has been against my marathon training this week. I developed some type of cold, running outside in the low temperatures on Monday, meaning having to slow down a bit this week. But I showed up at the gym. I was supposed to run 5 miles. I walked two. So it wasn't perfect. But I was there, and I KNOW that once this cold clears up, I will be back to my 13 mile run on Saturday. Showing up every day has helped me lose 95 lbs, showing up every day is going to help me run the marathon, and eventually, showing up every day is going to help me get to my goal weight.

"Part of abandoning the all-or-nothing mentality is allowing yourself room for setbacks. We are bound to have lapses on the road to health and wellness, but it is critical that we learn how to handle small failures positively so that we can minimize their long-term destructive effects. One setback is one setback...it is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your journey toward a better you."-Jillian Michaels