When Mistakes Become Failure

I wish that life could be a little more like the before and after pictures we see in so many popular weight loss books, tv shows and product advertisements. If only it were that simple that with enough I could go from point A to point B in the blink of an eye just by willpower alone.


Unfourtantely life isn’t at all like the before and after pictures and for some reason many weight loss books talk about the before and the after without talking too much about the really long middle section. Sure they mention there will be struggles, but nobody really tells you about their struggles except to mention maybe that they were hard.


I promised when I began to write this blog that I would be honest and forthcoming with my successes and my failures. However, when the time came to share my failure I instead hid from it and discontinued writing the blog rather than feel the shame of writing a post stating as much. Turns out it would prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy as my success was due in no small part to writing and the accompanying accountability of doing the blog. Also I found out many more people were reading it then I originally believed as not only have family and friends asked me why I’ve stopped, but I’ve received several emails asking the same question.


This is the candid response: I failed. I did the worst thing you can possibly do when trying to lose weight, something I had even written about, I gave up. When you’re in the trenches it’s hard to remember even the positive things that you yourself have said and find yourself focusing on the negative feelings that come from letting yourself go a little. The stresses of every day (and along the way not so every day) life began to get in the way and I used it as an excuse to aid in my surrender to my baser and gluttonous nature.


Still even now I realize that I only have two options before me; continue to get fatter or try again even with the knowledge that occasional failure is not only probable, it’s inevitable. Obviously that isn’t much of a choice at all. I write this more for myself then anyone when I say that I promise to myself that I will not quit again, regardless of how many times I fail. Going forward I will strive to remember that my previous failures only truly became failure because I quit trying.


Thank you to everyone that encouraged me to start writing again. I believe that this blog may be one of my greatest tools in the fight against fattiness and hopefully it will become one of yours as well.