Am I Willing?

Life won't stop for your pauses and procrastinations. It won't stop for your confusion or fear. It will continue right along without you whether you play an active part or not. The show will go on — Gary John Bishop

A few days ago, I started reading a book by Gary John Bishop called "UnFu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life." To say that I've been stuck is an understatement. I'm not going to throw out a ton of excuses.

What matters is this: I have bounced around with the same 10 pounds for more than six months now. I'm tired of it. 

One of the first things Bishop talks about in the book is willingness. It has stuck in my head since I read it and I've actually gone back a few times to the chapter because I feel like it is a core element to my success. 

So, I asked myself, what exactly am I willing to do? What am I unwilling to do? I spent some time jotting down some thoughts and I wanted to share them. 

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I am willing to...

• Accept responsibility for my weight
• To make deliberate changes to get back to losing weight consistently
• To track what I eat honestly
• To pre-track meals whenever possible
• To plan meals at home more often and shop accordingly
• To cut back on meals out
• When eating out, stick to reasonable portions (2 slices of pizza instead of 3, etc.) Not every meal is a celebration!
• To drink at least 80 oz of liquid every day (mostly water)
• To increase my fruit and vegetable intake
• To track my weight no more than 2x a week
• To pre-portion food when I bring them in the house as soon as I unpack the bags
• To feel uncomfortable for a while when I think I'm hungry to determine if it's hunger or emotional
• To journal 3 to 4x a week to work through my process
• To push myself and to believe in myself

Bishop also talks about the importance of owning what we're not willing to do to meet our goals. I never thought about it that way, but I gave it a shot.
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I am unwilling to...

• Go back to where I was in July 2017
• Go back to 300 pounds
• Keep gaining weight through complacency
• Give up favorite foods, like pizza
• Give up the freedom I've felt in the past year because of things I can do now that I couldn't before
• Keep sabotaging myself
• Continue making excuses to avoid reaching for my goals
• Allow fear to keep driving my choices
• Keep feeling like a failure
• Have unrealistic expectations of myself
• Settle for Good Enough when it leads to complacency
• Starve myself skinny
• Allow my past to define my future
• Feeling like a fraud

After I wrote down these things, I felt at ease and in control for the first time in a while. Now that I know what I'm willing to do and not willing to do, I have a clearer sense of what needs to get done. I'm not going to have all the answers and I'm going to try to embrace uncertainty as I move forward.

What are you willing to do for yourself to meet your goals? What are you unwilling to do? The answers might surprise you!