For the quick remedy, go to the end for my top 3 ideas.

Every day, I wake up, and I do not want to be fat, not Gwyneth Paltrow, but not fat.

Does everyone fight this? It seems so. I feel like I have fought this battle my entire life. I have friends from college who remind me of the goofy diets I would self-impose to try and quickly drop a few pounds. I have never had very healthy eating habits.

So what is the best strategy?

Here is what I know.

#1. It is not easy.

#2. If you have been overweight, you never want to fight that battle again.

#3. Habits are a thing. 

Take Action

Everyone can tell you what you need to do, and like everything in life, it boils down to taking action. Taking action applies to most things in my life, our business, the Blog, the website, and my weight. My top recommendation is to START NOW. Here we go.

#1. You must exercise. To commit to exercise, enforce mind over matter. Discover what works for you.

I am a runner. Not everyone likes to run. Below is what I don't like.

If I had to get dressed, gather my stuff, get in the car, drive to a workout location, sign in, and find an open machine, I would never work out. I run because I am out the door and back in 30 minutes to start my day.

I can run everywhere I go. Travel does not allow for a break. I work out with weights at home because I can do it at 11:00 PM watching TV if I have not gotten to it yet. Honestly, I am lazy. If it is too much work to work out, never gonna happen.

How do I do what I do? The motivational saying I came up with that works best for me is; the day I feel the least like exercising is THE most important day I exercise. Half the battle is the starting gate. Have you ever heard of Nike?

 

It's All About Intake

#2. Having been overweight before, it is not fun.

DON'T SUPERSIZE, EVER. If you go to McDonald's and want a meal, order a kid's meal. I don't care if it is cheaper to order the Value Meal, don't do it. If it is not there, you won't eat it. If it is there, you will finish it all and feel like a tub of lard.

When people talk about smaller proportions and healthy eating, change what that terminology means to you.

Instead of imagining Gwyneth Paltrow as the spokesperson, imagine you and your lifestyle. I mean, she named her daughter Apple. If I followed the same path, my daughter would be named Cheese Dip.

I am the worst eater on the planet.

Every day, people see me run and think I must be so healthy and Gwyneth-like. My husband laughs like a hyena. He sees me pound 2-3 Coca-Colas and a bag of BBQ Fritos throughout my day. Reminder, the title of this post is Do not diet like me.

There is no discipline here. I eat a bag of Fritos because that is what I want. I do not crave the Kale salad because it is unsatisfying. If I started with the Kale salad, I would later feel like I needed a Big Mac and maybe some peanut M&M's.

While all the powers to be are reading this and criticizing how unhealthy I am and what a disservice I am doing to the community, I eat salmon, greens, and plenty of other good stuff. I have learned to reduce unhealthy foods; significantly.

My best remedy is to get out of the kitchen.

Do you like sweets or dessert? Minimize your proportions by finishing your meal, and then go for a sweet. Go for a minimal sweet. It may eliminate a second helping. Try not to have a second helping.

Regarding intake, I have learned I must focus. While I joke about the BBQ Fritos and Coca-Cola, I can't do that anymore. I sincerely hope readers don't think I have a high metabolism; I don't. Also, if you imagine healthy eating does not apply to me, it does. I can't eat a lot. Also, because I spend so much time running and working out, one bag of BBQ Fritos will nullify all that effort. I have to limit my intake. It is not easy.

Habits

#3. Habit. It will become a habit when you do it for 30 days, even if you miss a day here and there.

I have the exercise thing down pretty well. My intake lacks discipline, and I have a soft middle; could it be the beer? Rhetorical question, please don't answer.

Relating to the most relevant things in my life and my habits, I have gotten this Blog down pretty well and almost mastered the website by my standards.

Our business, not so much. I will work on the business website soon, making a habit of writing and working on the hundreds of items on our to-do list.

The business project is more daunting than working out. A new kind of discipline is needed, and I need to figure out what works for me in this space, maybe with some BBQ Fritos and Coca-Cola to fuel me.