You want to lose 20kg. This is not motivating. In fact, its downright scary, frustrating and overwhelming.

But you want to lose this weight because you are struggling. You are struggling to breath and you wake up every morning feeling like death.  You just want to crawl back under the dooner. You have no energy, you are crabby all the time, and you have no idea why even the smallest thing sets you off for the biggest melt down. You can’t remember the last time you felt the desire to be intimate, or even when you were intimate, when was the last time you left the lights on? You struggle to shave your legs in the shower. You struggle to walk upstairs. You can’t wear heels anymore and your knees hurt all the time. Everything just feels so dam hard. And you just don’t want to feel like this anymore. Enough is enough.

You find the right program and decide, now. Now is the time you are going to turn your life around. Now is the time you are going to start feeling good about myself. Now.

So you join a gym and start nutrition coaching; you are pumped.

A week in and your body hurts from training. Meal prepping sucks. You just want some chocolate. You get stuck at work, and miss your training session. Your daughter has come down with gastro and you were up all night attending to her. You need sleep, you’re tired. You think, ‘stuff it, I’ll just go drive through’.

You walk into the kitchen to grab your keys to go buy dinner. You see your goals and your ‘why’ on the fridge. You start to read why you started. You were smart. You wrote it all down in detail. A great reminder!

Yep you struggle to breath, you are constantly fatigued, you long to want intimacy again, you want to shave your legs in the shower, walk up stairs without feeling like you are dying… you continue to read. It’s all there. You stop. You take a deep breath.

You remember now.

You remember why you started.

It’s not about the 20kg. It’s about life. You want your life back. You want to feel alive again. You’ve got this.

You put your keys down and pick up your phone. ‘Uber Eats’. You order a few steaks with a side of veg from your local cafe, to be home delivered for the family. You are tired. So cooking is not an option tonight. But steak and veggies by ‘Uber Eats’ is; and a much better one than drive through.

…..the day is finally over and you are getting ready for bed. Before you do, you take out a note book. Time to start journalling this roller coaster of emotions, like your coach suggested. You start with a gratitude list. ‘I re-read my goals and my “why” and didn’t get food from drive through.’ A smile forms. Right then you feel proud of yourself. A win. You didn’t cave.

You finish your journal entry and go to bed with a smile. This is the first time in forever, that you have gone to bed feeling proud, instead of guilty. Yep, you’ve got this.

This roller coaster journey continues.

It is 3 months later. You have had about 50 of these scenarios over this time. It’s time to get assessed again. The first 6 weeks went ok. What about now? You smile. Yep, you’ve got this.

You jump on those scales and smile. Your heart sings. All those tears! All those moments wanting to give in. All those moments of almost caving; and sometimes actually caving. But it’s done. 20.4kg. You look at your coach and they give you the biggest, tightest hug ever! They are proud of you. You are proud of you.

You’ve tried to do this so many times! Finally!!! What was the difference? Certainly not writing down the goal of losing 20kg.

What was the difference? The difference was WHY you wanted to lose the 20kg. You couldn’t breath, you were constantly fatigued, you longed to want intimacy again, you wanted to shave your legs in the shower, to walk up stairs without feeling like you were dying… and now, now you have all of those things, and more.

You did it.

You look at your goals and your ‘why’ up on your fridge. Nope, you’re not taking those down. The journey continues. No way are you going back there! They will stay on that fridge, as a reminder, each and every day, why you do what you do. Instead of taking down your goals and your ‘why’, you put up your photo next to them. The photo you had taken yesterday. This is who you are now, and that is why you are who you are now.

– Coach Terri