(Day 278 / -123 lbs.) Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of This Hat

There really is no trick to lasting weight loss- no wave of the wand, magic word, mirrors, smoke, or flash of light can make the pounds go away. It's all self discipline, focus, and tenacity. There is, though, a certain amount of magic.

The magic is in the feeling you get when you slip into that pair of pants you couldn't cram yourself into a few months before. There's magic in the ability to run up a flight of stairs when only a short time ago it was hard to walk down them. There is magic in transformation.

Motivation for me has been predominately fear and pain. Fear of the health issues that go along with obesity and the aches and pain I felt in my joints and back from trying to move too much bulk. Physical and emotional pain are big motivators and I had put myself in a position where I felt I was experiencing a lot of it. It was all "stick" at that point. So I decided to change and I took action.

It took some time but the magic started happening. Fitting into smaller clothes, blending into a crowd, running places. I look forward to the results I'm getting and fear and pain have taken a back seat to joy of accomplishment as primary motivation. It's a lot more "carrot" these days.

In my last post I stated my goal to lose 15 pounds by March 20th. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Internalized the reasons why I will achieve this goal- why I have to. This was an exercise that made full use of the sticks and carrots as I imagined myself both having accomplished the goal and failing and how I felt as a result. I'm going to do this.

2. Started recording all my consumption and activity by entering it in FitDay again. I had gotten a little lazy about doing this- even though it works by making me more aware of the things I eat and helps eliminate overeating.

Now that I have taken some action toward my goal I feel pretty good about being able to achieve it. Let the magic begin.