Skinny is just Math.

I want to talk a bit about success.

I think its an extremely important subject and one that should be revisited frequently.

As a child, the idea of success begins by being quantified by numbers, categorized alphabetically and can be classified as a 'win'.  Its not quite black and white but very close.  As we age we form our own personal ideas about success, based on our moral and ethical opinions and ideals, the opinions of friends and family and accepted societal 'norms' (including what the media forces down our throats.)  As you can see, the scope of success grows more broad with age.

As a youth, I was part of the 'gifted' program - an enriched education program.  We fostered mostly healthy competition among ourselves and it is there that I believe my ideals of success were created.  An 80%, 85%, 95% - that wasn't 'success'. It wasn't a win, it was a lose. For me, at least internally, it was always go big - or go home. In some circumstances, the drive and ambition this way of thinking fosters could be a useful tool. Looking back now, I wonder if it wasn't a bit damaging at times.

Coming into this whole 'diet' (I still hate that word) thing, I realized that I would have to re-adjust my ideas of success.  I knew that it wasn't going to work if I didn't rethink things.  I have a very large final goal - to wait to reach that goal before celebrating success would be the effective suicide of my plan.  So I committed to celebrating every attitude change, every time I resisted temptation and every pound.  To this day, 4.5 months and 54lbs later, I still giggle like a schoolgirl when I lose another pound and send my fiancee a message to share my success. I dance around in my underwear and sing and look in the mirror and even though I can't SEE the 1lb difference, I know its there.

I have some fellow dieters say to me "Oh, well its only 15lbs I've lost." and "I wish it was more!" and "I'm stuck here at just 10lbs."  It makes me so sad to see everyone pass over their success! I try the best I can to remind them that 15 is amazing and better than none! I think that everyone needs to take a step back and celebrate what they HAVE accomplished, instead of focusing on what they have left to accomplish.

It is a SUCCESS
That we have changed our mindset.
That we have taken the first steps.
That we try hard each and every day to stick to our plan.
That we get back on the wagon when we fall off.
- each and every pound.
- each and every minute of exercise we do.

you get the picture.

You may also notice, as I have, that when we change our ideas of success in this area, that it may infect our ways of thinking about everything else.
I want to mention a poignant moment that I had last night, that made me realize how much my ideas have changed.

I entered into a singing competition and last night was round three.  I gave it my best, and I had a great time.  It was a vote based competiton and I have a fairly clutter free life - limited friends :D  I invited my close friends and family out, some came, some were unable to. Others wanted desperately to come but distance and obligations stood in their way.  There was some stiff competition, everyone had talent.  Every voter had to vote twice - first vote counted as two and was meant for who you were supporting.  The second vote was meant for another competitor.   The votes came in at the end of the night.  3 of our 6 were eliminated, one of them being myself.  However, I was advised that I recieved the MOST 'second vote - votes'.  Votes that people who came to support others tossed my way because they enjoyed my performance. My friends were outraged - upset. Some people may have been upset with them - but I wasn't. I smiled and thanked my friends for their support and congratulated those who advanced.  I realized that even though I didn't win, it was a whopping success to get so many votes from others whom I did not know and/or did not bring to support me.  Why? because those votes, even though they didnt make me 'win' in a black and white sort of way, still made me a winner. Those votes were for merit.  So I took my success home in my heart, happy with what I had accomplished.

To top it all off, I danced off about a pound and a half too :)

Bottom line is, celebrate. your. success. No matter how small you think it is, for it is part of a much bigger picture.