If you have gone to battle against your weight and won, I am sure someone has asked you (at least once) how you did it. I receive success stories all the time from people using my Healthy Eating Guide and my 10 lb Slimdown Xtreme exercise program and they are asked how they did it. But there’s a catch.

A lot of people don’t like the answer—I ate healthy and I exercised. Cue the eye-rolling, the yawns, looks of boredom, and the defeated sighs. See, losing weight in what’s dubbed the old fashioned way—eat less,  eat healthy and exercise more—isn’t sexy. Eating real foods, reducing portions and exercising more doesn’t lead to overnight success. Results happen with a daily commitment to hard work and healthy decisions.

It’s almost like people are disappointed when they hear others have lost weight successfully with the simple formula of burning more calories than they consume along with eating better quality calories too.  It isn’t that they are unhappy someone else succeeded, it’s probably has more to do with the reality they have to face, like …

It can be done.There’s a saying that success leaves clues, and it does. While you might think people would be excited when they find out that exercise and eating healthy works for weight loss, it also means if they want to lose weight the healthy way, they have to commit to change. That’s challenging for a lot of people. If they can say things like, “Nothing works” or “I’ve tried everything” then they have excuses to stay the way they are.

Hard work, works. Sometimes people don’t like hearing that hard work works. It means they will have to get out of bed in the morning and lace up those sneakers. It means they can’t limitlessly indulge in the office potluck or eat a piece of cake every time someone has a Birthday at work. Hard work entails working out even on those days when you don’t feel like it and skipping the junk food. Sometimes that isn’t what people want to hear.

There is no magic diet plan or pill.  Healthy eating is something you have to put your mind to by thinking about what to buy at the store and what to prepare. It takes some effort. Coming to grips with the fact that eating healthy works, means you have to give up on all the quick fixes. There is no magic wand that makes you instantly fit. Eating healthy takes a willingness to be educated; to ask questions and read labels; to seek healthy options when it’s not always easy.  I personally dedicate a little time each Sunday to planning my families meals for the week.  When I travel, I bring healthy snack alternatives in my bag to avoid being stuck hungry with no good choices.   You see, prepackaged meals aren’t going to be delivered right to your door for the rest of your life. You have to give up the notion that you can go on the latest diet craze for a few weeks. Healthy eating is a life change, not something you go on temporarily. Healthy eating takes education.  Lots of people don’t want to hear that either.

It cracks me up that people groan when they hear people lost weight eating right and exercising. They could easily choose to view it completely differently. They could start with, “If she can do it, so can I.” Or, “I can do that.” And instead of viewing all the scary change that is ahead, look for yummy, healthy recipes and embark on a journey to see how strong they can make their bodies. It can be exciting, not full of dread and drudgery.

Sure, there probably won’t be confetti raining down on your head when you step on the scale to see your goal weight staring back at you, but imagine how victorious you will feel when you can say to friends: “I did it by eating healthy and exercising.”

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