I have a confession to make.

I struggle with my weight a lot.

I guess you can say it’s understandable. I am, after all, a food blogger. I am constantly thinking about what new recipe to try and what kind of yumminess I could whip up to share with everyone. The truth is that is a poor excuse. This woman who loves to cook and feed people feeds herself too much and too often. It’s been a fight most of my adult life.

Maybe you have experienced this same struggle.

I have never really wanted to share this piece of my story, but this issue takes up more of my headspace than it deserves. It bleeds over into many other areas of life and strips me of contentment and inspiration. I thought perhaps sharing it would break the hold it has on me and create space for something better. And maybe you could find some connection and encouragement for yourself.

Over the past few months, a message has repeatedly come to me. I think it started when I heard this quote from Bob Goff.

“Every day, we get to choose whether we give the microphone to hope or fear. The choice we make is the life we lead.”

When I first read this, I wasn’t sure what I was giving the microphone to—fear or hope. I seem to vacillate between the two in a love/hate dance on any given day. My head was always full of thoughts about my weight, food, and why I couldn’t be better at keeping it all under control. There were even times I just tried to be satisfied with how things were and accept that this was as good as it would get. The problem was that my heart told me that was not the life I wanted. To get there, I would have to give hope a louder voice.

Over the weeks of seeing Bob Goff’s quote, a series of similar ideas and statements from various places and individuals popped up. Several quotes caught my eye that talked about habits and routine and how they could help move your life forward. This one from John C. Maxwell hit the nail on the head.

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

A daily routine is what frames life. It simplifies by eliminating constant decision-making and defines boundaries. You do what you always do. But it’s not just routine that matters. I had a routine, but many of the habits were not leading me to the life I wanted. The actions that make up your daily routine are also essential. They must provide positive steps toward the life you desire.

One positive part of my routine is WW, formally known as Weight Watchers. I have tried many things to lose weight, but I always return to this program because it works when you work it. It teaches healthy habits for a healthy lifestyle, gives tools to develop a program that fits your personal needs, and maybe the most important, it encourages connection in a community for accountability. There have been times when life seemed overwhelming all I could manage was the meetings. It was then that my WW community wrapped around me and kept me going. For that, I am grateful.

The action I decided to do daily was to plan my meals and make them WW friendly. I quit waiting until I was tired or hungry to decide what to eat. This simple change has done something extraordinary that WW calls a non-scale victory. The planning put me in control. But not only that. It replaced the thoughts of “things are never going to change” with “you’ve got this!”

One of my hashtags comes from a quote by Remy from Ratatouille.

“If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff.”

Don’t you agree? I not only want to eat the good stuff. I also want to do good, feel good, and share all the good living well can bring. That’s the kind of life I’m looking for, so here’s to developing the habits that will get me there.

Is it time for a change?

How about you? Are you with me? Put some daily habits into place that will move you forward and help you get to that life you want.

“You don’t decide the future. You decide your habits, and your habits decide the future.”

---

So, how am I doing with the weight loss, you ask?

In November last year, I started back to WW at over 200 pounds. I did well and lost ten pounds right through to January, then all progress stopped, and I regained some of the weight. I think my problem was taking liberties with portion size and skipping my meetings.

At the end of February, I started back with meetings, and they challenged me to make a significant change. That’s when I committed to thirty days of WW-friendly recipes and sharing them with my community of WW friends. The effort has continued past the thirty days and resulted in a renewed weight loss. I am lower than I’ve been in a couple of years. Sharing my journey is all a bit scary. Even though I am vigilant and staying the course, I sometimes hear that voice of fear heckling me from the back of the room. I am not listening. I’ve given hope the microphone.