Why I am doing this?

I posted this as an answer to someone's question on how to stay motivated. I thought I would use it (as well as some additions) as a blog post so that I could share it with more people in case you missed it.

The point is not to diet all the time, but to make lifelong changes concerning what you eat and how much you exercise. If you stop after a month-long DietBet, and revert back to what you did before, guaranteed you will regain the weight. Don't think that what you are doing is a sacrifice, but more of an investment in your health and wellbeing for the rest of your life. 

This is hard – now. This will become easier. 

If your motivation is low now, keep going, because if you stop, you will never see any change except for more weight gain, low morale, and clothes no longer fitting, etc. These are all things that will keep your motivation down. These will lead to bouts of depression, and feelings of anger towards yourself for not carrying on.

So carry on. If you see no change on the scale after a week, carry on exercising and eating right. If you see no change in the mirror after two weeks, carry on again with your exercising and eating right. Oh wait, what's that? You feel a difference in your jeans after three weeks? I knew persistence would pay off.

The change may not happen immediately on the scale, but I guarantee, with continued effort, it will happen. And, the way it happens is different for everyone. No two weight-loss stories are the same, but the key to success is to carry on everytime you don't feel like it. When you get past those days, I know you will feel great for having done so.

If you really want that popcorn with butter (my weakness) – have it, but be prepared to make a caloric exchange. Either more exercise, or hold off on that potato, or rice that was your side dish. Eating healthy does not mean dieting and sacrifice; it really does boil down to moderation and making great food choices.

Healthy or clean eating unfortunately has a bad rap that it can't seem to shake. We think of it as eating cardboard tasting cookies and bland entrées that our pets wouldn't eat. Fortunately for us, that is so far from the truth these days. Healthy, tasty recipes are so easy to do and find, it becomes an easy choice to do, once you get the hang of it.

I chose to do a second DietBet just so I can be accountable, lose more weight, and learn how to eat well and exercise from some really talented fitness experts and seriously knowledgable players. 

Eventually, I hope to do these things for the rest of my life. If I can do this, I have no doubt you can too!

Carry on people.