[Thought For Thursday] How to define and achieve success when on a diet | VLCD

Thought For Thursday
How to define and achieve success when on a diet | VLCD

Success in the perspective of a VLCD diet.

Why is this so important – we all know the definition of achieving success is the realisation of a goal right? In a simple day to day task this definition is acceptable and fit for purpose.  It does not really work in the context of a diet though as the timescales, path to the end point and indeed the journey itself cannot always be defined in simple terms.

What I mean by this is probably best explained by a simple example such as; today my goal is to write this blog – if you are reading it then success has been achieved. In relation to weight loss the goal posts change – take for instance my latest success story this week. The amazing Debbie lost over 6 ½ stone. The result achieved here was actually far in excess of her initial goal as she was uncertain at the start what could be considered achievable.

Success for her was getting down to 13 ½ stone and being able to ride her pony again but she discovered that this was not what she would ultimately define as success as she grew as a person and redefined her own limits. The great thing about a diet is as you achieve your weight loss goal other aspects of your life have this amazing surge of energy injected into them that means you become even more motivated driven and generally passionate about life.

I was listening to Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance speech earlier and he says something that I think I am going to carry with me for  life. In fact it was that good I hunted down the transcript for you and taken the bits that I felt applicable and put them in below as I feel this is the best way to define success in relation to a weight loss journey.

[quote style=”boxed”]There’s a few things, about three things to my account that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase. Now, first off, I want to thank God. ‘Cause that’s who I look up to…[/quote]

He goes on to explain who it is that he chases and this is the part that we should all aspire to and defines the type of mind set that I have seen in all my success stories each week:

[quote style=”boxed”][…]And to my hero. That’s who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say ‘who’s your hero?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.’ I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says ‘who’s your hero?’ I said, ‘I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.’ So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, ‘So, are you a hero?’ And I was like, ‘not even close. No, no, no.’ She said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘Because my hero’s me at 35.’ So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.[/quote]

[quote style=”boxed”]So, to any of us, whatever those things are, whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we’re chasing, to that I say, ‘Amen.’ To that I say, ‘Alright, alright, alright.’ To that I say ‘just keep living.’ Thank you.[/quote]

This will help to define what real success is as I try to show that it is a path that you take rather than a result you attain at any one moment in time.

[box type=”download” size=”large” style=”rounded”]Let me know how you plan to define your success below on the blog wall[/box]

Thanks for reading and I will see you all again soon!
Kind regards
Grant