So the holiday season is upon us, kicked off with a few days with the family over Thanksgiving. My weight went up about 3-4 lbs. That was actually a small success in my book because it usually is much worse than that. But, getting back on track food-wise has been pretty good this week. I need to get more consistent with exercising, though...

I read in the news headlines that motivational speaker Zig Ziglar passed away yesterday. Such a tremendous loss :(

A couple of his quotes really hit home with my efforts to improve my health. One I posted as my status update:

“Regardless of what you are doing, if you pump long enough, hard enough, and enthusiastically enough, sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward.”

It just served as a good reminder that this is not a short-term activity. I need to keep pushing, to remember that this is not a race, and to think about the results (both scale and NSV) I am experiencing and have yet to experience.

The other one I like, partly because the visual makes me smile:

"I'm so optimistic I'd go after Moby Dick in a row boat and take the tartar sauce with me."

How many of us bring that same optimism with us on our journeys to health? Or are we telling ourselves that we will “try” to make it work?

Especially if this is not the first go-around at losing weight or if you’ve never been thin, it can feel like an impossible dream. I am oftentimes my own worst critic, so, yes, I have had many thoughts of, “Can this really happen for me, too?”

The above quote helps to kick out the messages that would drag me down. Instead of being my own worst enemy with negative thinking, I need to think and act as if success is a foregone conclusion. To do anything less is to invite in self-doubt, and that has no place in my life.

What is your favorite quote to counteract thinking that could derail your efforts?