I can’t believe that I’ve already finished (and won!) 4 Diet Bets by now. It seems like I just started. But it’s been nearly two months that I’ve been doing these now. I’m down 15 pounds! (Including the weight I lost the first week before starting Diet Bet.) I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to lose weight for nearly the past 5 years, so it really feels good to finally be successful once again. But therein lies the danger. I’ve been successful! I’m starting to look good. I like what I see in the mirror. I’m not finished yet, but I’m starting to make a dent!

But sadly, once I start liking what I see, that is when I get complacent and lax. Never mind that I'm half way through a Diet Bet 4 and also in 2 of the Diet Bet 10s, here's what I find myself thinking. “Oh, I just finished 2 Diet Bets that ended 2 days from each other. I need a break. I can relax my diet a bit. I need to allow myself a few indulgences before I get back to being strict with my diet.” Ack! What am I doing! Self sabotage! The thing is, I can’t allow myself small indulgences. If I let myself take an inch, I will take a mile. It’s like I open the flood gates. It’s amazing how much damage you can do in small amount of time. It's so hard to get the weight off and soooo easy to put it on. I feel like I’m going back to my old habits.

Fortunately, I have the power to stop this. I’ve always had it, but doing these Diet Bets has given me the ability to tap into it. This is a set back, not a failure. It’s only a failure if I let this completely derail me and I give up. But I’m never giving up. I just can’t do that to myself. So I pick myself back up and get back on track. Doing what it is I know I need to do, despite the fact that it’s not necessarily the easiest or most fun. But it’s what’s best for me.