Tuesday Quote Day

Because I need it.

If you are PERSISTENT, you will get it.

If you are CONSISTENT, you will keep it.

As both of you know, I used to post a motivational or inspirational quote on Fridays. That habit has gone by the wayside, but I am still moved by certain quotes and I just couldn't wait until Friday for this one.

I searched for who said it, but I think it's just a random meme. I couldn't find this exact wording on any of the usual quote suspect websites.

Some may wonder about the first part, especially if they look back at how many damned years I've been blogging about weight loss. I was persistent, even when I didn't get it. Oh, I'd take a break now and then – usually over the holidays – but I was almost always trying and I was always wishinghopingpraying.

What I was truly persistent about was figuring out what might work for me. My weight-loss pursuit began at age 11, so I've had more than 50 years to figure it out. I've tried just about everything, including Weight Watchers, fasting, packaged meal plans, liquids only, Slim-Fast, diet pills, Jazzercise, many gym memberships, running – you name it, I've tried it. A very low-fat diet worked for a while, but my health suffered, and a low-fat plan just wasn't something I could do consistently.

I'm a bit regretful that it took me so many years to try a paleo/primal plan. I actually had, at one time, a copy of Neanderthin (published in 2000), but never read it and ended up donating it to the library.

Better late than never. And maybe it was supposed to work out this way. (Well, obviously it was supposed to work out this way, or it wouldn't have worked out this way, RIGHT?) I was supposed to hit that higher-than-ever number last Christmas morning. I was supposed to feel frustrated and overwhelmed. I was supposed to come to the realization that what I needed to do was …

SURRENDER.

I've surrendered before. I stopped drinking more than 22 years ago. I've given up abusive and damaging relationships. In the end (oh, let's hope I have a few years left and this isn't the end), my survival has absolutely depended on my surrender.

The big "surrender" in beginning a paleo food plan was dairy. I will never forget talking with my daughter about it, thinking and then saying, "What if it's the cheese?"

You know what? WHAT IF IT IS? Lot of lactose-intolerant folks live without cheese. For someone who used to make her own mozzarella, I do miss it occasionally. But the results are worth it. And I've gotten these results – 51.5 pounds gone, gone, gone – because I've consistently followed this plan that I was so persistent about finding.

I'm not perfect. And consistency does imply perfection. But I've been steady enough since April 7 to know that this plan works for me. And I believe it will continue to work as I get rid of these last few pounds and finally achieve a normal BMI.

The coolest part is that when I switched from simply creating a calorie deficit by eating whatever I wanted – which left me unsatisfied and cranky and didn't result in any significant weight loss – to creating a calorie deficit by following this weird, restrictive caveman diet, I knew I only had to do it for 30 days.

As it turned out, 30 days was enough time to convince me that I could follow this plan for, well, the rest of my life. Giving up grains, legumes, dairy and sugar isn't for everyone. I've previously been sugar-free, but never in my life did I think I'd need to be grain-, legume- and dairy-free as well.

But it works for me. And I don't miss what I'm choosing not to have. I really don't. Because – borrowing a quote from Weight Watchers – "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels."

True dat.