Sometimes it is uncomfortable to look at your past, but if you want to lose weight you have to. Here's why.

Let's start with the biology. If you are overweight, at some point in your life, for whatever reason, you spent day after day eating more calories than your body burned for fuel. That leftover fuel was then stored as fat, because that's how our bodies are made. They are programmed to store all extra calories as fat. The reason for consuming the extra calories may have been due to pregnancy. It may have been that an injury or illness kept you from being as active as you needed to be. It may have been your way of dealing with a relationship problem or a boss who made your work life miserable. Maybe we put everything else first before our own health. The list goes on. Our bodies don't care why we ate extra. It gets stored no matter what.

When I tell people that I lost weight, I get the exact same question almost every time. Can you guess what that question is? It's, "How long did it take?" I usually answer with something like seven years because that's the truth. And I usually get a look of horror. Something happens once we wake up and realize we've gained weight and are in a pretty deep hole. We want out immediately. I understand that, I really do. Once I had the courage to really look at myself and own how I was treating myself, I wanted to change it all at that exact moment.

But we have to go back to biology. All those months or years of storing fat are the choices of your past. Here you are carrying them around and all you want to do is to be able to put them down. But your body is made to lose weight one pound at a time. And it is not possible to lose all your pounds at once; it must be one then another then another.

It is quite easy to get so hung up on the fact that you got yourself into this hole in the first place, that you never make the extraordinary choices that will get you out of it. When I would look in the mirror I would get so angry. Why did I do this!!! I don't want to have to lose weight. It's overwhelming. I felt like I'd never succeed. It's a terrible feeling of defeat and resignation. And it's easy to feel disgusted.

Repeat after me. "I am forgiven completely for getting myself into this hole." No one is perfect and we all fall short. For whatever reason, I ate too much or didn't exercise enough (or both) at some point in my past. But just for today, I am going to let it go and look ahead. Today is a new day. And I believe that anything is possible. Then just for today, I am going to choose differently. I will exercise today. I will choose my food wisely today. And I realize I won't see the changes I want to see so badly today.

So I will commit to waking up tomorrow and saying, "I am forgiven completely for getting myself into this hole." And once again, just for tomorrow, I will let it go and look ahead. I will exercise. I will choose my food wisely.  I won't see changes yet. But I won't give up either because I believe in the process. I believe that daily exercise and eating wisely will lead me to the changes I want. That is the truth and the only way out of the hole.

The change does come. It really does, but only if you don't get hung up on the past. If you continue to punish yourself for being in this place, or keep beating yourself up for falling short, you can't move ahead. Every day must be a new day. Even if you have to see your past in the mirror for right now, you can learn to override all the negative feelings and experience forgiveness and a second chance any time you are willing to receive it.

And then you have to do the work! So get moving.