Have You Had Enough?

You've probably heard it said many times that people change their lives when they have "had it."  When they're sick and tired of being sick and tired. When they reach a point where living their life a certain way becomes impossible. 

The pain of doing the same thing over and over becomes greater than the pain of change. 

That's what happened to me 4 years ago, on June 20, 2010. 

When people come to me and tell me they can't seem to find the motivation to get started, to make a change, to eat better, to move their body more...I tell them:

You haven't had enough. 

Think about torture. (Sorry to be so graphic, but it's a good analogy. Follow me here.) The torturer eventually breaks the prisoner because they reach a point where they can't take it anymore. That is what has to happen for the prisoner to give the torturer what they want. 

Same thing with changing your lifestyle. You will change when you can't take anymore torture.  When your joints start to hurt. When simple tasks start to become impossible. When your health starts to slowly decline. 

Things unlikely to make people lose weight in any lasting way:

-Social humiliation. Social situations can be avoided. Not enough pain to change. 

-Clothes not fitting anymore. Sorry, you can always buy bigger clothes. 

-Attraction by the opposite sex. That's not enough either. I had girlfriends when I was 577 pounds.  Sure, it shrinks the pool of available dates, but it's not impossible. Besides, it's a superficial reason to lose weight anymore. 

-Some short-term goal. A wedding. A family reunion. A graduation. It's not enough. The event is over and it's back to the previous behaviors. 

So I ask you: have you had enough?