Defining success. It’s personal. That’s a good thing.

People often ask me how I’ve been successful at keeping my weight off for two years. My answer: I work at it every day.

The goal I set when I started this journey was not a weight loss goal, but rather a mindset. I decided that I would “never, ever quit” and that’s how I’ve been successful. This is now my mantra, and it’s how I define success. I am successful if I’m still going, still learning, still growing, and keeping Lori in the equation every day. Because the truth is, if I do those things, the weight will stay off.

To do this requires focus and diligence. It doesn’t leave my conscious just because I hit a number on the scale or wear a size 8 instead of a plus size. Rather, it’s something I know I have to actively work at for the rest of my life. I accept that. Embrace it. And live it. It certainly beats the alternative!

The nitty gritty

In detail, this means, I have to continue to eat healthy 90+% of the time, and I really can’t eat sugar. I have to be consistent with my exercise, and make sure I have plenty of “Lori” time so things don’t get out of whack. When I feel things slipping, I must restart, which you have seen me do here quite publicly many times. This is my life now. And it is awesome. It’s a lifestyle that requires thought, focus and action — but what in life worth having doesn’t?!

Success to me, isn’t just keeping the weight off. It’s keeping “me” in the center of my own life. It’s continuing to learn, grow and evolve internally. Learning to give up control. Living wholeheartedly. Not throwing in the towel when I experience people disappointments or emotional upsets. Continuing to love my imperfect self and my imperfect body, and believing I am beautiful inside and out. This is what continued growth and success is to me.

More success stories to come!

Recently, I asked three lovely women and one heroic gentleman with whom I’ve had the privilege to work to share their stories. Each has had major success in their own transformation journeys, and each is very different in how they define and celebrate that success. So I’ve asked each of them what success means to them and I’ll share their stories here in a series of blogs over the next month. I want my blog readers to see various personal transformation stories and triumphs, and invite you to share yours in the comments section, too.

To me, success is personal.

Every person and every transformation journey is different, and thus defining success in that journey is different. Not everyone’s path will look like mine, feel like mine, or result in the same outcomes. That’s a good thing.

As we go through this success series, I’d love to hear from you about what success means to you. Have you thought about it? Because if you haven’t started with the what and the why — and if you don’t know what success looks like — it will be tougher to achieve your goal, and tougher to recognize and celebrate.

It’s also worth noting that my definition of success changed and evolved along the way. And I embraced it. For example, I had no idea how important the “head” and internal piece was to my overall success until I was thick into the process. That said, I started my transformation journey with a clear goal, a definition of what success looked like, and a picture in my head. And then I learned to celebrate  both the big successes and the little ones along the way.

Stay tuned here for more success stories and feel free to share yours.

Cheers!

Lori