I was out this weekend with Annie, the lady who planted the South Beach seed in my life. She’s past goal too, and it was so much fun being out with someone who eats the way I eat, and feels the way I feel. (as in - I still think I’m fat, I still look in the mirror and see a fat person…and yet I’m wearing 4s and 6s?! Weird in a fun way!!) We did some great GoodWill Hunting, and then headed over to the Mall to find tops to match the skirts we found for her.
We wandered through Bath & Body Works as there is a big sale in progress. I use shower gel, myself. And I used to exclusively use B&B’s stuff so I was thinking I might stock up again. I smelled this and that and oohed over some new products. I had a big bottle of bubble bath (which I’m out of) in my hand, looked at the line (about five people), and said “I don’t want it that bad”. I put it down and walked out. And I said to Annie as we walked, “Y’know, if you’re not willing to stand in line to buy it, you probably don’t really want it at all.”
By contrast, earlier we were at Old Navy and I found these marked down shoes. Really, really cute shoes. Kinda like Keds, only no laces. They have the grommets for laces, but the tongue is sown into elastic and you just slip them on. And get this, there are lovely filigree swirlies embroidered all over the side in silver. Happy sigh. There was a pair in olive that perfectly matched the olive bermudas I was wearing. T’was destiny! 
However, there was also a pair in black. I wear a lot of black… And my ultra-cool denim jacket my mom bought me when she was here is embroidered all over in silver and black… Oh I wanted those black shoes too. But I was trying to be good, so I only took the olive ones to the checkout. I stood in line, I got to the counter…and I peeled out, got the black shoes, and got back in line to wait my turn again. I guess I really wanted those shoes. (besides, they were on clearance which absolves all! ha!)
These two events reminded me strongly of my favorite weight loss quote that I’ve put up on this site.
It’s not how good you are, it’s how bad you want it.
How bad do you want the weight off? Bad enough to wait? Bad enough to be inconvenienced? Bad enough to pay for it? Or do you want it like I wanted the bubble bath? It’s fun to look at…fun to think about…but you’re not motivated to do more than pick up the thought and then put it back down.
(hat tip to the Diet Blog who got me thinking about this last week.)
Wow, this is good! A nice kick in the bum.
We are this way about so many “ideas”, aren’t we? Reading our bibles, joining a small group, buying a gym membership, or even buying cooking gadgets. We love the idea of the thing, but the actual doing? Maybe not so much.
Comment by lady laura — June 13, 2007 @ 5:58 am
Have you heard this one - “When the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.” I love that one.
Comment by Jana — June 13, 2007 @ 6:28 am
Good point!
Comment by Anita — June 13, 2007 @ 6:42 am
I totally agree with the quote. Whenever they ask us to tell our “secrets” to sucess at my Weight Watcher’s meeting, I always say that there is no secret. You just have to want it bad enough to do whatever it takes to make it happen. When the opportunity comes to cheat, you have to want it to overcome the temptation. In the past I have failed at weight loss because in all honesty, I didn’t want it bad enough. Like you said, it was fun to think about, etc. but I didn’t WANT IT!
Comment by Gina — June 17, 2007 @ 12:22 pm