I’m still on the roll downhill after holiday weight gain; this morning, I’m a little over 6 pounds away from my low, so I’m slowly getting there. My body always gains faster than it loses. My plan is to be in losing territory, again, within the next few weeks.

If I plan to be successful at that, I need to embrace doing what’s necessary to make it happen. In light of that, I’m undertaking a project that I’ve done, before, but this will be new with weight loss: I’m going to apply The Success Principles to weight loss. If you’re not familiar with the book, it’s “The Success Principles – How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be” by Jack Canfield, the author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. While I’ve never read the Chicken Soup books, The Success Principles resonates with me, and I find that when I spend time thinking about them and applying them, I generally am in more command of my life.

I can’t promise I’ll make it through the whole book… but here we go!

Principle 1: Take 100% responsibility for your life.

This is a huge undertaking, right out of the gate. Taking 100% responsibility doesn’t mean blaming myself; it means that I have to push any excuses out of my head, and truly understand that I am the one responsible for where I am right now. This also means taking responsibility for my weight and state of health.

Yes, there are circumstances that complicate my efforts, but I can’t change those circumstances; I have to accept them as limiting factors, live with them, and understand them in order to get past them and work on the fundamental changes necessary to be successful in weight loss.

Getting rid of excuses is tantamount. Yes, there’s a history of obesity in my family. Yes, I have complicating medical issues, including hypothyroid and insulin resistance. Yes, I have crappy knees that prevent me from doing many forms of exercise.

But these are circumstances; there’s not much I can do to change them, which means I have to accept that they are part of the structure I must deal with, and manipulate, in order to succeed. None of these things mean I can’t lose weight; it just means I need to consider them when developing a plan. In other words, it’s not feasible for someone in my circumstances to go out and run a marathon; while it’s not impossible, it’s unlikely, and I’d be setting myself up for failure. I need to do things that are achievable and move me forward, despite circumstances.

I know of people who have done exactly that; they’ve purposely attempted something unreasonable, likely knowing and expecting to fail at it, so they can say “see? I tried!” I’ve done that in the past. These days, I work a lot on understanding exactly who I am and where I’m at in my abilities, so I can always be moving forward.

There’s only one person responsible for the quality of my life, and therefore, my ability to take command of my health and weight: me. Placing blame for my circumstances on my circumstances ignores what I’ve done to complicate my own path, and there’s been a lot. I’ve always had the power to change this; I’ve made decisions that have led to my weight fluctuations over time, and I have to acknowledge what I’ve done that created this, so I don’t recreate this again.

Canfield talks of the equation “E + R = O”, or “Event + Response = Outcome”.

Gaining weight is a series of events; whether it’s a situation that causes an emotional trigger or a health concern, the response to the event has to be a conscious commitment to make the right choice in response to the event. Bad day? Respond by finding a healthy outlet, rather than scarfing down a bag of Cheetos, for instance. Choosing the right response to an event produces an outcome that moves you closer to your goals, rather than further away. Being successful at weight loss — at anything, really — is a chain reaction of making the right choices.

This is something I struggle with. While I am not an emotional eater in the purest form, I do allow myself more latitude than I should, at times, and this is likely the reason why my weight loss is currently in this recovery stage. I get unreasonably disappointed with my efforts, and then I let myself slip. My own disappointment is the event; letting myself slip is the response; and the outcome is lack of weight loss.

I can’t change that I’m not a 20 year old man that can lose weight by cutting out one soft drink a day. (Ha!) No, the required effort is much greater, and I have to accept that. Every event I’ve experienced is a result of choices I’ve made in the past; the reason weight loss is so difficult for me, now, is because of bad choices I’ve made in the past, and that I can change that by responding differently.

For this next week, my challenge is to be more conscious of my choices instead of just falling into habit. I will be intentional about those choices, instead of just going with the flow. I tend to be lax in my efforts on weekends; it’s time to be careful about what decisions I make that could be hurting my efforts.