Losing weight isn’t just about losing weight. The mental and emotional aspects are just as, if not more, important than the physical nature of weight loss. At every turn in my journey, I have learned something about health and nutrition, but I also learn new things about myself.

Understanding how I function, and applying it to life has proven to be very valuable. Each day, I learn how my body reacts to different foods. This is a very important observation. If you can pay close enough attention to cause and effect, you will be equipped to make better food choices.

I’m starting to get a pretty good grasp on nutritional value in foods. To me, having a firm understanding of this is like getting a weight loss diploma. With nutritional knowledge, all weight loss goals can be accomplished. I learn something new everyday about calorie density, sodium intake, grams of fat and so on.

This knowledge has lead to great food buying choices at the grocery store. Now that we make good decisions at the store, we no longer have crap food in our home. This is another point of education for me. I’ve learned that having good foods at home, its much easier to healthy. Its very easy to grab crap food if crap food is close by and is easy to eat.

One of the greatest things I have learned about myself is that of fighting temptation. I am tempted day in and day out. The thought of going to the gas station and getting a Snickers is always present. I’ve learned that if I fight that temptation until its gone, I can then tell myself “see, you are ok without it” and my day goes on. After a few of those episodes, the temptation for that particular item diminishes over time.

The more I learn about myself, the greater my chances for weight loss success. As I write this, I am down 14 pounds in 1 month 6 days.