Day one of a diet—everybody’s worst nightmare. No more carbs, red meat, or whatever it is that you’re cutting out of your normal diet. Day one is THE worst. It feels as if you’ve gone to food rehab and are having withdrawals. You stare at other people while they enjoy the food you told yourself you can’t have anymore. You start to hallucinate pieces of food… okay maybe I’m getting a little carried away here. However, we all know day one is the hardest.

That’s why I refuse to start over again. I’m currently week three in my new eating and workout regime and I’m starting to appreciate the phrase ‘lifestyle change’ instead of my typical go to verbiage of diet. I mean, realistically, my lifestyle has changed. I find myself wanting to go to the gym instead of wanting to lay in bed all day. I find myself craving steel-cut oatmeal in the mornings instead of donuts (and if you know me, you know I love donuts).

I say this all with a grain of salt because I’m not perfect, and neither is my new ‘lifestyle’. I’m going to slip-up every now and then, and I already have. Instead of beating myself up and giving up because I already ate something that wasn’t healthy, I told myself I would work harder the next day, and I did.

If you look at people who are successful in life, they got to where they are because they didn’t give up. I’m not giving up this time because I refuse to re-live that first day. I don’t want to go back to where I was because that’s a waste of time. I refuse to give up on a better me.

So I’m going to stop starting over, and start persevering. Giving up is the easy route. I can always say, “Oh, I’ll start again next week,” but when next week rolls around I hate myself for not sticking it out. In my head I think, “What was the point of losing that weight, to just gain it back and have to lose it again?” I’m tired of living by this narrative. I want to be able to have a healthy life and a healthy mindset. So, no more starting over. If I slip, I’m going to pick myself back up, just like we were taught as children, and to quote Finding Nemo, just keep swimming.