Are You a Failure at Weight Loss?

“There’s no such thing as failure; there are only results.”

This gem is attributed to Tony Robbins, one of the world’s most famous motivational speakers, and is used ad nauseum by business coaches, commencement speakers, and so many others.

So, in other words, whenever we attempt to do something and don’t succeed at that particular something, we’re supposed to pretend that we didn’t fail at it?

Yeah, OK.

Yes, the “results” might be that we learn from the experience.

Yes, the “results” might be that we go on to do something else.

But, in fact, we HAVE failed.

Yes, if we keep plugging away at something, if we modify the process perhaps, then we don’t fail until or unless we give up in the attempt. But, once we don’t get the results of exactly and specifically what we set out to do, sorry folks . . . but, that’s failure.

We can’t win all the time. We can’t get the prize all the time.

Some of us will achieve some things and fail at others.

And, you know what? It’s fine. It’s OK. It’s part of life.

Not all failures are created equal. Some are preventable. Some are unavoidable. And some are “intelligent”— for example, when experimentation is necessary because there are no known answers because a situation hasn’t been encountered or attempted before (common in the fields of science and medicine).

However, there IS failure. It CAN be (and often is) emotionally unpleasant and can chip away at our self-esteem. And it can REALLY suck.

But let’s stop with the feel-good, PC, snowflake crap that there is no such thing as failure. There is. We need to not only recognize the inevitability of failure, but our children need to be allowed to experience it in order to build healthy self-confidence and resilience. They will NOT — CAN NOT — be successful in their personal or business lives without it. And the sooner they start hearing THAT message at commencement speeches, the better!

So, what does all of this have to do with weight loss?

Well, weight loss, and the maintenance of one’s health and fitness, is absolutely, positively, 100% one of the PREVENTABLE failures in life. You CAN control EVERYTHING that goes into your body. You CAN control whether you partake in exercise. You CAN control whether you seek emotional/psychological help, if necessary, to complement your weight loss attempt. You CAN control the destiny of your long-term physical health. 

Being fat and perpetually quick-fix dieting for your entire life IS avoidable.

Being sick with a long list of obesity-related medical issues IS avoidable.

Being a fat parent who creates fat children IS avoidable.

If you’re overweight and unhappy, don’t kid yourself by saying you’re a failure at losing weight. You’re not. You’ve failed to begin the work necessary to lose weight in a healthy, consistent, sustainable way; or you’ve failed because you gave up.