It seems simple enough, but this fact seems to elude so many people.You can’t succeed at weight loss until you really are willing to commit to it in a serious way. Like anything worth attaining in life, it takes dedication, sacrifice, and work.

I once read an article about motivation and there was a passage that resounded with me: you have to want success as much as you want air when you’re under water for more than 30 seconds. You have to make it not only your top priority, but it has to become your top 5 or more priorities.

Think about successful business people, athletes, or performers. Each of them have sacrificed and worked hard to get where they are. They didn’t just focus on one aspect of their career; they had to cover many aspects spanning different skills and areas. Weight loss is the same. You can’t just focus on one thing: you must focus on an area of things.

You need to learn about self-control, changing your relationship with food, the types of foods you can and can’t eat, how to buy them, how to cook them, how prepare meal plans, how to have a successful prep day, how much to eat, how often to eat, and how to avoid snacking and emotional eating. And then still, there’s even more to learn and dedicate yourself to. Then, within each of these areas are even more sub-skills and things to learn that you can see how it becomes all-encompassing.

The good news is that once you’ve learned a lot of the aforementioned areas, you can scale back your time spent learning those things and let your life get back to normal, but unless you are willing to take the time and do the work, you will not be as successful as you possibly can.

I’ve walked this walk. I know it’s not easy, but I can also say it’s not hard. It just takes a serious commitment. I wanted my weight loss journey to be successful. I accepted no failure, and I did not accept sabotage. I stuck to the plan completely, and the results I got were great. I can’t guarantee anyone results, but I can guarantee that if you commit fully, you will give yourself the best chance for success. Anything less is hampering your ability to fully succeed.