When I talk with people about why they want to lose weight, I’m constantly told, “I want to be healthy and happy” and I am not surprised – of course we all want to be healthy and happy. What surprises them is that I don’t really believe them.

We are wired to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. This means that if weight loss was really the answer to our happiness, we would naturally do everything necessary to lose the weight and it would make no sense for us to medicate our ‘unhappiness’ with junk food and inactivity.

Take a moment to imagine what your life would look like right now if you were already the perfect looking you. What would be required of you? What would you no longer have an excuse for?

Often the possibility of our awesomeness actually scares the hell out of us. Its far easier to play it safe and hide out in the disguise of ordinariness. Our ‘imperfect appearance’ can give us something to hide behind, an excuse not to be all we know we could be, or a reason for people not to like us. And so subconsciously we hold on to the weight… it is a very clever protection strategy.

Deep down we each know we are special and have something bigger we could contribute to the world. Our fear of what success or happiness would really look like keeps us small. Our fear of what others may say or think makes us want to hide. And then we feel a sense of guilt and shame… and the weight just keeps creeping on.

Who would you be if you already looked like the perfect version of yourself? Do you really know what would make you happy?