I recently walked past a guy who’s t-shirt read:

“it’s only stealing if someone sees you!”

What a ludicrous statement! I thought, do some people really believe this? And I came to the conclusion that yes they did!

It got me thinking. How many of us actually do the very same thing in our weight loss endeavours. For us it probably goes something like:

“It only has calories if someone sees me eating it.”

We seem to be able to keep it all together while we are in front of others. “No, I won’t have that as this other choice has less fat in it.” We enjoy the “congrats” from others for our strong will.

Then when we are home alone we think, “one chocolate biscuit will be fine , no one will know.”

Then when we weigh ourselves we wonder how we didn’t lose weight this week?!

Remember, that whatever we do, wherever we did it, it has an effect. The only person you cheat by doing this is yourself!

Isn’t it time you did everything with your eyes wide open?

What’s on Your List?

I recently watched a movie call “bucket list”. Which is about 2 older men that have been told they don’t have long to live. So they put together a list of things that they want to do before they “kick the bucket” (hence Bucket List). The movie tracks their progress through their list and their ultimate realisation of the “meaning of life”.

I thought what a shame that they left it so late in life. Why not think about it now, when we still have so much life in us. That is something to think about.

But what I really want you to think about is another list, not that dissimilar. I want you to write a list of all the things you can’t do because you are overweight or unfit.

What are you missing out on?

What are your loved ones missing out on?

What is your current condition stopping you from achieving?

Now take a look at the list. What can you change right now to enable you to live the life you want!

Visit www.journeytojoy.com.au to participate in polls about weight loss.

Who are you?

A very interesting question. One I had pondered for years.

I am a daughter, a sister, an aunty, a work colleague, a friend… and more recently a wife.

I’m a student, an IT Consultant, a business owner.

We always tend to look at this question and apply labels to ourselves. But. We are not these things, indeed we have different roles but in our essence we are nothing but who we are – a unique individual who has been created for a purpose.

We have been deceived and have totally screwed up our lives by believing what others people or events have said about us – we are more likely to believe them then what is actually in our own hearts.

As a child I always had in my mind that I wanted to be someone. Now, looking back, I see this was a strange idea for a child. Most wanted to be a teacher, a fireman, or a doctor. But I already had the notion that I was a “nobody”.

The abuse I suffered as a child really took away my self-esteem, any sense of value and purpose. I was stripped of everything a child needs to grow into a self-contained adult.

I now see that I had already developed a good level of self-awareness, at least I recognised that I felt like I was a nobody. It gave me a starting point, an honest, but not necessarily true, assessment of who I was.

If you are going to have a great life, you need to know and like yourself. The beginning of this is to take a look and honestly know your current state. Knowing this sets you up for an amazing journey to rediscover yourself.

Mine was an eventful journey, not that dissimilar to a wild roller coaster, but like that roller coaster there are ups and downs but when you get there you can really say that you enjoyed the ride. The only way you won’t enjoy it is to bail out in the middle. Take it from me, the arrival is far greater than what you could ever think, hope or imagine.

So start that journey today, take a look inside and honestly say where you are right now.

I have wanted to write for some time. But have never known where to start. Or what to write about. Thoughts and ideas streamed in my head. I couldn’t keep up with them, I moved from one to another in the flick of a switch, soon forgetting the impact the idea had had in my life.
In my mind I have achieved a lot in life. I don’t have a fortune to show for it, I don’t have any kind of “empire” to show. What I do have though would be the envy of many!

I know who I am, and I like myself!

This self knowing and awareness has been born out of many years of living in an emotional wilderness. Years of dealing with the scars from being sexually abused from a young age. Losing my mum as a teenager and learning to move to living in an external world when my whole life had been built upon an internal existence.

What I have now I wouldn’t trade for anything. Knowing who I am is my greatest possession and I continue to grow this everyday. I know that so many amazing things in my life have caused and contributed to who I am. I would not change any of them.

Why write? I am writing to understand. I am writing to make everything I know and have experienced understood by me. Why? My greatest desire is to see other people truly know and love themselves. I want to help them. So writing is my way of understanding what I know so I can teach other to understand who they are.

My blog is about this. It will look at a new idea and expand it to make it understood and allow it to be easily applied by people in their life.

I want your feedback so please let me know how useful my writings have been in your world.

Joy's Transformation

Hi, my name is Joy Swan. I live in Canberra, Australia. I have created this blog to share tips to help you lose weight.

Why do I feel qualified to do this? Well I lost 70kg in 12 months in 2007. Therefore I feel like i have learned a thing or two that can help you find success.

What you won’t find on this blog!

I am not trying to promote any particular weight loss program, especially those “miraculous” ones. You see I did lose my weight following a particular program, however I don’t contribute it my whole success. (I as well as many other people have lost weight on multitudes of programs.) I am more than happy to share how I did it, though it won’t be particularly revelatory - I ate better and exercised more!! But there was more behind it and that is exactly what this blog is about.

The key to my weight loss was in getting the right mindset for weight loss and access to support in my journey.

What you will find on the blog!

Everything that is going to help you develop the mindset you require for successful weight loss.

I am absolutely passionate, determined and resolute that I can help you!

I achieved it and I am no more special then you are. I hope you enjoy reading my words of insight and wisdom and keep coming back for more.

One note: once you have lost the weight it doesn’t mean you don’t need to continue the journey, infact it is absolutely vital, as I have also found in my journey. This blog is for those that want to lose weight, have lost weight and want to keep it off or those that want to support someone else in their weight loss journey.

Love to hear from you and also share in your journey so please write comments.

I hope you enjoy journeying with Joy. (check out www.journeytojoy.com.au)