Alright. It is time to come clean.

I haven't exactly done a good job at giving up bread, and in terms of my weight loss challenge, well, I haven't been giving that my all either.

There, now that I have that off my chest, it's time to examine why I haven't been doing so well at these things I've pledged to do. Is it laziness? Is it fear (fear that I will never again get to taste the beauty that is a bagel)? Lack of motivation?

I don't think it's any of those things. I just think that my mind was in it for a day, and that's all. And I know that I am not the only buddy who pledges to "start a new day" and falls flat before the first 24 hours is up. So what I propose, for all of us buddies who keep making empty promises to ourselves is this: stop.

Let's stop pledging to not do something cold turkey, and instead, replace it with a more manageable promise to begin with.

Here is an example:
For exactly 8 days now, I have not bitten my nails. Now, this may sound silly to you, but for as long as I have had a mouth and had fingernails (which is forever) I have bitten my nails.

What does biting your nails have to do with losing weight?

Nothing. And, in fact, I am 100% convinced that I would not be able to stop biting my nails if it weren't for the shiny engagement ring my now-fiancee put on my finger last Saturday. But that is not the point.

The point is that for the past week-and-a-day I have been able to take something I have had NO control over my whole entire life, and stop doing it. So, if I can do that, then taking control of something I have only temporarily lost control over in the past seven or eight months seems like a piece of cake.

That is, if I can stop thinking about cake ;)

Make sense? So, my advice to you is give something small up first. Work on controlling a habit that has nothing to do with your weight. And once you begin to conquer that, you will see your confidence level start to climb and THEN you can start making promises you can keep!