CAN'T is a Four-Letter Word

Can't.
Quit.
Stop.
Halt.
FAIL.

The most common questions that I receive about my journey start with the word: how.

• How did you lose so much this far?
• How do I get started?
• How can I work up to running?
• How do I know what food plan is best?

My best answer to almost every single question is an answer that everyone has heard, and because it isn't new or exciting, it can be hard to believe: CONSISTENCY. There are more schools of thought about health out there than any one person could ever process, and most of them contradict one another. I could follow a different "clinically followed" diet each week, and years from now, still not be to the end of the list. It's so easy to become bogged down in the details of things and forget to go back to the basics, and listen to your body.

There are four basics to achieving weight loss: healthy eating, exercise, water, proper sleep. Everything else is fluff. As long as you adhere to those four basics, you should see results. The rest of what is out there? My theory is listen to your body. Each person is a unique individual. My body is unlike any other body out there. What works for me may not work for another person anywhere in the world. If you find that every time you eat a particular food, you retain fluid, then avoid that food or increase your water intake if you must have it. If hate running, try zumba or cycling, etc. Listen to your body, and do what works best for you. As long as you are doing that within the four basics, that will lead to success every time.

By the same token, the quickest way to get a ticket to Failtown is by listening to that little voice inside your head that says: YOU CAN'T DO THIS. The moment that you start to believe that you cannot complete something is the moment that you accept defeat. You hear it daily. I know you do. TONS of people say it. You can do anything you put your mind to. It's such a seemingly overused cliche, but honestly, it's because those of us who have tested that theory found something out: IT'S TRUE. Crazy, right? Case in point:

This Spring, I thought very seriously about completing an annual 10K in Charleston. I thought about it, and the more I thought about it, the more I began to doubt that I could accomplish it. I only had about a month and a half to prepare for it, and it just felt like it was too big of a bite to take with such little time to train. Fast forward to this fall. I started running (well, it was honestly more walking  than anything at first) on August 5. I completed 2 miles. It took me just over 40 minutes to complete, averaging a 22 minute mile. On September 23, just over a month and a half later, I completed my longest run at the time of 8.02 miles in just over 2 hours, averaging a 16 minute mile. In just over 6 weeks, I not only worked up to completing a 10K, but I exceeded it, and improved my average mile time exponentially. The difference? I never thought for one second that I couldn't. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be able to be able to accomplish that much, so I just did it.

Throughout the past few months, the greatest lesson I have learned in this journey is that, actually, I can. It doesn't matter what it is. I can do it. Complete a 10 mile interval run? Okay. Almost completely cut white flour and white sugar out of my diet (because that works for ME)? No problem. Track my calories everyday for almost 90 days in a row, without missing a single day? You've got it. Complete a timed half marathon in April? BRING IT.

There are so many four-letter words that offend people, but when words like the ones listed above are used, it isn't given a second thought. They're common. But honestly, those words will do more damage to you than any other words. Seriously, take those words out of your vocabulary. Stop underestimating yourself. You never know exactly what you're missing out on accomplishing until you just go and accomplish it. Don't let the fear of failure hold you back.

Can't is a four letter word. I assure you, you can.