Guest Post: Cammy from Tippy Toe Diet

Cammy of Tippy Toe Diet is a sweet Memphis lady who has lost 100 lbs.  She has maintained that loss for a few years and continues to strive for healthy maintenance while taking her readers along for the ride.  I love that she shares the challenges and triumphs of everyday life because I think reading maintenance blogs is one of the best ways to prepare for that phase of the weight loss adventure.  She also has another blog called Serentipity where she shares useful tips that she finds and thinks her readers could benefit from.  I know I've used several of the ones she passed along!  She has been very supportive since we found each other in blog world and I think you guys will love her style!
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First things first, I'd like to thank my gracious hostess for kindly inviting me over for a visit. I'm feeling quite honored and am trying really hard not to read anything into the fact that she and the Mr. left town before I got here!

As you might imagine, I'm frequently asked how I've been able to maintain my "fitness focus" these past five years of healthier living. How did/do I avoid veering too wildly off-plan? How did/do I find the time to exercise so much? Why was/am I so darned happy and energetic all the time? I'll admit, for the first 4-5 months, I didn't really understand it myself. For some inexplicable reason, this time seemed to just..."work." One day, as I was struggling to explain that to a friend, a single, somewhat silly, phrase popped into mind: Mo-Mo, short for Motivation and Momentum. Okay, so now I had a phrase. I still got the thousand-yard stare when I used it. What did Mo-Mo mean? Motivation is easy to explain. Why do we want to lose weight?

The answers are different for each of us, but writing them down, fully understanding them, and then reviewing them frequently (multiple times a day, if necessary) keeps us focused on our "Reasons Why". The power of momentum proved more difficult to explain until I came across this quote:

“The moment you fall in love with the sound of progress is the moment you stop hearing everything else.” Richard Murphy Confessions of a Contractor

Bingo! The amazing feeling of accomplishment--sticking to the eating plan, exercising when you'd rather not, getting right back to the game after a detour--creates an energy that drowns out the negative internal chatter and creates the necessary strength to keep the focus on moving forward. As Sarah Bernheardt once said, "Energy creates energy." Once you get started, there is no stopping. (Disclaimer: There may occasionally be brief pauses. These are okay.)

And that's Mo-Mo in a nutshell: Know and embrace your reasons why, and then listen for the sounds of your progress. Everything else will fade to the background.

What sounds of progress have you heard lately?

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