I recently had knee surgery and that’s where the excuses, backsliding and laziness kicked in. Before, I was motivated, watching my diet and exercising every day. All that disappeared surprisingly quickly.

Granted my activities were restricted for a while, but I was doing physical therapy. While it wasn’t very aerobic, it was strengthening. But it was what and how I was eating that can’t be dismissed. I realized how easy it is to fall back to bad habits. My excuses ranged from "you have to eat to heal and regain your health" to "I’m feeling sorry for myself." I struggled to get away from that mindset and back on track. "Eating to heal" can’t include high-calorie, comfort food; I was eating for my health before. And encouraging the "feed-me" monster is self-defeating.

I did manage to lose some weight in that next month, but it was far below what I should have done in 2 months. But I did find that I had the power to get back on track. It takes a lot of patience with yourself to say you can still do it.