Honestly, We Lie to Ourselves

When someone asks me how I've lost weight, it's hard to answer. This is like asking an author, "What's your book about." The questioner expects a succinct, all-encompassing response. I haven't fully explained my approach in a dozen blog posts, how am I supposed to in a sentence (anything longer and the person is likely to forget the question)? So, I usually respond with the unhelpfully vague "by slowly changing my habits," but the answer they want is something like, "Weight Watchers," "Atkins," or "The Pennsylvania Coal Miners Diet." So, here goes another attempt to answer the question, "How have you lost weight?"
We are all liars. I lie. You lie. Little sister lies. Grandma lies. Yet, for most of us we don't lie to those around us, that would be wrong, we lie to ourselves. We lie about writing ability (ahem), about our driving skills, about our bodies, about so many things.
We tell ourselves half-truths (or half-lies, if you're that type of person) to feed our ego, to justify inaction, or just to get by. No matter the purpose, these lies are what prevent us from losing those pounds, or advancing our career, or just being better.
Honesty about our talents and flaws helps us lay out the path to improvement. Using our artless talents to stamp out, or at least evade, our real flaws will help us to become the people we think we are.
As I marvel at the progress I've made over the last couple months, I realize that honest self-evaluations have enabled the changes. Even though for years I have known about, and readily admitted to, my Coke addiction and for the same amount of time I knew how bad it was, it wasn't until recently that I realized my unhealthy attitude toward food. I have never really seen food as nutritional. Food's always been more comforting than nourishing (and I'm using comforting here to mean both soothing/consoling and gratifying). (As I've written before, the comfort value in food should not be ignored, however, if that takes priority over the nutritional value it's unhealthy.)
With this information, I have begun to change my reality to match my perception. Eating after 9PM, comforting or nutritive? Comforting, so that's out. Coke, comforting or nutritive? Comforting, so that needs to be cut back to almost none. And so I go.
This is not the only lie I have left to own up to. But, it's a start. 30 pounds later, I would say it's an amazing start.
Now, if someone asks "How did you lose all that weight?" I should respond, "Through an honest self-inventory of my perceptions that led to changing habits one-by-one so that I can effect a life-long change." Though I'll probably just say, "Through The Pennsylvania Coal Miners Diet."