Sometimes what you don’t say says more than you realize.

The diet hideout.

See if this sounds familiar. You courageously declare that you’ve had enough, and you’re going to lose those haunting, pain-in-the-a** pounds that have been teasing and calling you names for so long. Enough – you’ve had enough with the overanalyzing and excuses. You publicly and courageously declare to friends and family that you’re going to get the gook off your body once and for all, and you make it a point to tell a lot of people so they know you’re in this for real.

For a month or two the pounds melt off. People are noticing. You’re even starting to get comments: “Did you lose weight?”, “You look different”, “You look younger.” — a symphony to your ears.

Then the crappy stuff in life starts to get in the way. Stress, your kids, your marriage, your dumb boss, money woes – take your pick.

All of a sudden you aren’t talking about your weight loss anymore, never mind your success. No more talk about how you’ve been jogging longer, going to spin class more often, your clothes getting looser, and not a peep about how much stronger you’ve gotten with your strength training program. Now you’re in diet hideout land. You’re thinking, “Shhhhhh…if I don’t talk about it maybe it will just go away.”

It’s not going away. Forget that notion – toss it out. When you go into escape mode you aren’t kidding anyone. You’re not fooling others, and more important, you’re not fooling you. You just go deeper into this shame-based territory that offers you nothing but pain and re-gained weight.

I’ll keep this simple. Next time you want to go into diet hideout land, start telling everyone that you’re going to do this. Tell your friends and family that everything is getting to you and you aren’t going to continue with the goal that was so close to your heart a month or two ago.

Then listen for the support that you receive. Watch how many people encourage you to continue and offer their support in your quest. Then watch how in a day that support gives you the strength and perseverance to continue to your goal.