So you are struggling to lose weight because you know once you achieve your goal you will be happy right? Well, let me be the barrier of bad news; that’s not going to happen!

Happiness is not determined by a measuring tape or a weight scale.
Photo by Jeanne Claire Maarbes[/caption]

You see happiness is “a mental or emotional state of well-being characterized by positive or pleasant emotions….............” (- Wiki) and positive emotions are created by you on a daily basis.

It is sad to see that people today think that a human-being is body first and that the soul, mind, or conscious is secondary when it’s actually the other way around. Let’s face it, it does not matter how skinny you are, if you are a negative person or someone who worries about each and every thing, you will be miserable despite all the blessings that are around you.

Of course you should work out and work out hard in order to get fit and get to your ideal weight; which brings me to my next point. Stop looking at those crazy before and after pictures on the internet. You need to find out what your ideal weight is and not go overboard by losing too much weight. That will do you more harm than good.

Be happy that you are leading a healthy life and consider the weight you lose a reward and not just a target. Be realistic in setting your goals but be happy today and don’t wait till you lose 100 lbs. Life is what is happening to you now so be happy now. Andrew Dixon of Huffpost Healthy Living wrote an interesting article on this subject called “Seduced by the Illusion: The Truth About Transformation Photos”.

What you see is not always what you get when it comes to transformation photos.
Photo by marin[/caption]

Before & After Photos

While we are on the subject of transformation photos, it is important for you to know that most of those you see on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are easily manipulated and I am not talking about Photoshop. Here is how one personal trainer faked losing 15 lbs. in 15 minutes just by applying some minor adjustments. Quote:

"Check out my transformation! It took me 15 minutes," she wrote on the Instagram video. "Wanna know my secret? Well firstly I ditched the phonewallet (fwallet) cause that s**t is lame, swapped my bather bottoms to black (cause they're a size bigger & black is slimming), Smothered on some fake tan, clipped in my hair extensions, stood up a bit taller, sucked in my guts, popped my hip - threw in a skinny arm, stood a bit wider #boxgap, pulled my shoulders back and added a bit of a cheeky/I'm so proud of my results smile."

The "transformation" didn't end there.

"Zoomed in on the before pic — zoomed out on the after & added a filter. Cause filters make everything awesome. What's my point? Don't be deceived by what you see in magazines & on Instagram.. You never see the dozens of other pics they took that wernt as flattering. Photoshop can make a pig look hotter than Beyonce."

This does not mean that all transformation photos are fake. There are a lot of people out there putting in some hard work and getting some great results, but the point is you should not feel frustrated when your transformation photos don’t look as amazing as theirs. Most importantly, remember to be happy today and don’t wait to look like a fitness model to start being happy.