Summary: <a href="http://www.artofthediet.com/?attachment_id=7422" rel="attachment wp-att-7422"></a>Allie Brosh. Oh, the talent, the wit, the insight. She blogs about her life, wrote a book called, “Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened.”<br> If you do nothing else this coming year, tune in to Allie. Whatever road you are on, you'll recognize a fellow traveler.<br> {THIS IS A REBROADCAST OF EXACTLY TWO YEARS AGO AND SOME THINGS REMAIN THE SAME. BUT, ONE PROBLEM IS THAT ALLIE BROSCH SEEMS TO HAVE RETREATED FROM LIMELIGHT SO YOU'LL HAVE TO CHECK OUT HER WRITINGS BUT I DON'T THINK THEY ARE CURRENT ONES. AT THIS TIME OF YEAR I THINK OF “NEW YEAR” WITH ANTICIPATION AND DREAD. SO, I'M GOING TO END 2017 AS I ENDED 2015: COMPLAINING, LAUGHING, AND TRYING TO GET ON WITH IT.<br> December 20, 2017: I will be posting a video weekly on my Facebook page (probably on Fridays) at least till the end of the year with updates on my progress with the new Freestyle program. Would love it if you would comment and tell me whether you like the videos, if you are doing the new program, how it is going…etc. My page is <a href="http://www.facebook.com/artofthediet">www.artofthediet.com/artofthediet .</a><br> ————————————————————————————————————————————————————–<br> So, today, for me, it's New Year's Resolutions. Traditionally, for me, the time of year when I am filled with dread as I know with certainty I am only adding to the ancient junkyard of years' resolutions past.<br> I don't believe I've ever followed through on any New Year's resolutions even though at any other time of year I am capable of setting a goal and working at it dutifully. Well, most of the time.<br> Just not at the beginning of each new year. But, hope springs eternal. And, Allie Brosh, whose book and calendar was sent to me as a gift, has clarified miraculously the problem I am having this week grappling with how to prepare for another year of weight maintenance. My 6th year.<br> Here are her thoughts on motivation:<br> “Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done. But not me. For me, motivation is this horrible, scary game where I try to make myself do something while I actively avoid doing it. If I win, I have to do something I don't want to do. And if I lose, I'm one step closer to ruining my entire life. And I never know whether I'm going to win or lose until the last second.”<br><br> ― <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6984726.Allie_Brosh">Allie Brosh</a>, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/24510592">Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened</a><br> Now, I think this is just genius clarity on why maintaining weight loss is so rare and obesity researchers despair that “long term” studies are basically defining “long term” as “one” year and they struggle to populate that length with successful folks.<br> I think it is why, for those of us who are successful in keeping lost weight from returning- why we encounter psychological periods where we simply make no flippin' sense to ourselves. None whatsoever. We know what to do. We've done it. We say we want to continue to do it. But, we don't.<br> I've managed to do it for almost 6 years and this past year has been the hardest. It is as Allie Brosh suggests, “trying to make myself do something that I actively avoid doing”. I have caught myself on so many occasions saying,
