For years, I’ve had a little saying about weight gain that has helped me feel better about wherever I was on the scale at any given point in time. “It’s weight. It comes on. It comes off.” That is true, but at some point I started living by that mantra. And then, instead of being a comfort to me, it quickly became an excuse.

So what if I went on a trip and gained five pounds? I had fun! I’ll go home and I’ll lose it. Except for when I went home and didn’t lose it. I got busy and comfortable carrying around those extra five pounds, and let that became my new norm. Before I knew it, Christmas came around and I added another five pounds drowning myself in Egg Nog, but still told myself that the New Year is coming. I’ll just lose it then. Because, hey, “It’s weight! It comes on. It comes off.”

It wasn’t until last year that I realized this mantra was starting to cause me more harm than good. “It comes on, it comes off” is not a mantra. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s actually nothing more than an excuse. It’s basically a hall pass to let my health decline. Why do I want to put myself in the position where I have to take extra weight off? Why not learn how to enjoy myself in moderation, while also making good choices that don’t lead to weight gain? The problem with letting weight “come on” is that soon you throw the “come off” part out the window and it spirals out of control.