For the past 168 days I have used an app to track all of my calories taken in and burned off. 45 pounds later, things have changed a little. First of all, absolutely nothing fits. Not even my shoes. Bummer right?

Now you could take that as lesson #1. I needed something to keep me accountable and tracking to my goals, or I would not be shopping for new clothes right now. No matter how much I wanted it.

Plus I've started doing something I have not done in 20 years, not since high school. I started running again. Now granted, being able to do an 11.5 min mile might not be much to some, but to me- it's huge. And this is lesson #2: results (that matter to you) happen over time with consistent behaviors.

I've also found that I can get up earlier, workout, and have much more energy throughout the day. If I skip a day, I actually miss it. So I am feeling pretty good when I go out to hit the trails by my house. This wasn't part of my goal really, my goal was that I have X numbers of pounds I wanted to lose. Finding out that there were additional unforeseen benefits to reaching my goals is lesson #3: you can't plan or anticipate everything and that's not a bad thing.

In fact, it seems I am inspiring my fellow couch potato neighbors to start doing the same. Why, just this morning I went for a quick jog, and passed by 3 of my beer bellied neighbors out and about on the trails with me. And I thought to myself, isn't that nice? They are getting healthy too! Until my husband said, "They are just following you to see the pretty girl bouncing down the road." 

Then I read my friend and mentor's #FF today about seeing versus saying. (This is where the patting myself on the back ends.) It reminded me how sometimes even the best sales techniques will not help if you can't understand what is going on in someone's head. That if you can't understand the why behind their behavior (true empathy) it can lead you to the wrong conclusions about what they need and how you can help them. And that leads us to lesson #4.

Seeking to understand someone's else's mindset means you have to look deeper than face value. Or you might be missing some important facts as to what motivates them. Like the fact that you need a better fitting sports bra.