Doggo vs Kitty 

I am a dog person. More specifically, I am a small dog person. I like dogs I can pick up and carry, dogs that fit under the seat in front of me on the plane. Up until Benji (my current dog), I was a toy poodle girl. Now, I’m Team Yorkie, or Yorkshire Terrier if you want to be formal.  

My friend Kathy is a cat person. She has always had cats. She loves them. They are her animal. She doesn’t mind the cat hair. She’s fine if she hasn’t seen the cat all day. Me? I want my little Benji at arm's length, just in case I need a quick pet. 

Now if someone came to me and tried to sell me on the virtues of their cat, their compliments would fall on deaf ears. Likewise, if someone wanted me to adopt a Doberman or a mastiff, it wouldn't work for me

I know what I like. I know what works for me. 

Have you ever had a negative reaction to something someone else swore by and loved to pieces? What works for others doesn’t necessarily work for you. And that is how it should be. The key is knowing what works for you. 

You Like What You Like

I loved my old neighborhood. I knew my neighbors. It was quiet. It was very driveable. If you had a car, everything you needed was close by. It was safe. It was pretty. 

Now, if you are from the city and you could care less about knowing your neighbors and were used to walking to the bodega or market, then my area would not be what you are looking for. The neighborhood was nice but the houses were kind of cookie cutter, if you like more housing variety, my neighborhood wasn't for you.

It makes sense; but you can often tie your lack of success with trying to do something that doesn’t work for you. 

The Weight Loss Battle 

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gained weight. I’ve tried just about everything to lose weight and just about everything hasn’t worked. 

Restrictive diets like Keto, Paleo, Low-Carb don’t work for me. Since I was a little girl, I don‘t appreciate being told what I cannot do. I cannot stand eggs or bacon but I would consider eating them if you told me I couldn’t. These kinds of diets don’t last a day with me. 

If you are around my age, you may remember a toy called Weebles. The tag line was Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down. It wasn’t just a tagline to young Karyn, it was a challenge. Over the course of a weekend, I broke mine open and made them fall down. Mission accomplished. 

As an adult, I really haven’t changed (is that a good thing or a bad thing?) I do not like being told what I can’t do or where I can’t go or when I am supposed to do something. I understand what I have to do but if I have a choice, I want to do it my way. 

What worked for me was Weight Watchers. It wasn’t restrictive. I could choose what I wanted to eat. I managed to lose almost 50 pounds on WW. Then life, and depression, happened and I gained all that back and then some. 

When I went back to WW, I didn’t have the same results. And, well meaning friends tried to get me to do a more restrictive diet and, of course, they didn’t work either. 

WW was a mystery to me. It was the same plan so why didn’t it work the same way? 

I had to look closer at the mystery of me. When I did, I found the answer. You see when I was losing weight, it was more than tracking points and moving more. It appealed to the social and competitive sides of me, when I did it the first time.  

When I was successful, I participated in challenges and the Facebook-like WW community. When I was doing a monthly challenges or a weekly check-in, I was more committed to my goals. I am competitive and social by nature so those things spoke to me. 

Working It Out 

My cat friend Kathy is a huge fan of yoga, especially hot yoga. The idea of hot yoga makes me want to take a nap on the floor. And, she doesn’t get my love of kickboxing but I will get up super early (like 4AM) to get dressed and drive over to a 5AM kickboxing class. 

When it comes to exercise, it is a necessity to find something that works for you. For the average person, exercising isn’t second nature. To incorporate it into your lifestyle, you have to have something that is enjoyable. 

I have been known to say, “The only thing I’m running is bath water”! I do not like, want to or ever have to run. I’m not running for the bus. I’m not running for office. Heck if Michael Meyers was doing that fast walk behind me, either I’m grabbing something to fight him off with or I’m about to meet my Maker. What I'm not doing is running away.

It doesn’t matter how beneficial running is for my health. Logically, you can try to appeal to my rational side. You can give me all the reasons in the world why running is good for me. It can make perfect sense. I’m still not going to do it. 

Carrot and the Stick 

But I lost weight during the Pandemic due to WW and dancing. I used salsa and Zumba workouts and I did those workouts daily, 7 days a week. Forty-five minutes to an hour a day. I was able to do that because I enjoyed it. It was fun. Maybe you are disciplined enough to make yourself do that daily. If you aren’t, maybe you are like me and you respond more to the carrot than the stick. 

If you respond to the stick, you respond more to discipline, restraint, and what you have to do. 

If you respond to the carrot, you respond more to enjoyment, choice, and what you want to do.  

When it came to WW, I enjoyed the flexibility of cooking my own meals and having options as far as eating out. I participated in cooking challenges and challenges as far as days exercised and weight lost. 

If I had to restrict myself and go for daily jogs, I wouldn’t have lost any weight. The stick doesn’t work for me. I know that about myself. 

Unlock the Key to Your Success 

The key is to know you and what works for you.  

• Carrot or stick? 

• Are you competitive?  

• Introvert or extrovert? 

You know what you like. You know what has worked for you and what hasn’t. If you haven’t thought about it before, think about it now. Why do you like what you like and what keeps you away from the things you don’t like? 

If someone invited you to a gathering at their house, why would you go? If not, what would keep you from going? If you did go, what did you like and what didn’t you like? How would you set up your own gathering? 

It is important to know why you like what you like and why you dislike the things you don’t like.