Keeping my lifestyle on the down low seems necessary though there is no shame with clean eating, boot camps, and community support. All is non-threatening, harmless, and need not hide. Debilitating burns from sharing truth, vulnerability, and opinions cause trepidation and have kept me silent. Yet living a life skeptical of another’s negative reaction hurts the soul and prevents sharing. My hush-hush response has been a reflection of fear. As a walking success story, down five sizes, svelte, ripped and trim, many inquire and prompt me to disclose my food strategy and fitness regime. What risk is there to share my story?

Lifestyles are successful based upon personal experience causing me to tread lightly when exposing my approach. This lengthy, yet successful option requires readiness and is not what everyone needs. Since I searched extensively for an easy fix for decades, I conclude others seek the same. What happens if I bare my soul, steer others along the same avenue, and they hop on board without similar results or hate the process? Am I responsible for their failure? Sharing my journey may inspire others searching for a sustainable solution to weight loss, yet if not willing or ready to plunge into the hardness and healing required, it may lead to painstaking disaster, resentment, and animosity.

Ultimately, everyone is responsible for his or her own destiny. Sharing information is worth an attempt to motivate, inspire, and encourage others. Perhaps their success will commence with a conversation about mine. Reframing my story that sharing is unwelcomed, risks judgment, and can make or break other’s actions, I now choose to recognize inquiries as those seeking solace, solutions, and recognizing the possibility of my chosen path for themselves. To share or help outweighs the risks of vulnerability and judgment. Sharing on the QT is about caring and a balancing act along a beam of possibility. Disclosing my journey and trade secrets is a gift worth giving, possibly transforming lives as it has my own.