Nothing Tastes Sweeter Than Success After Sacrifice

Okay so what do I mean by that ?
A while ago I was preparing for a competition, and really putting myself through the ringer, i didn't look good enough, this was too hard, there is more important things in life ..... well basically it was excuse after excuse. I thought to myself - jeez wouldn't it be nice to be less driven... i could relax for once ! So after my october comp, i did exactly that.
I've always said to people if I could get away with it I'd eat a packet of tim tams a day ! My lil sis Sash and I said you're only truly an Aiono if you can eat lollies and chocolate before 6am. And that's exactly what i had for breakfast Christmas day he he .
But after a while, as my body reflected my eating habits, everything got softer, and bigger, my energy levels were destroyed in the afternoon.... by the by - I can NOT BELIEVE that people put themselves through that kind of blood sugar high and low every day. No wonder everyone gets addicted to caffeine and chocolate. I was back to the old days when I worked as a personal trainer in bris and i needed a nanna nap every afternoon ( i went hours without eating and when I did it was something like a high GI brumby's pizza roll )

And as I ate everything under the sun that I thought that i wanted, "ooh i haven't had a beefy's chunky steak pie in about 3 years! - let's have a go at that " and "oooh I haven't had cold rock in ages let's have that too and a caramel chocolate slice" (uuughh i feel sick ! )
Then it turned around i had no idea how to eat NORMALLY. It was that typical "i'm on a strict diet" & then "wooo hooo! i'm not on a diet-free-for-all"

So after a while i just realised I'd had enough. I'd had enough of feeling like crap, looking like crap, none of my clothes fitted, i was tired all the time, I hardly trained and i realised THIS JUST ISN'T LIVING!

It was good having that time off because it gave me a little slice of "the grass that was apparently greener on the other side" and it made me realise that "life without drive" was definitely not all that it was cracked up to be.
So now I follow my eating plan 100 % of the time ( it also includes a free meal splurge every weekend mmmmm gourmet pizza and cheesecake n chocolate cold rock icecream nd 1 500 calorie treat during the week)
I wake up before my alarm with plenty of energy every morning which means I have plenty of time to fit everything in.
I train 2 - 3 times a day which means I am looking the leanest I have ever been !
I can work from 4am and go right through to 10:30 am without stopping which means I can do so much more in a day, I am so productive - which is money in my pocket.

I really don't look at people eating their yummy food and wish that I could eat it too, because i know what they're missing out on . I know that there's always a chocolate chip peppermint drumstick still waiting for me at the end of the week - it ain't going anywhere ! But you can never remember how nice that food tasted last month when all you can feel is the dissapointment when you're looking in the mirror.

So yes, my conclusion is that nothing tastes sweeter than achieving a goal after you've done the hard work and missed out on the things " average" people indulge in. It's the drive to do things
that makes your quality of life sweet - not the junk food.