I suppose this sentence spins in many ways. 

How much are you willing to give up to get what you want?
How much do you want something is proportional to what you are willing to give up to get it. 
How much you are willing to sacrifice determines how much you want something.

So today, I'm on day 6 out of my approximately 90 day weight loss plan. 
The story started 7 days ago. I had lunch with a friend and my wife. I ate my share and some of my wife's leftovers, and some of my friend's leftovers. 
Then I shared a bubble tea with my wife.
Then for dinner I went to a friend's house for steamboat, and ate a lot.
Then I shared another bubble tea with my wife.
Then we went with my friend to go eat waffles and ice cream and I shared it with my wife. 

Now, of course my wife eats less than me. That's why I tend to finish her share. So she somewhat manages to maintain her weight quite well. 
As for me, I've been on a slow upward trajectory throughout the years. 
It's normal for me. I go through similar boom bust cycles as the markets. 
I haven't been putting on much weight recently. I tend to have a certain weight range and I hoover +/-2 kg around that for the past number of years, even throughout my days overseas. 
But of course, I've been slimmer. 

So as I lay in bed that night after the day of feasting, unable to sleep cos of all the dong ding oolong I've consumed for the day, I suddenly felt this tinge of loser-ness. I felt terrible for eating so much and being at my current weight. So I decided that I would start my diet plan the next day. 
And I would do what I normally do. Cut calories and do some reasonable exercise. 
I won't go into details cos... I've posted about it before and it's quite extreme so it's not recommended. 

I go through this weight loss plan every 10 years or so, I lose maybe 8-12 kg, within 3 months, then after that I get back to my normal eating life, I slowly gain weight back for the next 5 years or so, then I maintain at my current weight for the next couple of years, then I feel bad about it, then I go on another weight loss regime. 

Due to the calorie cut, I'm always hungry. Before the diet plan, I eat pretty regularly, snacks, supper, etc. 
So now I don't allow myself the excess, and my meals are significantly smaller, so I'm hungry maybe an hour after my meals. 
So I did some research about low calorie snacks, in the hopes of being able to snack in between the day so that I wouldn't have to suffer so much until my next meal.
Essentially, the best snacks came down to vegetables with a lot of water content, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, celery.
I would have gone for tomatoes cos I like them more, but it's inefficient. They don't keep for very long and so I can't buy them in bulk, and I can't really preserve them in any easy way. 
I absolutely hate celery so... not going down that route. 
I came down to cucumbers. I don't love cucumbers, I eat them with my chicken rice, but I don't proactively buy them to eat them... well, too bad for me, sacrifices have to be made. 
Anyway, basically, I bought a bunch of cucumbers and pickled them. So in a couple of hours or days, I will have a low calorie snack to munch on. 

The thing is, if I analyze my whole weight journey throughout the years, this is the route I'm willing to accept. 
There's folks who love to exercise. I don't. 
There's folks who don't really like to eat. I love my food and want to eat as and when I want. 
So there's folks who tell me why don't I moderate my daily consumption and exercise then I can maintain my weight over many years. 
The thing is, this is what I'm willing to do with regards to my weight. 
I don't want to restrict myself on a regular basis. I like to gorge some days, drink bubble tea or ice cream as and when I feel like it. 
And then every decade or so, I go down this 3 month weight loss regime to reset. 

And this goes for many things in life. 
Financial wealth is similar. 
It's easier for me, cos I don't have an inclination to spend. I don't like spending. 
But I've come to realize that that's not the case for most people. People like to spend. They want things. They want to buy stuff, go out, eat, have experiences, upgrade their stuff, look for the next fun thing to do. 
And... just cos I don't like doing such things, (or maybe I do, except that I don't like spending more than I like doing these stuffs), I think... I can now better understand these folks. 
Cos as much as I would rather eat and gain weight for 10 years, then go on a crash weight loss plan, some people would just rather spend now and plan for their lives later. 
It's just the system that they are willing to accept. 

And if they really want to turn their financial well being around, then they have to work out something that's against what they are inclined to do. 
And similarly, since I want to lose some weight, I also need to work out something that's against what I'm inclined to do. 

Same goes for learning a new skill, language, etc. 
Are you willing to put in the hours and sacrifice to get what you want? If something doesn't work, try something else, adapt, learn from others, research, etc?
If not then probably, you just don't want it enough. 

Some people are born smarter, richer, fitter. But that doesn't mean we can't get to a high level of competency in what we want to do.
For most of us, life is about the choices we make, the sacrifices, hard work and drive we have to get what we want, health, wealth, happiness, etc.
And I suppose, if we want it bad enough, we will try all sorts of ways to get it. 



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