I do not know many people who won a jackpot the first time they played a slot machine.

I also do not know many people who became success stories without failure.

I have lost over 200 pounds. I am an active member at Anytime Fitness. I have more good days than bad ones now. I am what you might consider a “success story”.

But my success did come with years of failures.

There were promises to my wife to lose weight. So many times she would offer to walk with me around the neighborhood. She offered to cook for me as well. I always gave her a “maybe”. A “maybe” to me is a nice way of saying “leave me alone”.

There were times when I would wake up gung ho to eat right. I would have a great breakfast, a healthy lunch, and then ruin everything between 6pm to 12am. I felt horrible, like I let myself down.

There were gym memberships I purchased which were never used.

There were diet pills that never worked.

There were “Green Drinks” that tasted horrible until I went to Baskin Robbins after and had a milkshake.

There were so many diets that I would lose only to gain back all the weight…..and then some.

All of it resulted into me becoming morbidly obese.

I got to be 420 pounds. I talk about my weight loss because most people hopefully will never be over 400 pounds. I let myself go, to a place that no one should ever have to live. Where breathing was a chore. Where the simplest tasks were challenges. I failed so many times, but I failed myself.

I wanted the easy way to do things. When “8 minute abs” came out, I wanted to wait for “4 minute abs”. I wanted the diet pill that truly worked. I wanted it to be simple.

Nothing worthwhile in life is easy. Not for me at least.

I did it though. It was hard as heck at first. I hated going to the gym. I hated eating smaller portions. I hated tracking my food. After a week, it got easier, then a little easier, and then it became a part of life.

Listen, I am not a doctor or a personal trainer. In fact, you probably know more about weight loss than I do. You know more about working out than I do.

But I know success, and I know failure. I also know that if you are starting your journey right now, it is probably hard. Actually, it probably stinks!

What I can tell you is it gets easier as time goes on.

And….you are worth it.

Tony Posnanski is a renowned blogger, a chef, and an Anytime Fitness member. He writes about weight loss, fitness, motivation and more on his blog The Anti Jared.