When I teach my weight loss classes one of the exercises we work through is developing our own personal mantras. After I lost all my weight I realized that I had my own mantra: Never Go Back. Even after all these years, that mantra is always somewhere in my mind. Choices I make each day are often filtered through that saying of Never Go Back. Do I want that cookie? Maybe. But will it keep me on course and help me to never return to the obese life. Do I really want to sleep in or do I want to get up and exercise? Well, I may want to sleep in, but I want to “never go back” more, so nine times out of ten I get up and exercise. I’m never sorry when I do.
The other day when I was killing time waiting for my fourth child to finish his violin lesson I was on Twitter. If you aren’t on Twitter it is a lot of fun. I don’t do it much, but there are times when I get on there and watch/participate in the conversation. On this day I tweeted, “Do you have a personal mantra? Mine is “Never Go Back.”
I got a lot of really good responses! Here are some of them: (By the way, to follow these people on Twitter just type in www.twitter.com/**** , replacing the *** with their user name.) If you’d like to follow me it’s www.twitter.com/fittothefinish . (I would have linked them all myself, but it truly would have taken forever, so please forgive!)
healthyeveryday Make the Effort!
Pubsgal “Mongo only pawn in game of life.”
tinyglow My current mantra is pretty basic: “Don’t give up.”
JackSht Always finish what you…
realfitmama Will doing this make my daughter’s proud?
sammiekennedy I can make anything I dream a reality! (and it works)
stepfanie “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.”
BootyCampFit You don’t give up at the end, you go harder
ThenHeatherSaid I am the master of every situation!!
Trim_The_Fat I’ve been living by Progress Not Perfection! My latest, though, is Every Good Choice Counts 
trulyjess Don’t EVER give up!
MizFitOnline I am my own superhero
ThinnerLobster “A successful beginning will have no ending”
christieo Love that! Mine’s Strength,Focus,Discipline
CarrotsNCake Good things happen to people who work hard.
choosingraw The unexamined life is not worth living.
fANNEtasticfood Go hard or walk home!!!
BalanceSusan “To the stars on the wings of a pig” (ie anything is possible)
CaitlinHTP Pain is temporary, quitting is forever.
balanceblog Mine is Keep it Real.
As I’ve told you, mine is NEVER GO BACK! I never want to go back to living in fear of breaking chairs, feeling isolated from the world, and watching my health deteriorate at a rapid pace. I never want to live like that again.
So, here’s the question of the day! What’s your personal mantra? Please share. Diane
love this.
.-= Miz´s last blog ..Home is where the health is (video post). =-.
My training mantra is “Go Big or go Home” but right now my mantra is “Strength and Grace” as I deal with some other Life issues.
Mia
Excellent post! My general life mantra is “Everything happens for a reason.” As far as my weight loss journey goes though, I would have to go with “I am stronger than this challenge!”
.-= 266´s last blog ..Room To Spare =-.
I’m guessing ‘why me’ isn’t appropriate??? *g*
.-= Debby´s last blog ..Are you a ripper? =-.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again !
.-= Diane´s last blog ..Close encounter of the Santa Kind =-.
I love this post!
My mantra is: Whatever you do, do it well.
I love this so much Diane! My mantra is: With God all things are possible.
I LOVE that you did this, I want to print all of these out!! I hope you don’t mind, I do a Mantra Monday every Monday and I HAVE TO link to this today!!! Great post!!!
Never, never, never give up.
.-= Amy H.´s last blog ..Christmas Letter =-.
No regrets.
.-= Joanna Sutter´s last blog ..Christmas Thyme =-.
Fear is the mind killer!! Tested and proven when I hit severe bad weather while flying from Florida to North Carolina!
I love that you made this a post! So inspiring…thank you for sharing them all : ))
.-= Pam´s last blog ..A Weekend To Remember =-.
“At least it’s better than before.”
(I’ve been a perfectionist and wouldn’t start things if I didn’t think I could be perfect at it. I’ve been really trying to work through that, realizing it doesn’t have to be perfect…just better than before).
Lately, I’ve been saying to myself, “It’s okay to be hungry.” Of course, I don’t mean starvation. I just mean I can stop eating after 7 pm and be a little hungry when I go to bed.
.-= Gina Fit by 41, Maybe 42´s last blog ..Focus Pocus =-.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the responses you got & the post! I went by NEVER GO BACK for along time & still do but …. now it is Challenging myself is a good thing .. plus my towel saying from GGS, To lift is to be. To be is to lift!
Thx again Diane for Twittering that since I don’t Twitter yet. Oh, just wanted to mention that you mixed up the letters of the word “to” on your twitter name in this post… although I am sure we all figured that out anyway! 
.-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..Beat The Need for New Year’s Resolutions =-.
“If you really want it, you can have it later”. Often, I just forget it and later never comes, i.e. I don’t eat it.
Great post! So glad you gathered them all. I wrote more about my mantra on my blog: http://healthybyday.blogspot.com/2009/12/mantra-make-effort.html
.-= ernise´s last blog ..Week 1 workout =-.
I AM TRANSFORMED!
.-= Michelle@Eatingjourney´s last blog ..Transform Me =-.
Great entry – not sure how I missed that on Twitter.
Mine is
I can do all things I set my mind to.
If the desire is there I can achieve anything.
.-= Marcelle´s last blog ..Week 2 on new WW update =-.
Apparently I didn’t finish what I…
.-= Jack Sh*t, Gettin’ Fit´s last blog ..You’ll Go Down in History =-.
Great post! I can never decide on just one but currently I’m going with “Life’s hard. Wear a helmet.”
.-= Gigi´s last blog ..Welcome To Onderland: Population: One More =-.
“Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” Ok, that’s actually a Findng Nemo quote, and I don’t apply it to swimming but it reminds me to keep it up!
.-= Tricia´s last blog ..GIVEAWAY =-.
In the past few months, I finally CREATED one! It’s:
Control your health, or it will control you!
.-= Sunny´s last blog ..Feelin’ Good! =-.
I can’t say that have one particular mantra…I need one! LOL I love all the ones that were tweeted to you! Thanks for posting them so I could follow
.-= josie´s last blog ..Week 10 – Weigh-In and Hot 100 Update =-.
Diane, sorry for the second comment but someone just sent this quote to me & I love it & fits in with me for sure. I think I will take it on!
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream — C.S. Lewis
.-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..Beat The Need for New Year’s Resolutions =-.
Move forward (or at least hold the line)
.-= vickie´s last blog ..Christmas Gifts 2009 =-.
I like Tricia’s “Just keep swimming.” That really sums up my own mantra of never giving up, no matter what mistakes I make and how badly I get off track along the way. Something about having perspective (one day of overeating is nothing in comparison to the rest of my life) as well.
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..Fighting Myself =-.
‘Slow but Steady’
I have a couple – for my general life, my motto is ‘You are radiant”
For my race events, I chant “Go big or go home”
.-= Lori (Finding Radiance)´s last blog ..Winter wonderland! =-.
Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever.
It’s a quote from Lance Armstrong whom I admire very much. How he survived cancer and came back as a cyclist. I’ve read his book and it made a hugh impression on me.
.-= Fran´s last blog ..A day in my life: Monday December 7th 2009 =-.
Thank you for sharing all these, Diane!
I’m never going back, either! We’re Losers for Life
.-= Marisa (Loser For Life)´s last blog ..The Start Of Something New =-.
This is a great post Diane. I tell myself that I am committed every day. It helps…:-) I love seeing all of the comments from Twitter and this post.
.-= Kat´s last blog ..A successful weekend, in spite of severe allergies…:-) =-.
Love seeing what everyone else said!! I like BootyFitCamp’s “You don’t give up at the end, you go harder.” It sounds hardcore, but that line of thinking is what gets me to push past my comfort zone in workouts right when I feel like quitting. Then I always end my workout feeling happy and accomplished!
.-= Susan´s last blog ..Goals? What Goals!? =-.
Great post, great tweets, and great responses!
My mantra: Be the best I can be at this point in my life.
I have several, but the one I’m using most these days is “Because it’s the right thing to do.” It answers most of my “why” questions.
.-= Cammy@TippyToeDiet´s last blog ..Steppin’ Up =-.
Great responses! I like your mantra a lot! What a wonderful post, very uplifting!
“Never give up” and lately I’ve added “Be content.” when I want to eat more than I know I really need…like when I”m approaching satisfied and want more food.
.-= Leah´s last blog ..Off For Good =-.
I’m still trying to choose my hard…
.-= Hopeful´s last blog ..Progress? =-.
oh I love this! I don’t really have one, I’m trying to keep in mind “moderation in all things”. Maybe I should remind myself of it more often!
.-= mackattack´s last blog ..Indianapolis events =-.
Use it or lose it. Not directly related to weight loss but it keeps me on track with my exercise routines. I do noy want to end up as physically frail as my mother and mother-in-law were before they dies.
.-= Sally´s last blog ..Blogging thing!! =-.
I wanted one that wasn’t negative, like having the words don’t or never or no, so I had to think a while.
Mine is: Live Happy, Live Healthy, Live Boldly
.-= Mary :: A Merry Life´s last blog ..Weight Loss Success Story: Ongoing and Done =-.
I am the driver, not the passenger.
.-= Hanlie´s last blog ..Coconut Oil: Good for You! =-.