Joanna, who has been overweight most of her life, lost 65 pounds in the past two years. She told me a great story. This week her husband spontaneously picked her up and carried her over the threshold. He had not been able to do that when they had married four years ago. It was such an amazing moment for Joanna that she cried. I asked Joanna to write this memory on an index card and put it in her “Memory Box,” a file box that contains cards detailing significant experiences that encapsulate how happy she is to have lost weight. Joanna has quite a collection of memory cards now, including how wonderful it has been to get compliments from specific people, to cross her knees easily, to have her doctor tell her she is no longer at risk to develop diabetes, to go skiing with her husband and friends, to go to a family function and not feel self-conscious, and on and on. Joanna will need to review these cards in future months and years whenever her motivation to keep eating and exercising in a healthy way flags. The cards will remind her why it’s so worth it to keep up her efforts.