What is the difference between those who succeed and those who struggle?

I've been thinking about this a lot today. I go to some of your blogs and see HUGE success stories -- the weight has been lost in a year, maybe 18 months, and you're at goal or even below it. I can't tell you how inspirational your stories are! It proves that maybe we can also grasp that golden ring one day and "be there." Maybe WE can wear clothes that are single digits and don't begin with 1s or 2s or have an X in them. You inspire and awe me. And... honestly? I feel a bit envious of you. Not jealous like, "Arrrgh, I wish she was where I am so I could feel better about myself," but more like, "I wish I could feel that good about myself."

I am not one of those success stories. I won't beat myself up and be a downer because I AM 50 pounds down from where I began. I consider that a success in its own right (and for the sake of clarification in this entry, I will refer to those who are at or near goal as success stories, and those of us whose weight may still be bouncing around as the strugglers). But I wonder what is different in me and so many other friends I have that are banded who are struggling with their weight. A couple are struggling with their bands, but that's another story, something that can't be avoided.

I'm talking about those of us who still struggle with the food. I guess I sit here and wonder, since all of us obviously had issues with food which made us fat, how did the success story people overcome that? Was it that, unlike people like me, they considered the band "IT," the end of the line, the final stop on the diet yo-yo crazy ride, and they took it more seriously? It makes me wonder what is lacking in me that SURGERY still was not somehow enough to knock some sense into me. Again, I'm not beating myself up about what I HAVE accomplished, but I need to address these issues so I can keep myself on track and/or apply somebody's wisdom to my shortfalls.

I've been doing well on the 17-Day Diet, which tells me that I do better when I'm structured and not left to my own devices. I don't know if that will always be the case, but I have to be prepared that just eating small portions of junk will not do me any good. We all know the junk food is typically also a slider food, so where some may be able to eat a handful of chips, I can probably still eat half the bag. o_O

So I guess all this is to say that I see a lot more of us struggling -- so what are the success stories doing differently? I think I know the answer (eat well, exercise), but I can't help but wonder if there is more to it. If it's an internal flaw within myself, I don't know how to fix that.