Weight Loss Motivation Guidelines
By Anne Collins, Thu Dec 8th
b>Introduction If there is one thing that all dietitians and obesity expertsagree on, it is that personal motivation is the foundation ofall weight loss success. No matter how healthy the diet-plan, orwhat combination of calories and nutrition it contains, it won'thelp anyone lose weight unless they follow it for long enough.Their willingness to do so depends entirely on how motivatedthey are to change their eating and exercise habits in order toachieve their weight loss goals. Motivation Advice Hard To Find
The Internet offers a bewildering array of diets and weight losseating plans, but advice on motivation when is inextremely short supply. Given the strong link betweendiet-compliance and motivation, this lack of motivational helpis surprising to say the least. It may stem from the fact thatmany diets are created by people who lack hands-on experience ofhelping people to manage their weight. Perhaps they see weightloss as a biological rather than a human process. If so, I thinkit's a mistake. Motivating Yourself To Lose Weight I tell all my clients that starting a weight loss diet is likestarting a journey. And like any journey it requirespreparation. We need to look ahead and plan how to overcomeproblems that occur along the way. By doing this we take controlof the process and greatly increase our chances of success. Unfortunately, many dieters don't plan ahead. Instead, theytake things as they come, and rely upon two things: theirinitial enthusiasm, and (when this wears off) their willpower.But enthusiasm and willpower aren't enough to overcome thetemptations and difficulties which we face when we try to changeour eating habits and lifestyle. Stop for a moment and imagine taking your family on a campingtrip. Do you rely on your enthusiasm and willpower for food andshelter? Of course not. In all probability you spend hoursbeforehand carefully packing and preparing for everyeventuality, and the whole trip is carefully planned out inadvance. Yet when you start a diet-journey, many of you set off withoutany kind of planning or preparation. It's as if you areconvinced that everything will go smoothly. But let's face it,what diet ever runs smoothly? Answer: none! So what happens whenwe encounter a big problem? Answer: we wobble, and often quit. We Need To Plan New Thinking Habits Planning a diet-journey doesn't involve packing equipment, itinvolves packing "new thoughts". We need to rehearse and adoptnew ways of thinking in order to overcome problems during ourjourney. This isn't psycho-babble - this is plain common sense.After all, successful is largely a matter of motivationand attitude. It's about what goes on between our ears! The Most Common Problem The most common problem we face when is boredom. Thistypically occurs when our initial enthusiasm for losing weightwears off, and we become tired of watching what we eat. Webecome dispirited, and slightly depressed at the idea of havingto maintain our "sensible eating habits" while everyone elseseems to be having a good time. Losing Direction Leads To Boredom We get bored when we lose our sense of direction. So to overcomeit, we need to reestablish exactly where we are going. Remember,dieting is not an aimless process, it's a journey from A to B.Here's how we think when we lose direction: "I'm really bored with dieting, it's such a pain. I don't haveany freedom any more. I can't eat this, I can't eat that... I'mfed up. I can't share food with the girls at work, I can't eatat my favorite restaurants, I have to keep saying No to foodwhen I visit friends, I have to watch my family eating in frontof me, I don't have time to exercise properly, I'm never goingto lose weight and I'm feeling really miserable. Heck! Life istoo short for this..." This kind of thinking is totally demotivating. It focusesexclusively on the negative aspects of and signalscomplete aimlessness. No weight loss goal is achievable when wethink like this. A Better Way of Thinking Now let me show you some better alternatives. Please comparethem with the above example. Example 1 "Hmm, my diet isn't going so good. But I'm not going to makeexcuses. I've wasted enough time making excuses to myself. Fromnow on, no matter what happens, I'm going to be honest withmyself. So what do I want? I want to lose weight and get myselfinto shape. Why? Because I really want that beach holiday (orother
very selfish goal) which I promised myself. I want it sobad I can touch it! Okay, so I need to learn how to eat properly- big deal! I can easily do this if I put my mind to it. Heck!Eating good food isn't difficult. What's difficult is seeingmyself being overweight for the rest of my life. I wantsomething better. Something a lot better than a fistful ofnachos or a dollop of fatty dessert." Example 2 "Hmm, my diet isn't going so good. So let me remind myself whyI'm dieting. All my life I've been eating to please otherpeople. My mom said "eat this", so I ate it. My school friendssaid "have some of this", so I had lots. My work colleagues nowsay "have a slice of this", so I have two! And my kids say "youmust try this", so I try it. And every time I make an effort tolose weight, everyone says "forget about your diet, eat some ofthis" so I do. Well that's enough! No more eating to pleaseother people. Today I'm going to start eating to please me. Andwhat pleases me is the idea of wearing a size (?) dress to mydaughter's wedding (or other very selfish goal). I realise Ineed to eat properly, but this is a ridiculously tiny price topay for achieving my goal. Heck! Eating good food isn'tdifficult. What's difficult is carrying my excess weight aroundall day. I want something better. Something a lot better than a4-cheese pizza or a box of cookies." Example 3 "Hmm, my diet isn't going as smoothly as I thought it would.Never mind, I'm sure this is quite normal. I can't expect tochange my regular eating habits without a few hiccups along theway. Besides, I'm looking for more than the few minutes ofpleasure I get from filling my stomach with junk. I want alifetime of pleasure - real pleasure from looking good and beingtaken seriously and who knows, maybe finding a great partner. Iknow other people see me as a fat person - goodness, at times Ido too! - but this is exactly WHY I want to change. I'm tired ofbeing fat. Real tired. And if this means learning how to eatgood food, then let's do it! And when it gets tough I'm going tologin to Anne Collins forum and get help. All I know is, I wantto make it happen!" Example 4 "Hmm, my diet isn't going as smoothly as I thought it would.This morning I watched my colleagues eat a whole birthday cake -it looked delicious - and I sat there feeling miserable anddeprived. Then I went for lunch with a friend and chose a tunasalad while she ate half a pizza followed by two slices ofcheesecake. It was torture! But then I started thinking tomyself "what's more important - a few slices of cheesecake, or areally lean shape?" And I decided that looking good was what Ireally wanted. I know that it's not going to happen overnight,but if I can persevere and learn good eating habits along theway, I know I'm gonna make it..." Example 5 "Hmm, my diet isn't going as smoothly as I thought it would. Butat least it's not a race. So who cares if I have a few wobblymoments, as long as I get where I want to go. At 26 I'm in theprime of my life, and I want to make the most of it. I'm tiredof my slim friends getting all the best guys. I want to turn afew heads myself. I want the attention and I want to be takenseriously, and if I have to spend 12 months - heck! I'mgonna do it. Last week I saw a friend of mine in hospital wholost a leg in a car crash. The doctors say it's going to takeher 12 months to relearn how to walk. Now that is tough. Bycomparison, my journey is easy. And as long as I keep remindingmyself of this, I'll be fine." Points To Remember 1. A diet is a journey from A to B. 2. Feeling bored is a sign we are losing our direction. 3. When we lose direction we need to regain it, fast! 4. The way to regain direction is to remind yourself why you aredieting. 5. You are because you want something better than aplate of fattening food.
Getting Help To Lose Weight Changing our eating habits is much easier when we get supportfrom other people. So make sure your online weight managementplan includes membership of a forum. Because only people canoffer you the sort of encouragement you need to achieve yourpersonal weight loss goals.
About the author:Anne Collins, 54, is a qualified nutritionist and fulltime weight management consultant with over 23 years experience.Her clients range from top celebrities to ordinary people ofevery age and shape. Her website, www.annecollins.com attracts 9million unique visitors per annum, and her weight loss forum isone of the most active support centers on the Internet.
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