How To Lose Weight - For
Beginners
Step 1 - Make the Decision |
Step 2 - Come Up With a Plan | Step 3 - Make It a Priority
Step 3
Make It a Priority
If you've made it to this point, we can assume a few
things:
– You've decided to lose weight
– You've chosen your weight loss program
– You've probably gotten a little overwhelmed with all of the information
and changes. Hopefully you pushed past that, and you've started to apply the
new weight loss plan to your life. You might have begun to run into
situations where you have to make difficult choices.
Let's consider some situations that might arise where
you have the opportunity to make weight loss a priority. It's always a
mental game, every single time.
Situation One: Grocery Shopping
I think that one of the hardest things about weight
loss is that we still have to eat. If we could just stop going to the
grocery store altogether, that would be much easier than trying to get
ourselves to make different choices while we're shopping.
A really good tactic for avoiding temptation at the
grocery store is to completely avoid the aisles that have the junk food. If
you don't want to be tempted by potato chips, then just don't go into the
aisle that has the potato chips.
But what if that aisle has other stuff that you need?
At one of the stores I go to, the cereal aisle also has all of the candy.
Chocolate is one of my big food temptations, but I have to go into that
aisle because I eat cereal every day for breakfast. I walk by the candy on
my way to the Raisin Bran, and every time, it calls out to me.
What it comes down to making weight loss the priority.
What's more important to you? Eating candy, or losing weight?
Situation Two: Lunch at Work
(you can also apply this to dinner with friends, etc)
Modern weight loss programs make some allowances for
eating out and you probably intellectually know what to do in this kind of
situation. The real problem is in your head. It's things like, you don't
want to be the only one who looks like she's on a diet. Or, everyone else
gets to eat what they want, why can't I! Or, now that you're there at
the salad bar, everything looks so good! What will a little of it hurt?
You'll just eat less dinner tonight.
Yeah right. You're not going to eat less dinner. You
have to be honest with yourself right now. What's more important to
you? Eating breadsticks, or losing weight?
Situation Three: Curveball! Junk at the
Movies
Oh, you weren't expecting that one. Suddenly you're
faced with buttery popcorn, gigantic sodas, and milk duds, plus a friend
who's buying it all because he gets to eat whatever he wants.
There are a two things you can do in order to make
weight loss a priority in this kind of situation. One is that you can
realize ahead of time that you'll be in this kind of position, and you can
plan for it. Truly eat lighter throughout the rest of the day, and then
you'll have a little leeway for an extra snack at the movie. And actually,
plain popcorn without the salt and butter isn't that bad of a snack at all.
Just skip all the processed sugar candy.
The second thing is to know that this is a mental
game. Your brain says, "Ooooh, candy, get some get some get some get some."
Try imagining what a few handfuls of milk duds would look like if they were
taped to your thigh. Mostly what I do is just keep telling myself NO NO NO
NO NO NO NO enough times until my brain doesn't even point out the candy
anymore because it already knows what the answer is going to be.
So, what's more important to you? Eating junk while
you watch a movie, or losing weight?
Situation Four: You Don't Feel Like
Exercising
This is a mental game if there ever was one. I'm not
sure what I can say about this besides: just do it. People often find that
they feel much better after they exercise. The hardest part is just getting
up. Once you put on your exercise clothes and get to the gym, or whatever it
is that you're going to do, it's not nearly as troublesome as it seemed at
first.
Just do it, just do it, just do it. What's more
important to you? Being lazy, or losing weight?
Situation Five: Nighttime Snacking
Nighttime snacking is one of the hardest situations
for me. During that time after dinner and before bed, most of us aren't
really hungry, but we've gotten ourselves into a habit of craving a bowl of
cereal, ice cream, or popcorn while we sit around watching TV.
Very often, I will find myself wanting a bowl of
cereal at night. One thing that helps is to stop and ask myself if I'm
actually hungry. Most of the time, I'm not hungry, and really, I actually
feel pretty full. So why would I want a bowl of cereal? That's an entire
extra meal. It's just a habit, and a comfort food, and I have to realize
that I want to lose weight more than I want an extra bowl of cereal. The
good news is that if you ignore these cravings for about ten minutes, most
of the time you forget all about them.
What's more important to you? Eating more food than
you need at night, or losing weight?
Does this mean that you have to be perfect all the
time? No, absolutely not. Depending on how your body personally loses
weight, you can probably have your pizza, ice cream, fast food, or nighttime
snack one day a week. Nobody is going to be 100% perfect on their weight
loss plan every single day. If you follow your plan about 85-90% of the
time, you'll be doing really well.
These types of situations are an aspect of weight loss
that can be quite hard. Losing weight is a big project that affects every
part of your life, and it requires you to examine and make changes to every
part of your life. It can be just as big of a project, and just as
life-consuming, as going to college to get a degree. It takes dedication and
commitment.
We're working with a lot of difficult issues, and
you've got to be willing to get really honest with yourself. It is helpful
to be on a plan that gives you structure, tools, and information.
Step 1 - Make the Decision |
Step 2 - Come Up With a Plan | Step 3 - Make It a Priority
|
