“Bathing suit season”. Do those words make you cringe? For many, they’re a great motivator to lose weight. Instead of dropping those pounds with the latest fad diet, why not make the lifestyle changes that will help you keep them off permanently? That will free up your time to do other things, like buy a new bathing suit. Start strong by:
Making the Commitment
- Give yourself some quiet time to think about what a realistic weight loss goal is. If you want to lose 50 pounds, figure out how long ago you were at that weight. Are you able to commit the necessary time and energy to get there?
- Write down your goal on an index card. For large goals, it can be more effective to focus on baby steps, like making 10 pound weight loss efforts.
- Be very specific: “I will lose 10 pounds by ___” is better than “I want to lose weight”.
- Take another index card and write down why achieving this goal matters.
Again, be specific. Using the weight loss goal as an example, reasons can include: “I want to fit into smaller clothes”, “I want to be able to walk up and down stairs without getting winded”, “I want to look better in photographs” “I’m worried about my family medical history” and any other reason that’s important to you. Use extra cards if you need to. - Each day, take a few minutes to read these cards. Stick them on the mirror in your bathroom, do whatever will make them visible. Of course, you’ll already know what’s written on them. It’s the repetition of reading them that will help you be successful.
We’ll continue next week with recruiting a support team. In the mean time – write your index cards!
Tags: Weight Loss
