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Almost everyone I know has started a
diet at one time or another in their lives and many start
them multiple times. Then somewhere in that first week, two
weeks or even a month later, you hear that little voice in
your head saying, “Come on, one little bite won’t hurt you!”
or “I’m so tired of this, I can’t do this” or “This is so
boring, I never get to eat anything that tastes sinfully
good!”
By now, the excitement and motivation
to carry you through to the completion of your goal has
faded. And while it may be easy enough to start a diet – the
tricky part for most people is how to STAY motivated enough
to stick to it.
Here are a few thoughts as to how to
stick with a weight loss plan even when you are down in the
dumps and on the verge of quitting it altogether.
- Strong INCENTIVES: The
first and foremost thing you need to remember is that
you need to have an incentive and it needs to be a
strong incentive that is specific, time-related and
personal to the point of being selfish.
- Positive VISUALIZATION: You
need to wake up every single day with a positive mental
attitude. You must believe it first before you can carry
it through to make it happen. Be serious about what you
want and how best to get there.
- Have a PLAN: it’s so easy
to backslide when you don’t put in place those things
that help you prevent backsliding in the first place.
Planning your snacks and meals ahead of time goes a long
way towards staying true to your goal when tempted along
the way.
- Change your HABITS: Your
current lifestyle habits are what got you in trouble in
the first place. So you need to make changes in your
eating habits, activity habits, and how you cook in
order to lose the weight and keep it off over the long
haul. Making new, healthier habits will help keep you
motivated to stay on target.
- Get SUPPORT: Make sure you
involve family and friends in your new intended
lifestyle. Get everyone on board with sharing common
goals – like healthier eating. When everyone agrees to
keep healthy food choices around the house, it’s so much
easier to not be tempted. If you can’t get their
support, then you will need to seek out the support of
others of a similar mindset, whether that be in a weekly
group setting or online in a social networking
atmosphere.
- Make SHORT-TERM goals: Keep
your goals in smaller, more do-able increments to help
you stay on track. Focusing on one or two weeks at a
time and breaking down the number of pounds to smaller
units makes it much easier to stay excited when you
accomplish each milepost. Sometimes, you may even have
to take it one day at a time. If you know you are facing
a particularly difficult day, celebrate mentally when
you have made healthy choices to get through the day
rather than focusing on the slip-up you had yesterday.
- REWARD yourself: By setting
up small milestones and rewarding yourself, you are
reinforcing the good behavior which in turn helps keep
your motivation going. Make sure it’s timely (immediate)
and that it’s personal to you.
- Remember HOW FAR you’ve come:
Once you make it partway to your goals, it’s easy to
slack off from our determination to make it. Hang an old
photo of yourself of when you weighed more or put out
your “fat” clothes to remind yourself of how hard you
have worked to get there and what you don’t want to go
through again! Make sure that you forgive yourself of
setbacks. Everyone falters now and then. The key is to
get back on track as quickly as possible and keep going.
- Take note of your HEALTH
IMPROVEMENTS: Adopting new lifestyle habits for
losing weight usually leads to better health. This could
be lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lower blood
sugar, having more energy. Remind yourself that feeling
better is a great feeling and oh, so much nicer than
what you used to feel like!
- APPRECIATE who you are: You
are a special person and therefore should be treating
yourself nice “inside.” Many dieters have a
self-loathing that goes on inside their head. And when
we eat as a response for coping with stress or boredom,
we become angry with ourselves because we “let
ourselves” eat too much and gain weight as a
consequence. At times, we don’t take care of our
appearance because we lack the self-respect that we
should be giving to ourselves. So take some time to go
shopping for clothes that look great on you, wear
makeup, change your hairstyle that’s more flattering,
anything that helps you feel better about yourself and
boost your self-esteem. Respect yourself now, or you'll
never have the strength to keep on going with your
diet. Forgive yourself for being heavy, let go of the
anger, and allow yourself to move forward.
Self-Exercises:
- What are some incentives that you
can write down to help keep you motivated? Remember, be
specific: For every 5 pounds I lose, I am going to treat
myself to a manicure and a pedicure.
- What are some positive statements
you can make about yourself?
- What are some things you can put
in place to keep from backsliding; ie, I will put
carrots in my lunch instead of a cookie!
- What habits do I need to change
for the better to help keep me on track?
- What short-term goals can I set to
make it easier to reach my long-term goals?
- How can I reward myself?
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