Your Brain Can Help You Lose Weight… Or Make You Fat!

Have you done this before?

You have set your weight loss goals and mapped out your plan to
lose all those excess pounds that you have been dying to get rid
off.

In your mind, you have psyched yourself up — this time you are
going all the way out to lose all those pounds! “Nothing can
stop me,” you tell yourself.

Then, you rationalize that…

1) In order for you to succeed in your weight loss goals, you
must follow a super-strict diet and exercise routine.

and/or

2) If you happen to go off track in your diet or exercise
routine by eating your favorite high-calorie junk food and
skipping your exercise session, this means you have totally
blown off your plan altogether.

Sound familiar?

I sure hope not!

This train of thought can be very detrimental to your weight
loss efforts, but it’s all too easy to fall into this trap. And
not only is it very harmful to your body, it actually lowers
your self-esteem too.

Your brain can help you to lose weight, or it can make you fat.

If you want to lose weight successfully, you’ll need to have the
right thoughts in your brain. Conversely, holding on tight to
the wrong concepts can (and will!) jeopardize your plans!

Here’s what you should do instead…

1) Get rid of the word “DIET” from your thoughts

Firstly, you must shake off the idea that you absolutely have to
follow an extremely restrictive diet in order to lose weight
successfully.

In fact, most people who are able to lose their unwanted weight
successfully DO NOT diet. What they do is simply change their
lifestyle such as practicing portion control, moderation,
cutting back on calories and curbing their emotional eating
bouts.

It’s time to change your focus from weight loss to weight
management. It is not just losing weight, it is about changing
your lifestyle so that you can maintain your weight loss.

And do you notice how most women like to use the word “diet”
every time they want to lose weight? We “go on” and “go off”
diets after every holiday season; we say “I start on Monday”
only to go off it by the weekend. Nobody says “I start my new
way of life on Monday.” But that’s exactly what we need to do.
An effective diet isn’t just for Christmas or just a very
special occasion, it’s for your whole life.

We need variety not only for our nutritional reasons. It is also
to satisfy ourselves, and to take care of our “wants.” So, you
need to create your own healthy lifestyle… the lifestyle that
you want, and one that’s sustainable for the long term.

Be wary of any plan that restricts entire food groups, or if it
relies on just 1 type of food (e.g. soup or salad) as its
mainstay.

Believe me, I’ve been there and done that. If you go on a diet
that requires you to eat all the food that you hate or totally
omits your favorites, you are going to dread your meals and are
bound to fail. Even if you manage to lose the weight, all your
pounds (and probably more!) will creep back once you are off the
diet.

2) Do NOT give up your favorite foods

Another thing that most women would do initially is severely
limiting their food intake. Or they completely cut off their
favorite foods.

This is one thing that you should never do.

“Why?”

Well, by doing that, it sets you up for binges and your
temptation for these foods would definitely increase.

Instead, you should reduce your consumption slowly. For example,
you always have desserts after dinner. Instead of cutting off
totally, you start by reducing your portion size to half. Thus,
the temptation becomes much less powerful when you have just the
taste of something “bad” now and again instead of telling
yourself that it is off limits for good.

After a while, you will find yourself accustomed to the new
portion sizes, and you’ll be able to satisfy your craving with
just a small amount of your “super sinful” foods.

3) Forgive and move on…

So, you decide to keep your favorite foods in your weight loss
plan. You allow yourself a chocolate cookie everyday. But, you
could not resist the temptation and you finish half of the pack.
Next day afternoon, you finish the remaining half of the
chocolate cookies pack for your afternoon tea.

Gee, have you blown your weight loss plan again? Does that mean
you should just give up the idea of losing those extra pounds
and go back to my old eating habits?

Well, not allowing yourself to make mistakes is the worst
mistake you can ever make. Seriously.

Having this all-or-nothing thinking is a way to let you off the
hook. It is an escape route that you create for yourself. In
your mind, you could be telling yourself, “Oh well. It is all
gone. I guess I don’t have to bother anymore. Give me my
cookies.”

There’s an old saying that goes, “No matter how far along you
are down the wrong path, it’s never too late to turn back.” So
don’t think just because you made bad choices today, you can’t
start over tomorrow.

Everyday is truly a new beginning. You do not have to wait until
a new year, a new month or a Monday to start all over again.

You can’t erase last night’s binge, but you can aim for a much
healthier today!

4) Create a lifestyle you want

Many times, when you want to lose weight, you will plan up a
very strict diet and exercise routine for yourself. Well…
there is a high chance that you would not be able to execute it
successfully. To make things worse, you hate it.

Why not aim to create a healthy lifestyle you want so that you
do not give up your favorite foods?

You must create a realistic and achievable weight loss plan.
After all, you want to plan to SUCCEED, not to fail, right?

If you find difficulty in creating a good plan for yourself, or
if you can’t seem to discipline yourself to stay true to your
plan, I suggest that you engage a personal trainer to help you.

5) Celebrate your small victories

Every time you achieve a small milestone, go ahead and reward
yourself.

But do not over-indulge. For example, you can reward yourself a
small ice-cream once you have managed to complete your first
week of exercise routines. Or when you lose your first 3 pounds,
you can treat yourself a slice of cheese cake.

Remember, it is alright to reward yourself for the small
challenges you have overcome so that you won’t give up so
easily. Let it be something you look forward to every time you
surmount a challenge.

If you set up your rewards properly, they’ll motivate you on a
daily basis and you’ll find it easier to follow your weight loss
plans!

Bonus: And here’s one more extra tip… Don’t stress yourself.
Take it easy on yourself as you’re learning how to be a new,
improved and healthier you. After all, you’re only human… a
soon-to-be-much-lighter human!

Copyright 2006 Tracy Lee

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