5 Ways to Kick Start the Dieter in You
By Kenneth Schwarz, Ph.D. and Julie North Schwarz
www.mariaslastdiet.com
Do you need to lose weight, but you aren't really doing anything about it? Boy, you tell yourself, I really need to go on a diet. Maybe you say that all the time, but you keep putting it off.
This is easy to understand, especially if you've been on diets before and you found them difficult or unpleasant and just plain too hard. Maybe at this point you doubt yourself and your ability. Maybe you are too afraid of failing again. So even though you want to lose weight, maybe in self-defense you've put the dieter in you to sleep. No more procrastinating. Here are 5 effective ways to get yourself to go ahead and do it, and not one of them is too hard for you.
Tap into your displeasure
Admit how your weight is affecting your life. Admit how it makes you feel. Acknowledge your feelings about yourself when you look in the mirror. Let yourself become more conscious of how displeased you are with your present weight in however many different ways. This admission will help tip the scales from passively living with it to going forward and changing it.
Visualize the fantasy-you
Define what you want to look like. In your mind's eye create a lifelike, specific, excellent, body-shape you. When you visualize your goal in this way, you are priming your brain to work in the direction of that goal. Imagine this fantasy-you several times a day. One of the things you need in order to become it, is to be able to visualize it. Once you are able to see it, it reinforces your desire to get there.
Set sub-goals
A great big distant goal can seem unattainable. If you tell yourself you must lose thirty pounds, it may seem like an impossible task. Who wants to start something that seems impossible? The answer is to break up the path to your goal into smaller, more easily reachable sub-goals.
Each sub-goal will be an important step along your path to the ultimate goal. For example, smaller diet steps might be losing the first five pounds, anticipating a high risk situation; cheating and going right back on. Since these are smaller steps, you'll be able to see them as being very possible and within your capability. This will give you the confidence and hope you need to jump right in.
Take the mind journey
Make a mental movie of yourself as if you are actually proceeding on this small-step path to your goal. As you imagine yourself doing it, you will begin to have new and creative ideas about how you might actually take these steps. You will begin to think of what can be most helpful to you as you go. Imagining yourself accumulating small successes is a great way to feel prepared. Feeling as though you are prepared is essential. It gives you the courage to start a serious weight-loss effort.
Go public
Go public with your decision to diet and it will help you keep your commitment in place. Don't keep it a secret, don't be hush-hush about it. If you keep the idea to yourself, it is much easier to go back on your word. If you decide to start your diet on Monday and you don't do it, no one knows but you. If you tell someone, you have more than yourself to answer to. Telling someone about your plans, or even several people for that matter, makes it a much more solid decision. You are less likely to procrastinate if you make a public declaration to go ahead and do it. This will also help the people around you to be on your side, which will give you a nice push in the direction of getting started.
Don't assume that a good dieter is just born that way, because then it can seem like you won't be able to lose weight no matter what you do. This mindset will sabotage your chances of going ahead. There is a let's-get-going dieter in you, waiting to stand up and be counted. She just needs a little kick start - a little more hope at the beginning, a little more encouragement, a little more planning and preparation, a little more faith in herself and in her ability to do it.
Dr. Kenneth Schwarz, a psychologist and psychoanalyst practicing in Connecticut, and his wife Julie are the founders of
www.mariaslastdiet.com
, a website offering strategies and support for diet success. Dr. Schwarz provides tools to help women succeed regardless of which diet they choose. Sign up for their free newsletter and receive ongoing support for total diet success. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.
