Doing it differently

There's this wonderful sense of renewal with the New Year, and it gives us hope that we will turn things around. 

January 1 inspires most of us to dream big. For many the New Year means a fresh start. On January 1 we make all kinds of promises that “starting tomorrow, things are going to be different.”

And while making the resolution to lose weight is easy, keeping it, can be a challenge. New Years’ resolutions rarely bring the lasting change that you hope for.

The number one resolution - losing weight - makes sense considering the epidemic of obesity and related diseases, and our genuine desire to look and feel better.

Take advantage of these moments of clarity at the start of the New Year and take actions that would commit you to making good decisions in the future.

When you are decide that losing weight is more important than what you are giving up, then you are ready for action and you will likely succeed.

Temporary changes = temporary results

Anything that requires change can be difficult. Yet, in order to learn and grow and make progress, you have to change.

Recognize that change is difficult and move on to decide what is more important to you, losing weight or continue to eat only the food that you like (no change).

Losing weight and keeping it off is not very easy. But there are ways to make it easier. It is still going to be hard work. There are no shortcuts. No temporary changes will create permanent results. Which means you need to change your perspective. It means you never get to be “done.”

The bottom line is always the same: to lose weight, we must consume fewer calories than we burn. To keep it off, we must adopt permanent lifestyle changes. Making a lifetime commitment is essential.

Truth, or more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality is essential foundation for any good outcome. Radical transparency is invaluable for rapid learning and effective change.

To begin effective change, you must see the change as being a necessity. If the change is just “nice to have”, it won’t be sustainable because anything “nice to have” is also “ok not to have”. The stronger your desire for the change, the more effective the change will be.

Environment matters

Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. You don’t have to be a victim of your environment. You can also be an architect of it. 

Do your kitchen clean out. Double check what you have in the fridge and pantry. 

Get rid of the bad stuff - soda, chips, candy, processed and sugary baked goods - and stock up your fridge with healthy food instead. Food like fresh fruit and vegetables, and lean proteins. 

There is something tremendously empowering about physically throwing away the things you are choosing to remove from your life. 

Environment matters, so make sure the best choice is the most obvious one. 

Making a better decision is easy and natural when the cues for good habit are right in front of you.

How to make weight loss a priority

A priority is something we believe is more important than another thing. Why do we need to make something a priority? Priority helps us make daily choices that reflect our values.

If you look at every choice you have ever made in your life, you made those choices based on what was important and unimportant to you. What was more important versus what was less important. What you considered a high priority and what you considered a low priority. What you cared about and what you didn’t.

Our choices are based on what we want. Only when we want it we are truly motivated to go after it. What is it that we want? As practical as it might be, if it is important to us, then it is also motivating.

We love our food. We like our traditions. We have habits. We do not really want to change. When you determine that losing weight is more important than anything else, you will be able to make choices that lead to weigh loss and getting your life back.

Whatever it is that moves you, whatever it is that you so desperately want and desire, let it be the spark that fires you up to chase your weight loss goal and get your life back. Keep you “why” handy. What ever it is that moves you to take action, keep it fresh and in front of you as you make weight loss your priority #1.

It is like a cancer patient with one- or two-year life expectancy would do anything to live a little longer. When you faced with death, our comforts and wants and preferences do not seem as important as they once were.

Making weight loss a priority is the only way you will be able to get the permanent weight loss results you want!

It means working on your mindset every single day to ensure your thoughts are creating feelings that will drive actions to produce the results you want.

Are you currently living in a way that reflects weight loss as a top priority? 

Seeing clearly what needs to be done

One of the hardest things to do is to look objectively at yourself and assessing what type of change you need to make. You have to look the facts in the face before you can do anything about them.
If your answer is that you need to lose weight, take a piece of paper and write the answer.

Be brutally honest with yourself. You may hesitate at first. When I recommend this to individuals who talk to me about weight loss, they usually don’t want to write this staff down. They don’t want somebody to see it.

What I tell them if they were concerned to just tear it up and throw it away as soon as they were done. Keeping it isn’t the point. What matters is the act of writing itself, seeing your thoughts and fears if front of you and being honest about them. Only by getting out what is inside can we start to gain perspective. This is how change can take place. Not seeing clearly leads to inaction.

Change doesn’t happen at all if you don’t make the decision to do so. The only way positive change can come into your life is if you make it priority. How do you make it priority? I will write about it in my next post.

Stress is a normal part of life

Stress is known as a part of normal life and it is sometimes good for you. In small amounts, stress may maintain your energy and also improve your performance.

However, stress can cause negative effects for you. Trying to avoid dealing with stress might seem sensible, but it usually just makes things worse.

There are lots of practical, positive steps we can take to deal with stress. The common stress response is to eat comfort foods, foods that include high sugar, salt or fat foods such as chocolate, potato chips, soft drinks and snack foods.

While eating comfort food, when you are stressed out might actually help, it is not beneficial when you try to lose weight. You will get benefits in terms of stress reduction, but it will not support your weight loss efforts.

You can do plenty of things to de-stress. A good model of stress management is to do something about it and get beyond it. A bad model is to avoid it and let is accumulate.

Make sure most evenings include rituals that actively help you unwind.

Try something new

If what you are doing is not working, try something new. If you never take a step in the right direction, you will stay right where you are.

If you don’t know what to do, I can recommend that the first thing you need to do is to eat real food. Food that supports weight loss.

If you are not happy with your weight, you can chose to take control or you can choose to do nothing to change the situation.

You can take action or continue to use defense mechanism, like thinking that weight loss is too difficult to justify why you should not do anything to change your situation.

Making a conscious effort to eat real food that supports weight loss every time you decide what you eat is behavioral change that will make a big difference. That behavior change can help shift your attitude.