Need Support and I don't mean a bra..

29^th July 2011

If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on. Lance Armstrong

Well it’s Friday already and I have to say I’ve been so impressed by all the moms who’ve made the effort to come and get weighed despite it being the kids holiday and talking of kids well they’ve been super well behaved in my meetings – what’s going on there then?!  I even had one member drive from Burton-on-Trent for her meeting Monday morning with her poorly son, who had a sick bowl just in case – NOW that’s dedication ;D

It’s really important to get to your meeting, Weight Watchers works because of the group support, I’ve even got myself a leader and it’s helping me enormously.  Because let’s be honest being overweight in today's society can be really stressful. You are constantly bombarded by the media advertising and promoting the latest weight loss product or gimmick, and you are surrounded by images of thin, sexy people, I was pleased to see that L’Oreal’s airbrushing ads have been banned, but disappointed to see the new Weight Watchers magazine as a beautiful lady on the front who’s lost lots of weight and they’ve felt the need to hairbrush her face – WHY, what’s wrong with wrinkles and reality.  I have a whacking scar on my forehead and it’s part of me, just like my laughter lines and I’m proud of them and so should you be of yourself.  Unfortunately guilt is often present in the overweight person's mind, as well as a lack of self-confidence and social anxiety.

None of these things are helpful if your trying to lose weight so in order to develop a positive mental attitude about weight loss, we have to find things to motivate us, and seek support.

When you start on your weight loss journey your motivation is usually high, you are able to control your eating and exercise is not yet seen as a burden. In the first week, the weight loss totals are often good and high, and that in itself can be very motivating to continue. In the subsequent weeks, your weight loss slows down, you grow bored with diet food if you’ve made the mistake of not choosing food you enjoy, and your excuses start piling up as to why you can miss your exercise every day.

So how do you keep your motivation going, you could keep a Journal, not only will this keep a record of how much you have lost. If you record your feelings when you record a loss, you can go back and read them over and over to recapture the motivation that came from that experience. Also, by recording your thoughts and emotions on the weight loss journey, you will better be able to deal with them. Much of over-eating is emotional eating, and learning how to deal with the emotions in another way is important.  Why not put a motivational picture of you at your lower weight in your journal, it can be a great visual cue to stay on your diet. You can also display a picture of someone else whose body you would love to have – be realistic if your 5ft 2in you’re never gonna be 6ft 4in!

You could get online, make use of the facebook group and the weight watchers esource, chat to your friends whether you know them in person or meet them through cyberspace. 

Another great motivator that a lot of members do, is to hang up a goal outfit or piece of clothing in plain view. A pair of size 12 jeans hanging off the door will motivate you to lose weight and fit into them or that holiday bikini!

Most importantly remember rewarding yourself for your efforts and any small success is an important part of staying motivated to lose weight. Many of us get into the habit of rewarding ourselves with food or drink, this isn’t what I mean. For long-term weight loss, you need to change the focus and reward yourself with other things: manicures, a massage, a new pair of earrings, a magazine or anything that you like. The rewards will keep you motivated during your weight loss journey. 

Maintaining your weight loss motivation is an important part of succeeding on your weight loss journey. A lot of my members and anyone with a weight problem usually have a strong emotional attachment to food, so forming other attachments is an important part of loosing weight. Journaling, reminders, rewards, and support groups are all excellent weight loss motivation and support techniques.  I love it when I see new friendships start in my meetings, it’s wonderful.  We all like support, and praise, everyone likes to hear the words “Well Done” or “WOW”. 

So well done everyone for reading this, if you weren’t motivated why would you bother, and I look forward to saying WOW next week on the scales. 

I’m off to get busy, cooking lunch for my mates today so we can stay within our ProPoints allowance and the kids are making their own pizzas – that’ll be fun :D