Why oh why oh why?

14^th August 2012

I know God promises not to give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.

- Mother Teresa

Well I’m a very happy lady, 2.5lb lost yesterday, under the stone for the first time this year and goal plus 6.5lb, if I wasn’t a leader I’d be paying to attend my meeting until I was goal plus 5, and you know what I’d be happy to, because I know my members have really helped motivate me the last few weeks, listening to their ideas, sharing their successes and commiserating with their downfalls has all made me realise it is worth the effort.

Almost forgot to share last nights tea with you;

 

2 Weight Watcher Pitta breads (5pp) split down the middle
1 pack of Weight Watcher Mediterranean sauce (1pp) and a tbsp of passata spread over the top
Topped with 50g wafer thin ham (1pp)
10 olives (1pp)
Pineapple

Pepper
Tomato
Spring onion
20g Parmesan cheese (2pp)

Total 10pp nom nom nom

So why do you want to lose weight?  What are your reasons, don’t say “to be thin” because that’s not the real, deep down reason.  Have a think about it, these are mine;

Reasons I want to lose weight...

To feel good about myself.
To be in control of my eating/drinking choices.
To feel confident/good when a camera is pointed at me!
To feel better about my future health as I get older knowing I'm taking care of myself now.
To be able to feel like I've nailed my weight problems when talking to my members.
To be able to help my members solve their weight issues.
To have more energy from making better healthy food choices.
To be able to occasionally indulge without it being a big issue or making me go the other way (ie gain lots of weight)
I'll be happier stepping on the scales.

How important is this to me? VERY!

Now I wrote this after reading something over the weekend, and for the foreseeable future I’m going to read it 3 times a day (I’ve set a reminder in my phone), I will also read it if/when I’m tempted to stray.  Of course there may be other reasons and as they come up I’ll add them to the list. 

Why read them that often you’re thinking, because we do tend to forget don’t we or are you sitting there thinking to yourself, “I never forget”, trust me you do, there’s plenty of times when there’s tempting food around, or when you’re being encouraged to “have another”, “have a good time”, and you resolve will falter and you’ll wonder to yourself, ‘is dieting really worth missing out on that delicious cake or that good time’, or your brain will tell you, “it’s too hard to resist the food, what’s the point?” or “I can’t do this, I haven’t been able to in the past so why will I now”.

You’ve had those kind of thoughts many times haven’t you, sometimes you’ve managed to ignore them, other times you’ve given in and gone of track.  So you need something to help you conquer those thoughts and that list is a good piece of ammunition!

By reading your Reasons List several times a day, every day it will firmly cement in your mind why you’re doing this and that will help you when you’re tempted to undertake unplanned eating/drinking, which trust me we always regret afterwards!

Remembering your reasons why you want that weight loss when you’re about to indulge will help you enormously, get yourself some statements to say to yourself at that moment such as “Even though I really want to eat xxx right now, and enjoy that moment of pleasure, losing weight is so much more important to me”.

Have you written your list?  Do it before the days out, it’ll only take a few minutes, trust me and it’ll take about a minute to read your list so 3 times a day will be easy, I’m doing it so why not try!

Struggling with the reasons, think about the question, how will losing weight impact the different aspects of your life; friendships, family, career, social life, love life, energy levels, recreational activities, your body, appearance, self-image, health, mental state!

Our weight has such an effect on our life and it’s likely that weight loss will impact so many different aspects, it’s good to have an idea of some of them, so try and think of as many advantages to losing weight as you can.  Write them down and carry them around with you, or store them on your phone like I have and remember you can keep adding things as you think of them.

What are you thinking, “I don’t need to remind myself of the reasons to lose weight by writing them down, I know them”.  Yeah maybe you do, sitting here now early in the morning but think of all the times you’ve strayed from your diet in the past, I bet at that moment you were thinking of all the advantages of looking weight at those moments.  It’s not like it’s going to take a long time is it!  A few minutes now then 3 minutes a day for the foreseeable future, is that too difficult – REALLY!  If you want to successfully lose weight, you’re going to need to stay doing things that take EFFORT!

What’s the big deal – DO IT!

Not sure what your reasons are, here are a few more suggestions;

I’ll look better.

I’ll be more attractive to others.

I’ll be able to wear a smaller size.

I’ll be able to wear more stylish clothes.

I’ll be happier when I look in the mirror.

I’ll get pleasure out of clothes shopping.

I won’t feel so self-conscious.

I’ll enjoy better health.

I’ll be able to exercise without discomfort or embarrassment.

I’ll live longer.

I’ll feel better physically.

I’ll have more energy.

I’ll be more physically fit.

I'll be able to run round with my children/grandchildren

I’ll enjoy sexual intimacy more.

I’ll like myself more.

I’ll feel more in control.

I’ll feel as if I’ve accomplished something important.

I’ll have more confidence.

I’ll increase my self-esteem.

I’ll be less self-critical.

I’ll feel more outgoing.

I’ll do more things (like go swimming/to the beach)

I won’t have to listen to my family comment about what I’m eating.

I’ll be able to be more assertive.

I won’t mind eating in front of others.

I won’t have anyone bugging me about my weight.

And if you’re sat there thinking ‘this won’t make any difference, this won’t help me lose weight.  Won’t it, how’d you know?  Have you tried it already?  Is it worth 3 minutes a day to give something a go, if you knew it had a 100% success rate you’d do it, you’ve tried things in the past that didn’t work, so why not just do it, what have you got to lose other than weight?

Have a tremendous Tuesday, I will.