Where and How to Begin

Changing anything in your life is a process. If you want to lose weight you need to think about what the end result is going to be and how will this affect your happiness level. When I worked for L.A. Weight Loss I saw a lot of people losing weight for a different result. The people who had a hundred pounds or more to lose were trying to take the weight off the prolong their lives. The people who came in to lose twenty pounds were scared that they might becomes the ones who had a hundred or more pounds to lose. There were others who came to remove forty to sixty pounds to help their self-image or to make someone in their life love them more or pay more attention to them.

Yes, these were the top reasons and outcomes that people were looking to accomplish. The weight was the factor that helped them to achieve the result. So what is your reason and what result are you looking for along with less pounds?

I promise you that the weight will not move if you can't answer my question to you. This was always part of my initial discussion with new clients that came in even if the doctor had sent them. They needed to say out loud to me and especially to themselves what they wanted out of the weight loss. When I had this information, I could melt them like butter. And when you have this information you will melt too.

When you can answer this question here is what you do with the answer. You write it down and use it to re-enforce your will-power and determination to succeed. Let's say that you want your significant other to pay more attention to you. Then you need to remember that everytime someone passes fattening foods. If you can say to yourself, "will this get me to my goal as an item on Harry's plate?" When you say no to the food then you are saying yes to getting more attention from Harry or Sam or Sue or the world. This is the first step in winning the battle and keeping it going.

The underlying goal is more important than food and feeling good for the moment. I had a Hispanic gal come in whose husband had run off with another woman. She wanted him back so she figured that losing weight would do the trick. We struggled to get the hundred pounds off and she would yo-yo up and down. He would come over to get the kids and say things to her that would drive her to eat. When I finally showed her that the weight represented getting him back she started to lose steady and her attitude towards him improved. He could not set her off to the kitchen to eat rice and beans. She had taken control of her situation and her self-esteem. The ending is not what you expect. After we worked off about fifty pounds she went to the casino met a guy who liked her just as she was and she didn't have the need to lose weight anymore and stopped the program.

I am sure this is not what you wanted to hear but it was the true ending. She received the result that she had come for-more self-esteem and someone who would love her for herself. It did not take a hundred pounds to reach the happiness level that she thought she needed. Fifty did the trick.

So, for you to begin a program find what you really want out of the weight loss and make that your goal. Then we will look at how much in pounds that is going to be worth.

Thin is a choice

Merry Christmas! I know as you eat the turkey, ham and trimming today you are saying that tomorrow you shall diet or maybe for you it is after the holidays. There is no time like NOW to think about you weight. So you just waddled away from the table and ate extra helpings of everything, how can you think about losing weight. The good news is that was ONE meal. It may have been a big meal or equal to a couple of meals but the truth is it only one meal. Now your choice is what are you going to do at the next meal?

I can hear your answer, I will just eat a salad. Will a salad make you feel as if you had a meal or will you feel deprived while everyone else is chowing down on left over mashed potatoes, gravy and the like? This is your dilemma. What choices can you make faced with a table full of food that won't make your pants or buttons pop? Oh, did I hear you say you wore elastic in your waistband so they would "give" when you needed them? Well, that is one way of handling the situation. Our problem is we probably do this at more than the holiday season. Most people add about 6 to 10 pounds during this time of year. Yep, you heard me right.

So our first step is making choices, do I let my head and my stomach run the show or my brain? Can I find things on the table that are not going to slow down my metabolism or that are calorie loaded that I can eat and be satisfied? If I eat some of everything I like can I make small portions to taste not "pig out" on?

Life is full of choices and being thin is just one more. You can choose to be thin or run around trying the latest fads diets and running your metabolism up and down like a yo-yo. When you mentally choose to be thin, you will be. There are things and people who keep us from making that choice. The stress in life can keep you from that choice, the pressure from people who are always saying, "go ahead, you can have one more. You can diet tomorrow." These people are not your friends! They are food-pushers just like drug dealers, they know your drug and they are pushing. JUST SAY NO! If they get offended then you know they are food-pushers and run to the diet police, well anyway run.

Our lesson today is making a choice to be thin. When you decide that is what you want more than a quick fix, then you are more than halfway there. Remember, nothing taste as good as being thin feels!