Weight Loss without Worry

    People who struggle with losing weight are highly intelligent and very creative.  I have seen people create the most ingenious strategies to keep themselves on track and away from temptation.  They know the calorie counts of every food, the best times during the day to eat and they understand the science behind low-carb dieting.

     Unfortunately, the problem of reaching and maintaining your ideal weight is not a lack of knowledge.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that most who struggle with their weight know more about eating well and how to live a healthy life than the Average Joe.

     The answer to the question, "how should I eat?" is easy to find – just type "Healthy Diet" into your search engine and you will get over 15 million sites to read up on.  The real question is WHY do you continue to eat in a way that sabotages your goals?  Why do you diet all week just to blow it on the weekend?  Why do you stop going to the gym even though you were convinced that if you paid for the whole year up front you would stay dedicated?  Why do stress and worry derail you so easily from your plan?

     Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor and Philosopher from the 2nd century A.D., said "Our life is what our thoughts make it."  He had it right.  You might be telling yourself you want to lose weight; yet, inside your head you’re thinking "I will never be able to do it."  It is your deep-rooted thoughts and beliefs that determine if you will reach your goal; not your ability to rattle off the number of calories in a McDonald’s cheeseburger.

     I would suggest you stop learning about diets and start learning about yourself.  I am not saying that being intelligent and knowing the facts are bad, but just knowing something will not result in the success you desire.  Learning about yourself means discovering what your current thoughts and beliefs are about your weight and your body.  Do you tell yourself things like, "I have been heavy all of my life, I will never change." this mindset must change if you expect to maintain a significant weight loss.  What you believe is a choice.  You can choose to believe that you are capable of losing weight and start to seek out examples of those who did it before you, just type "Weight Loss Success Stories" into your search engine and you will have over 9 million sites to visit!

     Weight loss is 50% Mindset and 50% Diet/Exercise so stop putting all your time, energy and brain power into learning about the next new diet program and start working on creating a mindset that will make reaching your goal a "no brainer".

Photo provided by Amy Kearns on Flickr