Maria's Last Diet

Are You Ready to Start the Weight Loss Process

by Maria's Last Diet

Are you prepared? If you think you are, list what you brought with you to the process of weight loss.

Did you bring good motivation, a lasting commitment, a strong desire? What about plans? Do you have general plans like “I will do whatever it takes to lose weight” and specific plans like “I plan to start a protein-oriented diet in just a few days.” What do you have for tough situations? Have you thought about those? Did you bring anything with you for tough situations? Tough situations crop up all the time during the weight loss process.

You might, just might, have brought with you some of your reasons for failing to lose weight too. What are you going to do with these things? Do you know what they are and whether you still have them with you? Perhaps you are still carrying around that lack of persistence, which only got you so far when you were dieting last time. You could be harboring that need to emotionally eat. What about getting discouraged? Have you licked that yet, or is the likelihood you will get discouraged still very much with you.

As you can see, it’s probably best if you make a list of both kinds of foundations, good and bad, that you are bringing with you to the weight loss process.

 

Beginning a Diet

by Maria's Last Diet

The way I woke up the sleeping dieter in me was gently, like you would wake a baby.

I did it not by making a sudden promise to go on a hard diet. I spoke softly to myself with encouraging thoughts, words of appreciation. I remembered how I can accomplish things sometimes, and it gave me the idea of taking a first baby step.

I began where I was, didn't push or shove, didn't criticize or judge, but slowly, positively, I started to be more aware. I began to advocate for myself, be my own friend, recognizing tiny accomplishments, and rewarding them.

I woke up the sleeping dieter in me as you would call to a baby, with a loving touch, a kind word, a smile.

   excerpt from    Psych Your Diet: A Daily Dose. Volume 1. Psych Yourself to Start. Symmetry Press.

 

Ready, Get Set, Start Your Diet. Here’s How.

by Maria's Last Diet

What’s it take to start your weight-loss regimen?

Well, you might say choosing a diet. And you’d be wrong.

How about joining a weight-loss program like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig? And you’d be wrong again.

Deciding to start? Nope.

Eating less? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Here’s what it takes. Desire. Commitment. Motivation. An anti-procrastination mindset. A period of getting ready. Knowhow. Realistic optimism. Hopefulness. Planning. Goal setting. Weight-loss strategies. Self-awareness. Self-confidence. A self-esteem shield. Support. Monitoring awareness. Personal change prowess.

That’s quite a list, isn’t it? You’re probably thinking that this is an impossible set of things to ask of someone who just wants to start to diet. Yet, if you look carefully at the process of starting, it takes all of these nonfood, non-eating items on the list, and sometimes more.

Put them all under the heading of using psychology to get started. For that’s exactly what it takes—you and your psychology. Just how much of each item you will need to start is up to you.

For more about starting your weight-loss regimen, MariasLastDiet.com has lots of blog posts on this subject. There is also the self-help book, Psych Your Diet: A Daily Dose. Volume 1. Psych Yourself to Start, which is part of the Symmetry Press series Weight-Loss Books for Women — Using Psychology to Lose Weight.

 

How Ready to Lose Weight Are You?

by Maria's Last Diet

Too many women with excess weight to lose believe that all it takes to start a weight-loss regimen is a decision to do so. Their logic goes like this: “I haven’t decided to start dieting. Once I decide to, I’ll start.”

To these women, “deciding to” looks like it works. But weight-loss failure is so prevalent that the belief that “deciding to” works has to be a form of false optimism. If anything, the naïve belief in simply “deciding to” contributes to false starts and sudden stops, making it impossible to lose weight.  

So what exactly does it take to get ready to start your weight-loss journey? Probably first off, you have to want to do it. Wanting to is probably the best point of departure. A lot goes into “wanting to”. “Wanting to” is not a homogeneous motivation. It has depth and breadth and lots of parts. It is most likely made up of many experiences over a great deal of time, making wanting to a conclusion that you’ve come to from these experiences.

Some of these experiences that make up the “I want to” will be bad, but definitely motivating. You will “want to” start dieting to avoid having these bad experiences again.

For example, feeling way too full and bloated can scare you into wanting to do something about it. Seeing a very fat woman in your very own personal mirror can start you thinking about how to not look fat.

Experiences that make you uncomfortable enough to start thinking about doing something about being really heavy is where a truer than true “I want to” comes from. 

There are also your good experiences that get you motivated to lose weight. Let’s say you were recognized for some achievement you made, and you felt proud of yourself. You could take these prideful feelings and use them to feel ready to take some small, but mighty weight-loss steps. 

As you can see, “wanting to” is part of the process of becoming mentally and motivationally prepared to reduce your weight. “Wanting to” is very different from “deciding to”.

So next time— be diet-wise and weight-loss-wise, and make sure you “want to” and not just “decide to”.