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”.
