Maria's Last Diet

How to Get To Successful Weight Loss? Smart Planning.

by Maria's Last Diet

Do you plan? Yes, plan out the where, when, and how you will do what you need to do in order to lose unwanted weight? Do you do this religiously? In other words, do you take account beforehand of what you will be encountering in this weight-loss process you’ve chosen to undertake? Or, do you just wing it?

If you haven’t tried it—planning, that is, put it at the top of your list. It works for starting a weight-loss regimen, sticking to the regimen, and in the end it works for maintaining weight loss too.

It’s planning, after all, that supports your intention to stop being heavy. What to do. When to do it. How to do it. These are all part of planning. Don’t do them unintentionally. Do them with forethought. Make your plan for when, for what, and for how very specific—as specific as you can make them.

A good form to put your personal weight-loss plan in is When X, then I will do Y. For example: “When I get hungry between meals, I will stop and think about whether I’m really hungry or not.” But, if it’s to be a specific plan—a very specific, specific plan, then you’re going to have to know how you will do this. You’ve never been able to do stop yourself from being dictated to by your so-called hunger before. So why should you be able to stop yourself now? In other words, how will you pull off this feat of simply investigating what is making you hungry if you’re not really hungry.

This is what it takes for successful weight loss. This is what the successful weight loser—or, better put, the successful weight winner—does. She plans for just this kind of happenstance. She knows herself. She knows her limitations when it comes to paving the weight-loss road with her good intentions. She knows planning’s the thing, and she gets so good at it—planning, that is—that when the time comes for what she intended, her intention has her full support, almost automatically, by that very specific—yes, that specific of specifics plan she made ahead of time.

Get it?

Go to it.

Go do it.

 

How to Keep Your Weight-Loss Resolution for the New Year

by Maria's Last Diet

Here you are at the New Year again, resolving to go about losing a lot of weight—sensibly this time. What weight-loss goals have you set for yourself?

Have you only set performance goals?

  “I’m going to lose 40 pounds.”

  “I’m going to lose all this weight by spring.”

Have you only set performance goals related to pounds and weight?

What about changing eating habits?

    “I will cut out all junk food snacks.”

And how about the less obvious causes of what makes you fat?

   “I will stop being a doormat and stand up straight and tall.”

   “I don’t have to be the life of the party—all the time.”

 

Everyone who makes a New Year’s Resolution usually does it by having a performance goal in mind.

But what about learning goals?

These would seem more to the point when it comes to doing something that is obviously hard for you to do.

And learning goals make it easier to keep a resolution.

   “I will learn what is the best way for me to shed those extra pounds.”

   “I will see why I have such a problem with food and make plans to do something about it.”

As you can see, one big difference between performance goals and learning goals is that learning goals go along with who you are and what you can currently accomplish. They are more flexible and forgiving than performance goals. And this is just what you need when you want to lose weight and keep a resolution.

 

Setting Weight-Loss Goals to Avoid Frustration and Failure

by Maria's Last Diet

Bet you won’t reach your primary goal if you don’t have the sub-goals to get you there.

   Primary goal: Losing some weight.

   Very specific primary goal: To lose at least 40 pounds.

   Even more specific primary goal: To lose at least 40 pounds over the next year.

Well, there you are. You’ve got the primary goal pinned down real well for yourself.

But where are your sub-goals? You can’t get to your primary goal without them.

They’re the stepping-stones that you rely on to take you from where you are to where you wish to be. They are how you’re going to get to your goal weight.

Also—without full awareness and doting (yes, doting) on your sub-goals, you are left to focus too much on your primary goal of losing all that unwanted weight. The journey will take a year, and if you focus too much on getting to your ultimate goal, the journey may seem too long and too daunting to continue. Too much focus on your primary goal and you not only can be put off by the length and arduousness of the journey, but also by the constant reminder that you’re not there yet. The “not being there yet” part can stir up feelings of failure.

Without sub-goals, you’ll be facing the weight-loss process without the required safety net.

Of course, all women who take the weight-loss journey establish sub-goals.  So what are your sub-goals? Are they good enough? Do you dote enough on them? Do you count enough on them? Are you selecting the right ones?

   Some sub-goal examples:

      #1. I’ll start dieting by the end of the month.

      #2: Until then, I’ll study up on healthy diets to lose weight, and make sure I don’t go on a restrictive diet.

      #3: All my life, I’ve had problems sticking to a diet, I’ll have to work on my dieting motivation before I start dieting and while I am dieting.

 

Are “Can’t Start Diet” Thoughts Ruining Your life?

by Maria's Last Diet

Can’t fall asleep? Thinking that once again you didn’t follow through and start a diet? You’ve wanted to, but you’ve been unable to. Not going ahead to start dieting is interfering with your life. It even sneaks its way into your consciousness at work. Before you know it, you’re thinking of how to do it, and how you didn’t do it, and you’re not concentrating on work.

What can you do to stop your guilty thinking, your self-recrimination, your persistent thinking of what you are not doing? What can you do to stop this issue from raising its ugly head time after time and ruining your day? 

Yes, not having all the dieting motivation you need to start can be nagging. But goading yourself and finding fault with yourself are not doing it for you either. They’re making it worse. So why not stop thinking about how you are not dieting until you’re ready to do it?

If this is what you’re going through, you can put an end to this self-torture. One of the best ways to get your diet goal off your mind and out of your life (for now) is to make a plan to diet. There is good psychological research that supports taking this kind of action. Make the dieting plan specific—how, when, what, why, and where, and you’ll finally be able to lay aside your intrusive thoughts about not being able to start dieting.

 

Your Intentions Are Good, But You’re Still Not Able to Lose Weight. Now What?

by Maria's Last Diet

The road to weight-loss failure is paved with the right intentions.

“I will lose my additional weight.”

“I will start dieting to lose weight now.”

“I’m going to make sure that very soon I won’t be looking fat anymore.”

If this is you, your intentions are good. 

So they don’t pave the way to being unable to lose weight, you’ve got to give those intentions of yours a twist in the right direction.

For instance, if you perceive an intention of yours as being accessible—really accessible, it probably means that you are more likely then to pursue that intention. This is the kind of twist you need.

Where successful dieting is concerned one important intention is self-regulation. If you can get control of yourself when you are being tempted to go off your diet, the good self-control you exercised should lead you to using self-control even more.

Try it, and pave the road to successful weight loss with accessible intentions.

 

The Planning Fallacy When It Comes to the Weight-Loss Process

by Maria's Last Diet

Do you fall for the planning fallacy? If so, it means that you underestimate the time it takes to complete a task?

Well, there are lots of tasks in the weight-loss process.

There’s:

• finding the right diet for you
• preparing the good diet food
• starting your diet
• reducing the effects of your old weight gaining triggers
• getting yourself to stick to the diet
• dealing with feelings of loss and deprivation
• changing the behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, and feelings that led to overeating, repetitive snacking, living life for fattening foods, binging

These are only some of the tasks you will have to plan for during the weight-loss process.  You can probably think of others.

So there you are, being optimistic (read: underestimating the time it will take to get yourself to start your diet). The pitfall: you lose faith in yourself and in the weight-loss process you’ve chosen when you don’t meet the deadlines you have in mind. This is no good. If anything, you need to feel encouraged when you’re doing something as hard as trying to lose some weight.

The antidote: Remember to keep the planning fallacy in mind and realize that you will probably underestimate the time it will take to complete a task (for example: all that’s involved in losing the first 5 pounds).

 

Need Help Losing Weight? Try Specific Planning.

by Maria's Last Diet

“I don’t like the way I look and the way I feel. I worry about my health. It’s tough for me to bend and stoop and climb. I’ve got to do something about this. I’ll find a diet and go on it.”

How many times have how many women said this to themselves?

It’s not a bad idea. Their intention is good: “I’ve got to do something about this.” Their plan, though, is too general.

Specific plans—very specific plans—make achieving your goal more likely. Detailed planning puts you in the driver’s seat. Specifying your diet plan, when you’ll start your diet, how you’ll go about having good diet food on hand, and what you’ll do with the fattening foods that may tempt you, are examples of a more detailed plan. But there’s still more.

What is your plan for cheating on your diet? Everyone, but everyone, gets to cheating on a diet. You’ll probably say to yourself I’ll go right back on my diet. But how? This is where specific planning comes in. You could say, “I know myself. I’ll lose heart if I cheat. I’ll be self-critical, and then I’ll feel like I want to stop dieting.” See. To support your intention of going right back on, you’ll have to plan what to do about losing heart, being self-critical, and wanting to quit.

Making specific plans ahead of time gives you a leg up on yourself. You’ll be more hardheaded, and ready when the time comes. You’ll have a plan in hand for the cheat. You’ll have plans in hand for other likely occurrences. If you’ve dieted before—and who hasn’t—you know that the weight-loss process is filled with bumps and turns and all kinds of obstacles. Plan for these specifically before you launch yourself into the weight-loss process and you’re more likely to come away with the successful weight loss you intended for yourself.

 

Moving Forward with Your Weight-Loss Process

by Maria's Last Diet

Believe it or not, there is research that shows that simple visual cues of forward movement can activate your goal to achieve. This makes good sense, since we all implicitly realize that forward movement is what it takes to reach your goal.

Can you apply this to the weight-loss process? You could somehow set up your thinking to key on “moving forward”. Maybe you could design weight-loss strategies that impresss forward movement upon you. You can do this subtly and not so subtly.

You could lay out your daily food menu as if it was moving forward: For breakfast ----  scrambled eggs and bacon ------ on a buttered English muffin ------ with two squirts of concentrated lemon juice in 8 ounces of club soda. You could also put the weight-loss steps you will use on a path that leads to weight-loss maintenance.

Literally speaking: You can talk in “moving forward” language. “The forward movement I will make today is…”

Metaphorically speaking: You can use (or even invent) “moving forward” metaphors. “Sticking to my resolution is the best course to follow.” “I’ll stay the course.” “Here are the steps I will take to get me there.” “Here’s how I’ll leave my weight-loss failure behind.”

There Are 3 Levels to the Weight-Loss Process. Don't Get Off at the First.

by Maria's Last Diet

There are levels when it comes to reducing your weight. First, there is your intention. “I intend to lose all of my unwanted weight.” You can make what you intend to do even more specific: “I will aim to lose 45 pounds.” Even more specific—“45 pounds before next year.” As we all know, the road to weight-loss failure is paved with good intentions. It takes more than good intentions to achieve successful weight loss.

Next level: How will you actually do what you intend? This means having a plan, the kind of plan that lays out exactly or approximately how you will reach your goal. It can go like this, “I have every intention of losing a lot of weight. To do this I will have to—and here comes the plan—increase my motivation, settle some unsettling personal problems, pick a diet, make a list of dieting obstacles that have made for diet failure in the past, and so forth.”

The third level has to do with what makes the plan work.The plan makes your intentions work, but what makes the plan work? In a nutshell, the more specific the plan, the better the plan will work. For example: settle some unsettling personal problems can be specified in much greater detail. In it’s present form it’s too general, too vague. To make it more specific, very specific in fact, you’d have to specify as many of the variables as you can—such as, when, how, where, and why.

This third level of greater plan specificity is what makes the whole ball of wax work. With specifics like my biggest personal problem is my deteriorating relationship with my daughter, you would have to plan just how to repair the relationship, either in part or fully. You could start with the single biggest trigger for bad feelings between you and your daughter. If it’s her failure to observe her weekend curfew, start there. Plan how, when, and where you will talk with her about this and what you will say. Plan how to listen to her too. Review what she might say and how she might react emotionally, and then plan out how you could respond so that the friction between the two of you would be at a low.

Let’s review. Your intention. Your plan—which includes settling some unsettling personal problems. The importance of plan specificity. There you have it. The three levels that insure you against weight-loss failure.

How Long Will It Take Me To Lose Weight?

by Maria's Last Diet

It’s not unusual when you want to lose weight that you set a date by which you should reach your goal weight.

But research clearly shows that when people predict how much time they need to complete a task, they, more often than not, underestimate the time it takes. Underestimating the time it takes for you to lose your unwanted weight is an accident waiting to happen.

Think what it means to you when you don’t reach your goal weight in the time you’ve allotted. And what about your smaller goals along the way? Losing 2 pounds the first week. Eight pounds in the first month. Drop a waist size in a month-and-a-half. Are you in danger of underestimating the time it takes here too? A resounding yes.

Can you hold yourself back from this kind of overly optimistic calculation? It’s important to do so—to maintain your level of self-esteem, to keep up your good motivation, and to avoid a whole bunch of negative feelings toward yourself and toward the weight-loss process itself.

Are there ways to avoid all of this? One way is to not look at the process of weight loss as monolithic. Break it down into smaller weight-loss steps. Another way is to tone down your speedy approach to losing unwanted weight. Take it slow. You will estimate the time it takes more accurately if you do. And then there’s seeing how long it takes other women who weigh too much to lose the additional weight. Yes, there are models you can use to keep your calculations dead on.

Using these strategies and others you think of can go a long way to preventing you from underestimating.

Warning: Underestimating may result in weight-loss failure.