Maria's Last Diet

by Maria's Last Diet

We are often reluctant to face our problems squarely. We tend to sidestep them avoid thinking of them. Sometimes, in order to skirt responsibility for something not going right in our lives, we cast the blame on something else or someone else.

This is an effective way to stay with a problem such as difficulty with weight control. If it's someone else's fault, how can you fix it? If the blame goes to something outside of you, then there's not much you can do, is there?

It may seem easier to direct your frustration or your disappointment about your weight away from yourself. But the plain truth is it's only within you that change can occur. Once you take responsibility for a problem you are on your way to a solution.

by Maria's Last Diet

When all the noise dies down, when there's no party going on, you're not on the phone with a girlfriend, the kids aren't running around the house, you're not fighting with anyone, you're not rushing home from work to start dinner...

When you're not late for an appointment or cramming for an exam or preparing a presentation, when it's not Christmas or July 4th or Thanksgiving, when you're not worrying about money or your mom or your career, when the noise dies down for a moment and it's quiet and your with only yourself, when you take those few moments, a time out, a think time, a feel time, a you time...

Ask yourself about your weight problem then, and listen carefully to what you think.

by Maria's Last Diet

Are you totally discouraged about losing weight at this point?

The best way to get encouraged is to develop the skills you need to lose weight. That may sound weird to you, but there are skills involved. It is much more than just deciding to go on a diet. A diet is something you've probably decided to do before. What will make it different this time?

How about studying up and preparing yourself this time. That will definitely up your chances for lasting success.

Interestingly, it probably doesn't have to do so much with the specific ways in which you tool up for your diet project. It has more to do with knowing that you are equipped to do it this time.

This is an individual matter. Ask yourself: How did I mess up last time? Where did I go astray? What are the areas of dieting that cause me the most trouble, and how can I be better armed to meet those challenges?

We've said this before, but it is all important. You need to know you can do it, and that takes being more capable and informed at the outset.

by Maria's Last Diet

Women who are overweight and feel stuck there are sometimes in conflict, although the conflict may not be so obvious to them. A woman may think she really wants to get thin and she just doesn't have enough willpower to do it. But for many women there are two opposing wishes: one to lose the weight and be thin, the other to stay fat.

Investigating such a conflict can be an eye opener. Here's a good way to get in touch with this. Write an argument between the part of you that wants to lose weight and the part of you that wants to stay as you are.

We all tend to cling to what we know and we have a tendency to resist big changes. Recognizing such a tendency in yourself can be part of the solution.

by Maria's Last Diet

In order to achieve an important goal such as weight loss, it helps to keep your focus on the tasks required to reach the goal - diet, lifestyle changes, breaking bad habits. It helps not to focus on your inabilities when it comes to these things, but to concentrate on the abilities you do possess that you can put to use.

Shifting your focus this way can make a world of difference.

by Maria's Last Diet

WHY DID YOU FAIL ON YOUR LAST DIET?

A well known commercial for a diet pill asks you this, and then tells you it's because you're not taking their pill.

It's a great question. It's just the wrong answer.

The government says most of those pills don't work and can no longer claim they do.

So, why did you fail on your last diet?

It's an important question that deserves a real answer.

by Maria's Last Diet

Suppose someone says to you: You just don't have what it takes to lose the weight! Could you mount an argument for why you do have what it takes? Try it.

by Maria's Last Diet

Dear Maria...

I just read a magazine article about "feel good food". It talked about comfort foods, food from your childhood that make you feel all warm and fuzzy like mac and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, mashed potatoes, ice cream sundaes, all that. While I was reading it, I was thinking how all foods are comfort foods for me. I don't distinguish one food as noncomfort and another as comfort. I don't think of meatloaf and gravy as comforting and salad as not. It all works for me, unfortunately. That's the problem.