The secrets to successful weight loss

You have made a New Year Resolution to lose weight.  You have announced to the whole world that you are determined to lose weight.  To show your determination, you have signed up for gym membership.  You are determined to huff and puff your way to the ideal weight.
Yet your family is indifferent to your effort.  Your colleagues smile and look at each other knowingly.  Your friends predict the demise of your plan.
Why?  Because you had started so many times to lose weight in the past.  Not a single time has you succeed in maintaining the effort for more than 3 months.  So why should they believe you now?
You had signed up for nearly every slimming program in the world.  You had tried so many kinds of “guaranteed” weight loss diets. 
What went wrong?  The answer is YOU. 
There is nothing wrong with all the programs that you had signed up.  There is nothing wrong with all the diets that you had tried.  After all, so many people had successfully shed off their excess using the same programs and diets that you had tried and failed.  
So the problem is not in the diets or programs.  The problem is YOU.
Why?  The answer is that YOU have not successfully lost weight in your mind. In your mind, you are still the same old you. 
You have not convinced yourself that weighing 60 pounds lighter is achievable.  You have not experienced the joy of watching the scale stops at 10 pounds lighter.  You have not experienced the praises of all your relatives, friends and colleagues in your mind.  
What you cannot imagine is possible, you cannot achieve.  In your mind, in your imagination, you MUST see yourself as the slimmer you.  You MUST see your slim body slides into the absolutely gorgeous evening dress.  You MUST see yourself giving advice about the success of weight loss.  You MUST see and hear all the praises sang by your admirers.
Are you ready to start now? Let us walk through the mental weight loss together.
First, take out your note book.  Write about yourself in third person narration.  For example “At age 26 and weighing 300 pounds, Jane felt miserable.  She hated her body and she felt that nobody loved her.  Her boyfriend had left her for a prettier and slimmer woman. 
She made the resolution to lose weight.  She did not know it then, but that was the turning point in her life.”
Continue the writing, detailing how Jane struggled with herself and in the end she achieved her ideal weight.
“At age 31 and weighing 150 pounds, Jane looked absolutely gorgeous.  She radiated confidence wherever she went.  All her friends envied her.  How they wished that they had her shapely figure.”
As you write, see yourself in Jane.  See the pain of foregoing the high calories fatty food at the party.  Experience the joy of shopping for new clothes a size smaller. 
Losing weight is a long and painful process.  It is also a very, very lonely process.  Your friends who are also unsuccessful in weight loss will tempt you to give up the effort. 
Your friends who are slim and very fortunate to have high metabolism will not understand the struggle either.   At the Christmas party where you try to control your desire to eat all the “forbidden” food.  Your slimmer friends are gobbling down everything.  They never seem to grow fat.
So invent a fairy godmother to help Jane.  The fairy godmother will comfort her when she feels that success is no longer possible.  The fairy godmother will rejoice with her when she reaches every milestone in the weight loss journey.  The fairy godmother will encourage her when she feels so lazy to move.
Now let us talk about the practical.  You CANNOT lose weight if you DO NOT enjoy the activities.  If you hate workouts on the gym equipments, so much so that you feel a dread every time you go to the gym.  How can you succeed in weight loss?
So the second secret to weight loss is to find activities that you absolutely love to do.
Let us continue writing about Jane, we shall help her find those activities.
“Jane listed all the activities that she loved.  There were a total of 20 activities in the list.   Jane re-arranged them in order of calories loss.  Shopping topped the list and watching TV occupied the lowest position.
But Jane was a shopaholic!  Once she stepped into the mall, she would spend and spend and spend.  It would take months for her to repay the credit card debt for a day of spending.
Our dear Fairy Godmother appeared.  She whispered to Jane ‘Jane dear, go ahead to the mall.  Go and see all the pretty dresses.  Feel the silk, wear them in your imagination.  Do not fear, my child.  Just go.  Enjoy yourself.  You are not going to buy anything, because you are not going to bring your money or your credit card.’
Jane did just so!  She walked and walked in the mall.  She had not a penny with her.  Her bag contained only a bottle of water and an apple.  How she loved window shopping!  She’s determined to come to the mall every day!”
I am willing to bet my last dollar on Jane.  She will be a roaring success.  So will YOU!  Yes, you WILL succeed.  I have confidence in YOU.
May God bless you on the journey to a slimmer and gorgeous YOU.

Source: http://mintarticles.com 

Author: Siew Cheng Hoe (scheng1)
A passionate blogger from Singapore.