When I was trying to lose weight, I had a love-hate relationship with my bathroom scale. I allowed the numbers on it to make or break my day. I also weighed in every time I went to the bathroom! I abused my scale, instead of using it for periodic check-ins to help keep me on track.
Through 20 years of experience, I’ve found there are three key points that keep my clients accountable when they’re losing weight:
1. Weigh in- Years ago, I told my clients to never — ever get on the scale. Based on my own experience of weighing myself too often and paying the price, I felt it would wreck their motivation. I now believe that getting on the scale 3-4 times a month can actually be helpful. In fact, research indicates that those who strategically use the scale as a weapon in their weight loss arsenal may lose more weight than those who never weigh in.
2. Track your food – I always hear groans from my clients when I ask them to write down what they eat. Then, a week later and two pounds lighter, they tell me what a revelation it was to see what they were actually eating. Writing it down helps prevent sneaky calories from slipping in and torpedoing their efforts. Research shows that those who track what they eat lose twice as much weight as those who don’t. I’d say that’s worth the extra five minutes it takes to jot down your diet throughout the day.
3. Buddy-up- Having a diet and exercise support system is key. When you set up a date to meet a friend for a walk, there’s about a 90% chance you’ll actually do it. If you think about “maybe” going for a walk “sometime” today, I’d say you have a 90% chance of not completing it.
To help you keep yourself accountable, I’m giving away a free 1-hour session to one of my readers. (see side bar for June Sweepstake details)
Tip-78: My Top 10 Tips for a Healthy 2011
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010Tip #7 of My Top 10 for 2011
When I was overweight and unhealthy, my thought patterns were as unhealthy as my body. When I saw my image in a mirror, I would make a negative comment to myself, such as, “Wow, those pants are really tight” or some other snide comment.
According to research, the average person has about 60,000 thoughts per day, with 80% of those thoughts being negative. I heard a great quote from one of my mentors, she said, “your life will move in the direction of your most dominant thoughts”. Yikes! I was in trouble if my life was moving in the direction of my most common thoughts. According to that quote I was destined to be overweight, tired and grumpy for the rest of my life.
I needed to tame my mind and it felt like a daunting task. So instead of getting overwhelmed by trying to change all of my thoughts, I started small and decided to just work on my first thoughts of the day. Instead of starting the day saying “I’m so tired”, I changed my confession to, “I feel energized and I am excited about my day”. It took some practice but eventually it worked and my health and attitude began to change.
My favorite tip to change a negative mindset? Never say anything to yourself that you would not say to your best friend or spouse. It’s amazing how we say, or think, negative thoughts about ourselves but we would never say them to another person.
Here are more tips to help you create a positive attitude:
Tags: bad attitude, binge eating, change your thoughts, good attitude, negative comments, negative thought patterns, negative thoughts, overeating, overweight, power of positive thinking, snide remarks, stop overeatting
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