Losing Weight - Discourage Discouragement

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Article Title:

Losing Weight - Discourage Discouragement

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Article Description:

As an important part of building our strong habits for

weight loss, we need to learn to identify and stop unhealthy

criticism and discouragement. Here are four key steps to

help you overcome these obstacles and clear the path to your

goals.

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915 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2010-04-09 10:30:00

Written By: Larry Tobin

Copyright: 2010

Contact Email: mailto:larry.tobin@...

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Losing Weight - Discourage Discouragement

Copyright © 2010 Larry Tobin

Habit Changer

http://www.HabitChanger.com/

One thing we all really understand is that dieting is hard. It

isn't just a case of 'not eating so much' or 'showing a

little willpower.' Our bodies have been evolving over millions

of years into very efficient energy storing machines. There

wasn't always as much food as there presently is, so our systems

are naturally inclined to want to store up energy whenever they

can. When we try to short-circuit that process and control our

diets, our bodies often argue with us! We get hunger pangs,

fatigue symptoms, and all the other things we've discussed so

far.

On top of that we often have others making things harder for us,

deliberately or inadvertently, with such advice as 'you don't

really need a diet' or 'just one meal out won't hurt you.'

With so much in our way, it can be so unfortunately easy to start

feeling discouraged. One thing after the other--be it our own

body, timing and scheduling, money concerns or our well meaning

friends--builds up until we just start telling ourselves that

it's too hard, and maybe we'd feel better trying again later.

The thing is, though, these feelings are temporary. Our friends

aren't always going to trip us up; as they come to understand

our choices, they will start to respect them more and do what

they can to help. Our bodies won't always fight us, either. As

we get used to our changes in diet, our bodies adapt and stop

sending those frustrating signals that cause us so much

frustration.

So as an important part of building our strong habits, we need to

learn to identify and stop unhealthy criticism and

discouragement. Here are four key steps to help you overcome

these obstacles and clear the path to your goals.

Step One - Identification

As we've stressed before, the key to control is having good

information. To that end, carry around your notebook or journal

with you today. Every time you have a discouraging thought, stop

and write it down. In another article we discussed the STOP

method, so feel free to incorporate this process into your STOP

behaviors. After all, good habits build on each other and make

each other stronger.

At the same time, make sure you also studiously note down every

positive action you find yourself taking during the day. Whether

it's a small step like having a healthy granola bar instead of a

chocolate or reaching a major goal in a fifteen-day plan, make a

note of it alongside your negative actions. Keep these notes

together, they'll be important in a bit.

Step Two - Comparison

So the day has come to an end, and you've kept your notes. Now

is the time to take a look at them side by side and see just what

they look like. Chances are that for most cases, you probably had

several good choices for each discouraging thought. When we try

to set new goals for ourselves, we often find ourselves trying to

compensate for bad choices with several good ones, and this can

sometimes happen when we're talking about discouraging thoughts

as well.

However, even if your negative thoughts outweighed your good ones

for a day, you shouldn't give up. Consider it another goal to

set, that for the next day you'll make sure to build up plenty

of positive reminders to help offset the negative ones.

Step Three - Qualification

There is a difference between legitimate criticism and unhealthy

discouragement. Sometimes we do genuinely mess up, and eat a bit

more than we intended. In these cases, it is entirely fine to say

to ourselves, 'That didn't go very well, I should do better

next time.' But do notice the second part of the phrase, the

all-important 'next time.'

Healthy criticism is aimed at keeping us on the right track, and

identifying where we've made a mistake so that we don't do it

again. Unhealthy discouragement by contrast will very rarely have

an uplifting 'next time' message attached. More likely these

thoughts will be along the lines of 'you messed up, just like

always.'

Take a little time to get some distance from your negative

thoughts. Give yourself a day so you have the ability to think

clearly and in proper context, and then take a look back at your

recent list of discouraging remarks you've made to yourself.

Consider each one, and see whether it was just frustration

talking or if there might be a grain of truth to it. If the

latter case is true, consider how you can rephrase the original

thought into a healthy bit of criticism, adding a positive 'next

time,' message.

Step Four - Practice

Our emotions come and go in cycles, and they also respond

strongly to outside influences. Sometimes we'll be going along

just fine, and a bad week at work will lead us to get frustrated

with other things, including our diet efforts, and we'll let

that discouragement creep in.

At times like this, we have to remember to keep identifying,

comparing, and qualifying our negative remarks, until we've

traded them entirely in for more appropriate, healthy criticism

that we can use to seriously look at our problems and better

ourselves.

Discouragement can be our worst enemy, but it is one we can beat

with careful effort and a little time. Integrate these four steps

into your daily routine to ditch discouraging thoughts and

replace them with the healthy, positive habits needed to attain

your weight loss goals.

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Larry Tobin is the co-creator of

http://www.HabitChanger.com/ offering effective

and empowering solutions for losing weight.

Try our 42-day weight loss program at:

http://www.habitchanger.com/losingweight