Most people think that calories and exercise are the most important things when you want to lose weight, at least when you are doing it the old-fashioned, natural way. I disagree. I believe the mind is the most important. Your thoughts are the biggest part of anything that you accomplish and weight loss is no exception.
There are three things that you have to do to get your mind on board with your plan to lose weight. First is to set a measurable goal, second is to believe that you can reach your goal, and third is to decide that you will accomplish your goal no matter what. Without them you will probably never lose the weight you want to lose.
How Much Weight Are You Going to Lose?
A good goal has to be specific and measurable. Otherwise you don’t really know what your target is or how you are doing toward reaching that target.
As I said last time, my overriding desire is to feel better. Not that I feel bad or anything. I just know that I have felt better before when I carried less weight.
That’s a great idea, but it isn’t very specific goal. It’s not something that I can easily track. For losing weight, a number on a scale or a waist size is a much better target. It is easy to see how much progress you have made when you compare your current number with your goal.
My measurable goal is weight. I have a specific number that I want to see shining up at me in bright blue on my scale’s digital display. It is very clearly in my mind.
I also like to have short term goals. I do not believe for a moment that my weight each day will make a perfectly straight line from where I started to where I want to be. It’s going to go up and go down. So my short term goal is to reach my next best number. For example, if my best day so far is 210, then my next short term goal is 209.
Short term goals, whether they are 1 pound or 5 pounds, give you something to celebrate more often and keep your mind in the game, especially when your overall goal is a big one that will likely take several months.
Have a Deadline
Some success teachers say that you need to set a deadline for your goal as well. Bob Proctor said that a goal without a deadline is just a dream. I agree with that for most goals, but not as much for a weight loss goal. At least not a firm deadline.
Losing weight and keeping it off requires changing your habits around eating and exercise. The more weight you want to lose, the bigger the change in your habits. It takes time and you don’t want to get discouraged and quit because you slipped another deadline.
On the other hand, not having a deadline might give you the leeway to never get started, so you do need something. For me that’s accountability, which I will talk about in a moment. But first…
You Have to Believe You Can Reach Your Goal
Setting your goal is the first step. Believing you can reach your goal is the second.
You have to have an iron-clad belief that you not only can achieve your weight loss goal, you will. In your mind it is a done deal, no question. Absolutely nothing will stop you.
The gurus, I think it was Bob Proctor again, say that you have to believe in your goal the same way you believe that the light will come on when you flip on the light switch. I’ve realized that’s not good enough. The power goes out, bulbs expire, a breaker pops. Any number of things can happen to prevent the light bulb coming on.
If Mr. Proctor was still alive, I think he’d approve of this analogy: you have to know that you will reach your goal like you know that the sun will rise in the morning. You know it is going to happen. It has to. And to be honest, if the sun doesn’t come up, you’re not going to need your weight loss goal anymore. We will all have much bigger problems.
Affirmations and Visualization to Build Belief
There are a variety of methods to help you build up the belief that you can reach your goal. Affirmations are one popular method. Create a statement that tells your subconscious mind that you not only can reach your goal, you already have. For example:
I am so happy and grateful now that I weigh a healthy 120 pounds.
Replace the number and the unit of weight to fit your own goal and where you live. Repeat your affirmation first thing when you wake up and last thing before you go to bed. You can write it on your bathroom mirror, tape it to the center of the steering wheel in your car, and display it on the lock screen of your phone. Put it anywhere that you are likely to see it often to help you imprint it on your mind.
Visualization is another popular technique. Close your eyes and see yourself standing on the scale and your desired weight on the display, like I said above. See your feet on the scale as you look down at the display and that number glowing up at you in whatever color your scale uses. You can also visualize yourself shopping for new clothes because all of the clothes you already own are now too big. Hear your friends or colleagues congratulating you on how great you look. The more senses you can get involved in your visualization the better.
Make a Decision
I was just reminded about decisions today. When you make a decision there is no other option than completing what you decide to do. You go forward and burn every bridge you cross because you aren’t going back.
For example, my daughter decided yesterday to go to the eye doctor because one of her eyes has been a little red. She tried a handful of doctors but couldn’t get in the same day, but she didn’t give up. Instead she found one she could make an appointment at before work this morning. She has to pass through some road construction on her way into town and it rained this morning. Something must have happened because there was an ambulance blocking the road and she couldn’t get through. Instead of giving up, she turned around and found another route (which isn’t always easy in the foothills of the Appalachians). Meanwhile I called the doctor to let them know she would be late.
The point is, she made the decision to go, found her way around any and all obstacles, and finally arrived at her goal. She never considered the possibility of not seeing an eye doctor. That’s what a decision is. And her eye will be fine.
Accountability
I said earlier that I don’t like the idea of a deadline when it comes to losing weight. In lieu of that, or in addition to it if you decide to set one, is accountability. Find someone who is willing to hold you accountable for making progress on your weight loss goal.
Your accountability partner doesn’t have to understand what you are trying to accomplish or how you will go about it. They don’t have to want to lose weight too, though it can help. They just have to care enough to check in with you on a regular basis, listen to how well you did since last time and what you want to do by the next meeting. It can take as little as 5 minutes.
For example, I have an accountability partner in another program I am in to build my online business. Other than both being in the same program, neither of us knows anything about what the other person is working on. We set a day and time that we check in with each other every week, Sunday evening in this case. I will review my goals for the previous week and how well I did, then set my goals for the next week. Then he will do the same. We will take about 15 or 20 minutes because we are both in the program and acting as the accountability partner for each other.
Some people take it to the next level and have some kind of penalty if they don’t reach their accountability goals by check in, like donating to a charity or buying the other person lunch. It’s like the swear jar idea. Everyone holds everyone else accountable for not swearing. If someone does, they have to put a dollar in the swear jar. That’s a very common form of accountability with a penalty for failing to meet the established goal.
My Update, Then Your Turn
Since my last post I have lost one pound and maintained that for the past several days. It’s not much but I’ll take it.
My biggest takeaway from writing this post is that I don’t use visualization anywhere close to enough. I believe that I can lose the weight because I have before. But I can use visualization and affirmations to strengthen my belief in my ability to lose it more steadily. If I lose only one pound every 3 weeks then it will take close to three years to meet my goal. Even without a deadline that’s too long.
As for accountability, that’s what these blog posts are about. And they can work as accountability for you too. All you have to do is check in by leaving a comment below. If you would like to be notified when I post my next one, put your first name and email address in the form immediately below. You can also follow me on Facebook.