Lose Weight With 4 Questions

There are many weight loss plans and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some sound fantastic and make great claims but are too restrictive and difficult to follow for more than a couple of weeks. Others are more professional and are individual or customised for you to follow. All of them provide you with a set of guidelines about what you can or cannot eat. Some provide substitutes for the fattening foods whilst others simply restrict the amount you eat until your desired weight is reached. The problem is that no matter how many different and exotic sounding diets plans you follow, there are some basic questions that you must answer before any weight loss plan can succeed. Surprisingly these four questions have nothing to do with food.

Question 1) Do You Really Want to Lose Weight?

Most weight loss plans fail because you don't really want to lose weight . To lose weight you must be prepared to change your life. Now that is a very big commitment and you must prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for this. Losing weight is not something that you can just do for a few days, it is forever and if it isn't, then the weight will simply come back, probably and even more. In order to have true lifelong weight loss you have to commit to trading your old habits in for a new, healthier lifestyle.

There is a plus side to this change. Once you start changing your old habits and start living a healthier lifestyle, you will be amazed at how much better you start to feel and not only physically. Most people who change their life in this way feel so much benefit physically, psychologically and emotionally that they don't want to return to their old ways. Once you are committed to losing weight it becomes a lifelong commitment.

Question 2) Do you have a Vision?

When someone asks you what your goal is for your weight loss diet, is your answer always, "to lose weight of course", or "to lose x amount of pounds". This is no longer good enough. It is crucial to have another more, heart-felt reason to lose weight other than losing pounds and gaining appearance. Think about it for a moment, losing weight isn't a goal, it is an enabler. It will enable you to do something more easily in the future than at this point in time. You have to know why you are losing weight, what will enable you to achieve it.

It is essential to know this real goal in order to survive when times are tough, and they will be during any change process. You will need your vision to hang onto in order to keep yourself motivated to lose the weight. Losing weight for appearance only is OK but it is easy to cheat yourself if you don't have a measurable goal.

Chose a vision to aim at such as being able to play with the grand children, running a marathon, and going on a walking expedition. In fact, choose anything that you should be able to actually complete better or easier than you can now. It could even be a health condition, like not being out of breath after climbing the stairs. Write your vision down and plaster it everywhere, or get a token of it like a picture, so that you can always see your end goal

Question 3) Can you be Positive?

Unfortunately, we are our own worst critics and like any critic it often leads us to failure because we believe the critic is right. It is often to easier to be negative because it supports our bad actions. After all it wasn't your fault that you ate a whole pack of biscuits, it was because "Once I start I can't stop myself"

There is no scientific reason why a person would not be able to stop eating after having a bite of carbohydrates; it is only your belief that makes it your reality. So whenever you hear yourself say I can't do something or any other self-defeating talk, stop yourself and change the sentence to a positive. For example, I realize that it has been a challenge for me in the past but I can eat just one biscuit and put the rest away for later. Keep working on your own positive reinforcement by telling yourself all that you CAN do.

Question 4) Are you ready for a Change?

Changing your lifestyle means just that, a change. No diet will warn you of the effect of change but be aware of the impact. Your life will be different and things that you did previously on autopilot will now take a lot more effort to focus on. Luckily the transition period is not long and within about 21 days the new habits should have formed and you will be on a new autopilot. The message is not to get worried in this changeover period and know that it is temporary. Your new healthy changes will eventually become your new habit. You just have to keep at it.

If you are really serious about losing weight then you must begin by understanding what your new life will be like. Do some reading up on the matter, plan how you are going to exercise regularly. Get your family and friends on your side, by talking it through with them. Start moving into your new lifestyle now.

If you can answer all four of these questions correctly, then not only will you successfully lose weight but you will have a healthier and happier lifestyle as well.