Summer is right around the corner, but fun in the sun isn’t the plan for the millions of Americans embarrassed by those extra pounds. With less than two months to go, is it really possible to lose the weight and be ready for bathing suit season?
Steve Siebold, author of Fat Loser! Mental Toughness Training for Dieters
and Die Fat or Get Tough: 101 Differences in Thinking Between Fat People and Fit People, and a mental toughness coach who has helped thousands of people lose weight, says if you want to lose the extra weight before summer, the key is to change your mental approach to your diet and exercise plan.
10 of his tips:
1. Expect to pay the price.
If you want to get fit, there’s a price to pay.
No one gets a free ride, and no one negotiates their way out of doing the work and enduring the pain.
You’re already paying the price for being overweight, so pay the price one time and reap the rewards permanently.
2. Stop starting over.
Start-stop syndrome is a common cause of weight-loss failure. The root cause of this success-killing disease is the belief that time is unlimited, and another opportunity will be available.
The next time you’re tempted to fall into this insidious mental sinkhole, say to yourself with authority, “There is no tomorrow.” This kind of psychological programming builds mental toughness and keeps you on the path to weight loss success.
3. Expect challenges
such as cravings, and when this happens have a plan in place to push forward and stay compliant.
In other words, if you’re going to be at a party, for example, and you know bad food will be in abundance, plan ahead of time how you are going to deal with it.
Eat before the party, carry some healthy snacks and drink lots of water.
4. Winning isn’t everything
on a diet, but wanting to win is.
Many times the only thing that separates winners from losers is the thought process.
Winners have a “whatever it takes” attitude.
They’ve made the decision to pay any price and bear any burden in the name of victory.
So the question is: how bad do you want it?
5. Ask the question.
Before you put anything in your mouth, always ask yourself, “How is this food going to impact my health?”
If the answer makes you cringe at the negative consequences, put it down and find something else to eat.
6. Why do you want this?
Don’t focus so much on how to do it, but rather, why should you do it?
Ask yourself, “Why do I want this goal of losing weight to become a reality?”
The intensity of emotion with which this question is answered will determine whether you make it or not.
7. Grow up emotionally. Get brutally honest and begin to see yourself through the eyes of objective reality.Æthat is, how you really look as opposed to how you wish you looked.
This can be a bitter pill to swallow.
But once you do it, the emotional burden of being fat will begin to fade.
Emotional maturity, fitness and better health can begin to take shape instead.
8. Create a vision board
filled with pictures of lean, fit and sexy people.
Hang it in a very visible location.
When you feel discouraged, feel like giving up, get the urge to eat bad or cheat on your diet, look at the vision board which will keep you focused.
9. Eat for health, not for pleasure.
Do you view eating primarily as a pleasurable activity?
Fit people see eating as a means to increase health, energy and vitality.
Eating for health vs. pleasure can make the difference between world-class health and an early grave.
Changing the reasons you eat will have a dramatic impact on your weight.
10. Take responsibility.
To be successful on your diet, you have to realize that nobody is coming to the rescue to save you.
If you want this bad enough, you are responsible.
If you fail, you are responsible.
Fit people live by the mantra of “I am responsible.”
