Summary: What people fail to focus on when they diet is their perception of the process that they are going through. Weight loss is, in essence, about change. To lose weight, one must change his or her entire lifestyle, not just eat less temporarily.
When going on a diet, most people focus – as they should – on what they eat. They become obsessed with counting calories, checking the ingredients of every food they consume. Yet, with all this attention to these details, many people fail to lose the weight and to reach the goals they had in mind, and obesity remains an alarming epidemic.
What people fail to focus on, however, is their perception of the process that they are going through. Weight loss is, in essence, about change. To lose weight, one must change his or her entire lifestyle, not just eat less temporarily.
What must be done, then, is to work on how you perceive and manage your process of change. These are a few helpful strategies you can utilize when making the decision to change:
Positivity
In any situation, your attitude plays a significant role in the chances of failure or success. When you go on a diet expecting that you will fail, or not trusting that it will work because it never has before, you will surely fail. Stay positive and keep in mind that you CAN.
Setting goals
The first step in the weight loss process is to set goals. Here’s a tip: start by setting specific goals. For example, instead of saying “my goal is to lose 5 KGs by the end of the month,” you can get organized and break down that large goal into smaller parts. You can, for example, set a goal to replace chocolate with a fruit for a daily snack.
Evaluation
Evaluation is a crucial step in making any sort of progress, not just when it comes to weight loss. You can set a constant date for self-evaluation, for example every Sunday night, you can review the previous week, if the way you behaved helped you in getting on the path to setting your goal. If it did not, try to figure out why you had difficulties, but more importantly, how you can fix the issue in the future. Remember to stay positive: use constructive criticism and don’t beat yourself up.
Feedback
If you are having trouble keeping tabs on yourself, you can ask for outside help. Have your spouse, close friend, or member of the family to give you feedback. If you know someone else who is trying to lose weight, you can learn from and teach each other by monitoring each other’s efforts.