Why I want to lose Weight

What's my first mini-goal? (1 week to 1 month). What's my longer-term goal? (1 month to 1 year) How strict must I be for this to work? (Pre-planned or legalized deviations works very well for many people) Sometimes, especially if you use a plan that incorporates "legalized cheating" then you'll end up with some leftover food. Get used to getting rid of it. Give it away, throw it away, it really doesn't matter. You're not doing yourself any favor by eating all leftovers. So what if cinnamon rolls go stale? I ate one and really enjoyed it, and that's what's important. Others also ate some cinnamon rolls, and even if no one had any, did I make them to eat them all, or did I make them because I was in mood to make cinnamon rolls? Does eating them all myself make any sense at all?

Sometimes I feel a little guilty making goodies and then giving them away because I think I'm not making it any easier for others to stick to their plans, but then I remember what I do in that situation, and I have to assume others are adult about how they decide to take care of themselves too. If I decide I'm going to eat in a more healthful manner, and someone brings something unexpected, it's not difficult in most all circumstances to simply say, "No, thanks. I already ate," or take some on a plate for later.

Since I don't go on "restrictive" diets, then I can incorporate pretty much anything into my day's food plan. I just eat it, when I'm hungry. I find it so much easier to base my eating on whether I'm hungry, than on whether something is there. Just because unexpected people show up, doesn't mean you use them, does it? Honestly, do you think anyone is upset when you leave a bit more for them? I don't think so.

The Case of Missing Wedding Cake

When I was a teenager my mother remarried and I offered to buy wedding cake. I had an ulterior motive though. My favorite bakery, Beaverton Bakery, was where I intended to get cake, and I knew by ordering far more than would be necessary there'd be lots and lots of leftovers for me to gorge myself silly on after festivities. Ha.

What happened instead is a blur. I don't know really what happened to cake but I do know I not only didn't get any leftovers, I never even had a piece at wedding. I tend to get caught up in people and don't usually eat at parties, so I paid it no attention, and much to my dismay someone else had bundled it up before I got there to do so. Alas, I was never to taste that cake at all. Such a disappointment - it must have been, I still remember it now and that's been more than 24 years ago now! LOL.

Food memories stick with me for a very long time. That day is my prime example of how I would not have minded one little bit if more people had said, "No thanks, I just ate," and passed on cake. I just wish I'd been a little more alert in setting aside a hunk for later.

Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss. http://www.onemorebite-weightloss.com/getnews.html

Motivation: Toward

If you are motivated by what you'll gain you find it easy to look ahead and see your future shapely body, you'll see people around you with admiring glances, you'll hear their compliments, you'll smell good food and feel good knowing you can eat enough to be satisfied, and then say you're full. You've had enough, thank you. You'll be in control of your life. You'll want what you visualize more than anything, and you'll do whatever it takes to get it. If asked what movie to go see, they'll have a few ideas, and tell you why.

Motivation: Away

If you are motivated by what you'll lose you'll focus on what you want to avoid. For example, you want to avoid dying, you want to avoid being too heavy to enjoy playing with kids, you want to avoid gasping for breath when you climb a flight of stairs. You want to avoid embarrassment, humiliation of other people's remarks and rude glances. You don't want any of that anymore, and you don't want it to extent that you'll do whatever it takes to avoid these things. If you ask them what they want for dinner, they'll tell you they don't want Chinese, or pizza. It can be difficult to get someone motivated this way to actually say what they do want!

Knowing your motivation strategy makes it easier to find methods that support your preferred strategy. If you are motivated toward, you may enjoy cutting our pictures of people in great shape with similar body types to yours. Find models wearing clothes that would look good on you, pictures of swimming pools, holiday places you'd enjoy; types of things that go into a dream board.

If you motivated away, then make a list of what you want to avoid and elaborate on that list. Why don't you want these things? The more detailed you are, more likely you'll truly do what it takes to avoid them.

Hopefully these ideas will get you thinking, and much about making changes in our lives comes down to thinking it through. Realizing what we really want can get us past hurdles of what we already have. To affect change isn't necessarily comfortable, until you've worked at it for awhile, and then suddenly your changed behavior has become your new behavior and effort is over.

Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com