Copyright: Kim Beardsmore

Are you a ‘look-and-lose’ dieter? Have you studied every diet ever created, read a zillion diet books, and yet are still unhappy with your weight?

Has your quest for holy grail of dieting become a substitute for actually making changes required to take ill health out of your current diet?

If so, you may not realise your thoughts are key to your happiness and success.

Do you look at yourself and say, “I’m fat”, or “My hips are too big”? Many of us look in mirror and immediately compare ourselves to those ‘perfect’ human specimens we see every single day on TV, in magazines and in newspapers.

Often we talk to ourself and make excuses, “It’s my genes”, “I’m much too busy to get fit”, “I like myself this”, as a way of protecting yourself from way we see ourselves now and way we want to be.

If we were to be truly honest with ourselves most people actually want to lose a few pounds – if we only knew how.

The good news is you CAN achieve your desired body shape with right thinking about yourself, an understanding of how to get optimal nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to incorporate activity into your lifestyle to keep your muscles toned.

But most important of all, you need a regular mental workout to keep your self-image in shape.

Self-image is closely connected to success or failure of any goal you choose to seek after, but none more so that goal to get yourself fit and healthy.

So how do you go about strengthening your self-image? Well fortunately your self-image, just like your muscles, will respond well to a regular work out. You can actually strengthen your self-image with a few daily exercises.

Exercise One – Self Examination

Start by compiling a list of all those negative thoughts your have about yourself…I’m undisciplined, I can’t manage my time, I let people down, I can’t succeed, I don’t exercise enough. You will need to decide before you start this process that you won’t get discouraged….these are things that you will admit to yourself but they most certainly don’t have to control your life.

Next, compile a second list including everything you LIKE about yourself. Keep going until this list is LONGER than first list you compiled. You might include things such as, I am a good cook, I can make people laugh, I contribute to soccer club, my daughter loves way I decorate her room.

Then, take your ‘negatives’ list and turn it into your ‘potentials’ list. You do this by creating a positive self-image to every ‘negative’ you listed. Instead of “I can’t succeed”, write a counter belief, “I will succeed”.

Ceremonially throw out ‘negatives’ list – you are saying goodbye forever! Burn them, trash them, destroy them….they are no longer going to be a part of your thinking about yourself.

Now, keep your list of potentials in a prominent place. On your refrigerator door, in your daily journal, or in a picture frame on your desk. Make sure you have them in front on your every single day so that you are reading them constantly and reprogramming your daily thoughts.

Exercise Two: You Can Be What You Want to Be

Now that you have your list of potentials… run your own visualisation stories so that you can ‘see’ yourself in a new light. For example, if your list of potential includes “I eat just right portions”, visualise yourself with a moderate portion on your plate, and feeling completely satisfied at conclusion of your meal.

There are two basic causes for becoming overweight or obese: too much food and too little exercise. It sounds like an issue based on an individual person's willpower. However, when you realize that today 65% of Americans are overweight, you may begin to understand that this is a real problem that all Americans need to be aware of.

Problem #1 - Food:

From fast food restaurants to processed white bread, we are ingesting foods that make us fat. Research is beginning to show that it's not just a willpower issue, it's an issue that must be addressed by food manufacturers and possibly stricter government regulations.

While writing this article, Kraft announced a new campaign to reduce portion sizes and to cut back on sugar and fat in their processed foods. Why? Because processed foods are contributing to obesity in America. There are three reasons why this is so:

1. Over past 30 years, Americans have increased consumption of high-fructose corn syrup (found in processed food – cookies, cakes, cereal, soda, etc.) from 5.5 pounds per person per year to 62.4 pounds per person per year. Recent studies have proven that while regular table sugar raises blood insulin levels that will lead to a sense of feeling full, fructose corn syrup does not.