5 Things You Can Do To Get Going When You Need To Lose Weight

Here are 5 things that you can do when you realize that you're painted yourself into a corner, and it's time to lose weight.

I remember for me, some of the times that I went on a diet, I was motivated by that moment where I realize that I'm overweight. We know we're overweight, but we don't understand how overweight we are because our mind is playing little tricks with us.

We have these times where we see a picture of ourselves or something happened and we go, "Oh my God! How did I get to be that big!" and we feel like we've painted ourselves into a bit of a corner in regards to our health and our weight. And we're not sure where to start because of that shock, that realization of just how big we've gotten and it hits that panic button for us and we're not sure what to do.

Most people just jump straight in and find the first calorie-restrictive diet, they can get their hands on. And they usually join a boot camp or a gym or something but those are really short-lived plans because when you go on a diet, it's usually a finite time. You go, "I'm going to lose X amount of weight in X amount of time," whether it's three months or six months or whatever. And then you head off on that, but that's a really short sighted plan and what we need to be doing is taking a moment to stop to just pause and review where we are and just allow that panic to subside.

Panic is the least helpful thing to help get you to where you want to go because we all know diets don't work because there are quite a few essential elements missing.

The number one element that's missing is true habit change. The theory is that you can change a habit in 21 days and that's not true. You might be able to move into a new habit and keep it going for 21 days or longer, but real habit change is about stopping your unconscious mind from relapsing back into old eating habits patterns, and behaviors which is what yo-yo dieting is all about. It's because we relapse back into old eating habits patterns and behaviors.

So, what we need to do is to pause for a moment and then follow these five things;

1. Set your mind right
Draw that line in the sand for yourself. Decide that you want to change your life and go, "I'm going to change my life, I don't care how long it takes. I don't care what I have to do, but I am going to change my life, and this is the last time that I'm going to relapse."

2. Make a list
Make a list of the biggest obstacles that you feel are in the way of you achieving your goals or the biggest obstacles that you need to overcome to be able to lose weight. And those things might be that you're a busy mom and you've got kids and a husband who doesn't need to go on a diet or don't want to go on a diet and don't want to change their eating habits or their exercise. It might be habits and you need to navigate your way around them.

3. Be clear on your direction
Be clear about the direction that you're heading in. Diet and exercise programs, although they are meant to have a longer focus, they usually are focused on a particular short-term timeline. But really you want to be clear and establish the direction that you want to head in with your life because it's the longevity of weight loss, of sustainable habit change that is the most important thing.

Sustainable weight loss is about a lifetime of change to your habits. Without establishing that direction, and being able to build a plan around it, it's always going to be a stop-start kind of an affair.

4. Identify your skills and knowledge gaps
Identify what your skills and knowledge gaps are that are going to help you create the plan for number three and help you overcome those obstacles that you identified in step two. We all have skills and knowledge gaps that's life as a human being, and there will be several things in your list that you will need help with.
So, ask yourself, "Where can I find the skills and knowledge and resources that you need to help you overcome those big obstacles?"

5. Take action
Take action today; not tomorrow; not next week but take action today.
So, the first thing that you can do to take action is to start writing down the five steps.

Number one, I'm drawing a line in the sand today, is it, I will now forevermore be changing my habits. This is my plan and my focus.

Number two, these are the obstacles that I need to overcome to achieve my weight loss outcome that I want.

Number three, what's my direction which way do I want to hit. And by that, I mean, what is it you want to achieve. What is it that you want? What's your why for wanting to lose weight?

Your “Why” is your thing that will carry you forward on the days that you don't want to stick with the plan that you set out for yourself.

Number four is to identify the skills and knowledge gaps that you have and write down.

Number five is to take action today.

So that's your first action was to write out your 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 steps.

Every day you will progress forward in creating permanent change in your habit because that's what real weight loss and sustainable weight loss is, it's about creating change in your habits to preventing a relapse into your old habits.