Developing
your Weight Loss Plan

There are several things to take into account when making a weight loss plan. You must
consider your most important needs and be sure to build in a way to meet those
needs while still losing weight. If your biggest need is love & belonging,
then you may want a partner to work with you. If survival is your biggest need,
then you will need to build in a way for you to feel safe.

If power is your highest need, then what you want to think about is perhaps
making your weight loss a competition somehow. If your highest need is freedom,
then you must begin to think about things, people, activities or places that
allow you to feel free that won’t impede your weight loss progress and add them
to your weight loss plan. If your highest need is fun, then you must find a way
to make your weight loss fun for you.

The next step is to develop positive affirmations that support your weight
loss goals. You must begin to reprogram the negative thoughts that are standing
in the way of you accomplishing your goals. Oftentimes, these goals are even
out of your conscious awareness but they prevent your success nonetheless.

Affirmations are positive, present, time-sensitive
statements affirming what you want to be true. Research shows that our brains
do not know the difference between the truth and a lie. When you affirm a
particular thought, value or belief in your mind frequently enough over a long
enough period of time, your brain will begin to believe it.  Consequently, the brain will mobilize its
strong forces to do whatever it takes to manifest the thing you are claiming to
be true in your life.

Write out as many affirmations as you want to support your goals. You may
write affirmations about food, exercise, thoughts and anything else that will help you
move in the direction of accomplishing your goals. There is no limit to how
long your list of affirmations can be. You decide how much time you want to
spend with them each day. You should be spending at least five minutes saying
your affirmations twice daily–once upon first waking up and then at the end
of the day just before going to sleep.

It is helpful to look yourself in the eyes while saying your
affirmations. You can do this, of course, with the use of a mirror. Look
yourself in the eyes, as though daring the person in the mirror to dispute the
truth of what you are saying. Repeat your affirmations with passion and
conviction twice daily. If you can fit them in a third time around lunch, even
better.

Next, you want to spend some time analyzing your food
triggers—those things that prompt you to eat the wrong foods and to eat when
you are not hungry.

Many people have substituted food to meet their needs in an
unhealthy way. We eat when we are depressed. We eat when we are excited. We eat
when we are stressed. We eat when we are bored. We eat when we are angry. We
eat when we are scared. Different people, for a variety of reasons, use emotions
as triggers to eat. And it’s not as if we are diving into the refrigerator to
pull out an apple or some carrots! No! We are reaching for the chocolate, ice cream or the
potato chips. And no, these do not comprise the 5th food group!

Emotions are only one thing we use for a food trigger.
Sometimes we eat to be social. Sometimes we eat because the food is free.
Sometimes we eat because we are experiencing a particular craving. Sometimes we
eat for comfort. Sometimes we eat because the clock tells us it’s time to do
so.

Other times, we will eat when we are not hungry because we
paid for the meal. We were told we must clean our plate and not waste food. We
tell ourselves we don’t like leftovers so we better eat it up or maybe there
isn’t enough to save and we don’t want to throw good food away.

In order to be successful with your new weight loss agenda,
you must begin to think of food differently. No longer is food your best friend
or the thing you reach for to comfort you. Food is simply fuel for your body.
The only time to eat is when your body signals you that it is hungry and then
you must be conscious of the food for which you reach.

Get conscious about the things you are doing as they pertain
to weight loss. Paying attention and noting the events and circumstances that
trigger your eating will provide you with a lot of information about what to do
to fix things.

After analyzing your food triggers, it is appropriate to
again ask the question, “What would you have to give up to accomplish the
weight loss goals you’ve set”? You may have uncovered new information to
consider.

If you’ve come this far, it’s time to construct your plan.

1. First of all, this plan must be written. You are going to write yourself a
   contract! The first two items are your plan will include daily visualization of
   your new life and the recitation of your affirmations.
2. Include ways to get your primary needs met that won’t
   sabotage your weight loss efforts. Include elements of past successes that will
   add to your likelihood of success. Include efforts to do something different
   when you experience your strong food triggers. Be proactive about what you will
   do instead. Don’t simply write, “I will not eat when I am depressed.” Write
   what you will do instead.
3. If in analyzing conflicting wants, you decided to
   compromise, attempting to have some of each of the things you want, then you
   will have to address the limits and boundaries you intend to place on both
   items.
4. When you are satisfied with the potential success of your
   plan, sign and date it. There is also a line allocated for a witness in case
   you want to have that accountability piece. One word of caution, however–make
   sure the person you choose is someone you can trust to support you in your
   weight loss goals. If the person you choose is not happy with his or her
   weight, he or she may consciously or subconsciously sabotage your progress. You
   sure don’t need that! Pick an accountability partner whom you can trust. You
   also are not required to have a witness if you don’t believe it will be
   helpful. It’s your call.

 If you are serious about meeting your weight loss goals and keeping that weight off forever, then check out our “Weight Loss from the Inside Out” eBook by clicking here.

Let me know what your particular weight loss challenges are by leaving a comment below. Thanks.