Drop the Vanity and Lose It For the Right Reasons

On any given day, almost half of the women, and one in four men in the United States are on a diet. I would hazard to guess that a large proportion of the remaining percentage are using up a lot of mental energy thinking about going on a diet or about their dissatisfaction with their body. But why is the desire to reduce our size or change how we look so incredibly pervasive in our society?

My belief is that the majority of people are unhappy with themselves on some level and have become very good at channelling this unhappiness into their body image. Aren't we all familiar with the seductive thought process where we tell ourselves that if we just achieve our ideal 70 kilos, or tone up our stomach then all will be right in our world? So motivated to take action we look for the quickest fix around and start drinking shakes instead of meals or go on a lemon water and grapefruit diet. And then we reach the point where we must quickly 'inhale' a tub of ice cream or a packet of cookies because our bodies develop the most obscene cravings. The result is we feel worse about ourselves because we have 'failed' (know that 98% of diets do fail!) and then we beat ourselves up and look to the next quick fix....and so the cycle continues.

To set out to lose weight because we want to be more attractive is ultimately superficial, and in order to be motivated to make and maintain a major change we need to have a deeper, more compelling reason. Vanity is not a profound motivator unless I suppose your career is based almost entirely on your physical looks. From my experience permanent change to your body will only come when there is a more powerful motivation such as the desire to improve your health (or even a health scare), or the desire to come out of an energy slump for good. Other more powerful reasons that I know have been successfully applied are to increase one's confidence and sense of self, to set a great example for your children, and to decide to get the most out of life.

So what is your big deal? What is the most potent reason that you can source within yourself for improving your body? If you find it then go for it and know that you are more likely to succeed than with your focus on vanity alone. If you don't find a real reason then maybe you need to accept that you don't need or truly want to change your body, so instead why not focus your energy and attention on something else you really want in your life? Drop the vanity and seek to be happy and fulfilled on your own terms.

http://www.inch-aweigh.com/dietstats.htm.