Weight Loss Tips: Let Your Goals Shine Brightly!

Anyone who had done weight loss knows that to lose weight you need to set a goal. Or two. Or several if you have a lot of weight to lose.

And anyone who has read anything about success knows that good goal setting is essential. If you don’t know where you are going you will not know how to get there. You may take a long-winded route. You may not even recognise it when you arrive!

So we can probably all agree that goal setting is important when we want to lose weight.

But so often it doesn’t seem to work. Oh, it’s great at the beginning – you get out the height and weight charts, work out that to have a healthy BMI you need to be 8 feet tall, you calculate the weight loss you need to do, divide it by how many weeks you have till the big night out/the wedding/the jury trial and then you set to with the diet and the exercise.

And at first it all goes swimmingly but then gradually you lose sight of why you are doing it. Dieting becomes a bore or a chore. You have to eat this and you mustn’t eat that. You didn’t lose enough last week so you have to starve this week. You want to eat the chocolate cake and lose the weight. You convince yourself that this is impossible and your healthy eating habits gradually slide away.

And why?

Because you have forgotten your goal.

Oh you might remember the weight loss goal – the 30 pounds or so that has to go, that is etched on your memory, written into every cookie and embellished in frosting on every sweet you ever eat. No, you can’t forget that goal. And it makes you angry, frustrated, anxious or despairing, which just encourages your emotional eating.

But the real reason for your desired weight loss, that has been forgotten. What was it? Did you ever really know what it was? Were you attached to the emotions of that goal?

The weight loss figure is just a number on the scales. That, in itself, will not make you happy, but there is something attached to that weight which will make you happy. And once you have found that something, you can begin to keep the goal in mind all the time, even when faced with the most calorific temptation known to mankind (or womankind, usually involving chocolate).

So how to find this magic weight loss goal?

Try these simple (but thoughtful) steps to get you on the road to slender

1. Decide on a target weight, it can be an intermediate weight if you have a lot of weight to lose or if weight loss is just plain scary to you.

2. Picture yourself at this weight – what are you wearing, what is your hair/make-up/jewellery like? Where are you and what are you doing?

3. Is there any sound with this picture? Imagine people cheering, hearing compliments from your friends, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy playing or your favourite heavy metal band doing a gig just for you. The sillier the better, really, as long as it makes you feel great.

4. How do you feel? Imagine the texture of the fabrics of the new clothes you are wearing. Feel the strength/poise/chic elegance in your posture. Enjoy the sensation of diving into the pool or paragliding off the cliff with your slender body.

5. Now enjoy all these sensations and say “I am enjoying the process of shedding fat which will make me feel great/fantastic/like a hot chick”... reword to suit yourself!

Practice this visualisation so that you can do it when you are in front of food or roving the house for comfort food. It’s not the weight loss you want, it’s the feelings that go with it, so start to experience these feelings now and know that these feelings will only get better as you shed the excess pounds and get closer to your goal.

And as you move closer to your goal you can cherish your new figure and know that you are creating a slimmer you that will be with you forever.

(c) 2009 Liz Copeland