I truly believe this is paramount to success in weight loss. Get rid of your old, "fat" clothes! Big, baggy clothes make you look fat...really! As your clothes start to get baggy, go get a couple of pairs of pants that fit and get rid of the ones that don't. Wearing clothes that fit and look good on you will keep you motivated to continue on.
But, "this can get costly," you say. Is it better to sabbotage your weight-loss efforts? And, really, you can keep the cost down by employing a couple of strategies. First, try local consignment shops and The Salvation Army. These are good places to get a few pieces to tide you over until you reach the next size. If you are attending weight-loss meetings, you might ask if anyone else has just "passed through" the size you need. Perhaps you can get a clothes-swap organized? Then, perhaps you can treat yourself to a shopping spree when you reach your final goal and replenish your closet with beautiful, well-fitting, smaller-sized clothes.
Above all, do not save your old clothes "just in case." In order to succeed, you must believe that you will NEVER go back to the "old" you. "Just in case" will never happen!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Power of Positive Thinking
There is a book by author Norman Vincent Peale that dealt with this very idea. I'll take it a step further...not only is it good to think positively, it is imperative for your success.
Inspirational speaker, Joyce Meyer, encourages listeners to "Speak those things that are not as though they are." This is actually a biblical principal that she shares to encourage us to think AND speak positively. Thoughts CAN determine outcome.
In 2003 I decided I had had enough of being obese. I weighed over 200 lbs, had a hard time climbing our stairs without becoming winded; I actually felt OLD. I pulled out a Weight Watchers cookbook that detailed their old Quick Start plan and started to follow it. I was able to lose 35 lbs. At that time I thought, "I would really like to weigh 150 lbs, but that is more than 50 lbs away!" I hung onto my "fat" clothes and thought negatively of the chances of my success. While I lost 35 lbs, I still had nearly 20 to go before reaching that 150 lb. milestone.
I was able to keep the weight off until my mom became ill in the summer of 2004. Then, out of stress, I began eating unhealthily again and the weight slowly began to creep back.
Fast forward to 2006. All through the year I had tried, unsuccessfully, to watch what I ate and exercise. At a routine visit to my doctor in August, I was weighed in at 188 lbs! That meant that I had put back on a little over HALF of what I had lost! I refused to accept that and pulled out the Weight Watchers book again.
Convinced by my full year of unsuccessful attempts at weight loss, I decided I needed to actually go to the Weight Watchers meetings. I officially joined in September, 2006 and weighed in at 182.8 lbs.
While the 150 mark remained in my head as a "wishful" goal, I decided that I would be much happier smack-dab in the middle of my healthy BMI range...that put me at 135lbs. That truly seemed unnatainable. Taking Joyce Meyer's advice, I begain to speak those things that were not as though they were. I often said out loud, "I am a 135 lb. woman!" I even used that when facing a difficult food choice, "What would a 135 lb. woman do?"
After I reached my 10% weight loss goal, rather than set my "ultimate" goal of 135 as the next milestone, I decided on 150 lbs as a first goal. I never had any intention of stopping there, it just made it seem less difficult to reach. Afterall, I WAS a 135 lb. woman trapped in all that flab. I just had to chip it away.
I now have .8 pounds to go to reach my Weight Watchers goal....I now don't have to speak it "as if it were," it is now reality! I AM a 135 lb. woman!!!
Inspirational speaker, Joyce Meyer, encourages listeners to "Speak those things that are not as though they are." This is actually a biblical principal that she shares to encourage us to think AND speak positively. Thoughts CAN determine outcome.
In 2003 I decided I had had enough of being obese. I weighed over 200 lbs, had a hard time climbing our stairs without becoming winded; I actually felt OLD. I pulled out a Weight Watchers cookbook that detailed their old Quick Start plan and started to follow it. I was able to lose 35 lbs. At that time I thought, "I would really like to weigh 150 lbs, but that is more than 50 lbs away!" I hung onto my "fat" clothes and thought negatively of the chances of my success. While I lost 35 lbs, I still had nearly 20 to go before reaching that 150 lb. milestone.
I was able to keep the weight off until my mom became ill in the summer of 2004. Then, out of stress, I began eating unhealthily again and the weight slowly began to creep back.
Fast forward to 2006. All through the year I had tried, unsuccessfully, to watch what I ate and exercise. At a routine visit to my doctor in August, I was weighed in at 188 lbs! That meant that I had put back on a little over HALF of what I had lost! I refused to accept that and pulled out the Weight Watchers book again.
Convinced by my full year of unsuccessful attempts at weight loss, I decided I needed to actually go to the Weight Watchers meetings. I officially joined in September, 2006 and weighed in at 182.8 lbs.
While the 150 mark remained in my head as a "wishful" goal, I decided that I would be much happier smack-dab in the middle of my healthy BMI range...that put me at 135lbs. That truly seemed unnatainable. Taking Joyce Meyer's advice, I begain to speak those things that were not as though they were. I often said out loud, "I am a 135 lb. woman!" I even used that when facing a difficult food choice, "What would a 135 lb. woman do?"
After I reached my 10% weight loss goal, rather than set my "ultimate" goal of 135 as the next milestone, I decided on 150 lbs as a first goal. I never had any intention of stopping there, it just made it seem less difficult to reach. Afterall, I WAS a 135 lb. woman trapped in all that flab. I just had to chip it away.
I now have .8 pounds to go to reach my Weight Watchers goal....I now don't have to speak it "as if it were," it is now reality! I AM a 135 lb. woman!!!
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