One of the most important steps on any journey to success is generally overlooked. That step is the very first one, which is planning! Whether it's in business, sports, writing, traveling or trying to lose weight, people often skip the planning and just start working. This has proven to be disastrous time and time again. It may seem tedious and even obsessive, but if you really want to succeed in losing weight and improve your health and overall appearance, the first step is to plan. Usually we don't realize this until we have failed many times and eventually need to hire a consultant. And then you find out, the first thing any consultant will do is make a good plan.
So how do we go about making a plan to lose weight?
Although it's not a specifically about losing weight or health, one book that has helped people in planning and succeeding in business and in life in general is the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , written by Stephen R. Covey. In the book, he insists on having you write a personal mission statement on how you want live and the type of person you want to be - with the end in mind. So in planning to lose weight, you may want to sit by yourself one evening and consider some of the fundamental reasons why your are starting this journey and where it's going to lead. This will give you the foundation to start planning according to how you really feel about your health, physical appearance and the lifestyle you want to lead. As well, provide you with a vision of your end goals, and living the life you want.
Once you have done some inner searching, you can start brainstorming about the types of exercises and healthy foods that appeal to you. At this stage you may want to do some research to see what your community offers in the way of gyms, group activities, running trails or whatever matches your list. As well, you will want to talk to your local health stores to start creating a list of foods and supplements that will provide you with optimum health. You will need to eat the foods and take the supplements that are appropriate to you, in which case you should consult with your doctor or physician.
This may seem like a lot of unnecessary work, however, you may also wonder how people ever go without this process when changing their lifestyle.
Laxatives To Lose Weight
1. Focus
Trying to make too many changes at once is going to mean you succeed at nothing. If you want to lose weight, make sure you haven't got too many other goals and ambitions vying for your attention. You don't have to focus on losing weight and nothing else (sometimes that is counter-productive) but I recommend that you should make no more than 3 resolutions or take on no more than 3 projects at any time to have the most chance of success. If weight loss is not important enough to be in your top 3 then forget it until it is - it's just not important enough to you to make the effort.
2. Be Specific
Many people make a vague resolution to "lose weight" or "get fitter" never really defining what that means. What exactly do you want to achieve? How will you know when you have succeeded? Sometimes we are afraid to set a specific target because it is then very easy to see whether we have succeeded or failed. But you need to put the possibility of failure out of your mind and just keep your eye firmly on your target to increase your chances of success. If you spend your time worrying about failure that's exactly what you will do. Commit to a target and go all out for it.
3. Have a Plan
Having a target but no idea how you will get there makes success difficult from the start. Deciding to lose 20lbs and just thinking you will "be more careful with what you eat" or "do a bit more exercise" is unlikely to help you. But it doesn't mean that you have to know exactly what you will do for the next 6 months either. Sometimes it's off-putting if you imagine how much effort you may have to put in to achieve you goal over months and months. But you CAN plan one day or one week at a time as long as you do plan ahead. Plan what you will eat. Plan how you will get more movement into your life and then carry out your plan one step, one day, one week at a time.
4. Take a Gradual Approach
How many of us decide that from January 1st things will be different - and I mean completely different? Suddenly we imagine we'll be paragons of virtue as far as eating is concerned. No junk food will pass our lips. And from being couch potatoes we decide we are going to join a gym (or finally dust off that membership we've been paying for and not using) and get down there for a full-workout three times a week. How long do you keep this up? A week, a month, three-months at most? Most people have given up on such far-reaching changes by February. But if you decide to make your planning focus on a few small achievable changes instead of all that you are much more likely to keep up the momentum and finally succeed.
So replace a couple of sodas a day with water and then go on from there (don't decide to let nothing but water pass your lips from January 1st (or whatever your start date is). Reduce your portion sizes gradually (instaed of forcinging yourself to feel hungry all the time). Introduce slightly healthier foods one by one into your eating habits. Start taking a short walk each day (or whatever seems a reasonable and achievable amount of activity from your current fitness level) and commit to that. This is how real sustainable changes are made.
5. Keep Motivated
Nothing motivates like success. Just don't see success as only a figure on the scale. Though it's nice to see the pounds drop off, it's not much use if they are not going to stay off. Success is a permamnent lifestyle change which has become a habit and which you are happy to live with. Remind yourself of the good changes you are making and be proud of that no matter what the scales say (and remember they DO fluctuate for all sorts of reasons such as hormones and salt intake).
Know why you want to lose weight. What will you really get out of it? And remind yourself daily (and if you need to before each meal or decision to exercise/not exercise) of the reasons why you are doing this.
Know in your heart of hearts that you CAN succeed in changing your lifestyle one habit at a time - anyone can - and if you want this for you this year you just have to do what it takes and success is yours.
Both Chester Ku-lea & Janice Elizabeth Small are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Chester Ku-lea has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, fat burners and Gym. Chester is the owner of , the premier website catering to fitness enthusiasts looking at bulking up, slimming down, or stay. Chester Ku-lea's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
Janice Elizabeth Small has sinced written about articles on various topics from Lose Weight, Cardio Training and Lose Weight. Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet indus. Janice Elizabeth Small's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.
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