Mind over matter

Too often, when weight loss is discussed, the emphasis is on eating right and exerise. Very rarely is it ever addressed that to get to the point of making better food choices and having the motivation to exercise, the mind has to be worked on first. After so many years of battling with myself over my weight, I have come to the realization that weight loss starts from the mind. I once read a quote that went something like "Change only comes when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing." But how do we go from wanting to change to actually executing a plan to change.

Reasearchers have shown than people typically go through 5 stages when trying to make a behavioral change. The stages are:

1) PRE-CONTEMPLATION - You have no desire to exercise or eat right. You may not be happy with where you are with your health but you don't necessarily care enough to do anything about it.

2) CONTEMPLATION - You are not ready to exercise or eat right yet, but you are thinking about starting on a plan soon.

3) PREPARATION - My favorite! I'm a constant planner. I like to have everything in line before I take action. Unfortunately, for years, I have tried to come up with a perfectible plan, one without any room for error which has always led to failure. This stage is when you start devising your method of reaching your goals. This time for me, it was in choosing the workplace Weight Watcher's program and printing out my running guide. Make a plan but don't spend too long in this stage!

4) ACTION - You've taken the first steps, you are following your plan and making adjustments. I'm currently in the action phase but naturally, I still fall into the preparation stage. For instance, my emphasis with my exercise has been on running but lately, I've been contemplating weight lifting, preparing for it and have on occassion done a bit here and there at the gym but I'm not on an official weight lifting program yet.

5) MAINTENANCE - You are in your groove, you have replaced old habits with new healthier ones. Exercise is no longer a thought process, you feel weird if you don't do it, greasy foods make you sick, you crave fruit, etc.

I look forward to the maintenance phase but right now, I'm just trying to get to a point where I am fully immersed in my plan. My diet still needs a lot of work and I could be doing more exercise but at least I'm out of the pre-contemplation stage. A final thought: motivation comes with doing. Waiting to catch a fire to do anything about your health can take a long time and you don't want something negative like health issues to cause you to finally take your health seriously. Just just do it, now. Don't wait for Monday, or next month, or after 4th of July. Now!

XOXO
Lara