Plan Before You Jump In

We obese folks are only too familiar with this scenario- “I’m sick and tired of being fat.  I’m going to start a diet on Monday!”   Then we binge on wings, chips, chocolate, cookies and ice cream, the forbidden foods of the coming week.  As we binge we sort through the old work-out videos and find the hardest kick-butt DVDs we can.   We set them aside for Monday and go back to frenzied eating.  As we eat the last of the fried chicken we sit down to create a list of no-nos for the coming few months.  No treats!  No sodies!  No carbs!  Not until we lose 50 lbs!  We go to the grocery store and buy an armful of magazines with articles about all the latest tricks and tips.  We spend hours Googling easy ways to lose weight. Then back to eating our “last supper”…  Monday comes and we all know the rest of the story. If we do succeed for awhile it’s only temporary, because our plan was made to last only until a specified point in time or until a certain weight is reached or until it is totally derailed by unrealistic and punishing parameters.  The plan wasn’t a plan at all, it was just another attempt to brutally control our calories, magically become an athlete overnight and temporarily live a life completely out of our normal realm of living.  Hence-  failure.  Success comes from planning before the plan and realizing weight loss isn’t about food, it’s about how we think about food and our thinking habits.  Make a plan before the plan.  Here’s how.

 

First, reflect on why food has become your rescue buddy and how you use it to cure what ails you.  Be specific, so you’ll understand how your habitual thinking will kick in and lure you into “using.”  This may take a few days, a few weeks, maybe longer.  Be acutely aware what’s happening whenever you eat.  Ask yourself why you’re eating and what the food is doing for you.  Are you using it as a companion…as a mini-vacation…to avoid a deep emotion…as a reward…to celebrate…?  Once you see how you use food as a super hero you can take a deep breath and see the real value in food-  to nourish in delicious ways.  

Second, fall in love with whole food.  Discover which nourishing foods you love to eat and free yourself from mediocre foods, foods you’re just putting up with, and processed foods mostly made in a chemistry lab.  Walk down the produce aisle and scope out which foods really make your mouth water.  Make them the key nutrients in your life.  Start eating them, cooking with them and brewing up tantalizing recipe creations before you even finish putting the final touches on your weight-loss action plan.  Fall in love before you start the action plan.  

Third, realize you won’t ever need to binge again because you can always eat what you’re in the mood for whenever you want.  And do it.  When you do, have a pleasing portion and savor every delicious bite.  You won’t need to have giant portion after portion after portion because you don’t need to binge- you can have the same food again as soon as you’re in the mood!  When you’re in the mood again ask yourself if you only want the food because you’re viewing it as a “bad” food that you must have (and panicking), or if you really do want to taste the exquisite deliciousness.  Back off until another day if you’re only eating because you’re panicking.  Remind yourself- I can eat whatever I want when I want!  

Fourth, create lectures to have with your habitual thinking, your little ponies as I like to call them, for when they buck up against your new self-talk and your new views about food.  These ponies represent how you are accustomed to reacting when driven by specific emotions.  Create Firm and positive lectures to lead each little pony back to the corral through your new neural pathway.  Once you’ve trained, you will look into the corral and the ponies will be nowhere in sight, having run off into the deep recesses of the gray matter mountains…    

Fifth, choose exercise activities that you love and that fit in your schedule.  If you only have a half an hour a day, choose exercise that exhilarates you for that half hour.  Throw or give away all the DVD’s you never liked. Shelve the ones that are too advanced for you.  Start at a level where you can succeed and with a routine that really turns you on! 

Sixth, write a plan using a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy template such as I used.  Once you write the plan think about it for a few days; don’t implement it at once, mull it over, reflect, make sure you are passionate and happy with your plan (the template I used is found in my first post: The Kick-off Post and-  it can be used for any life change.).  Have an emotional investment in your plan.  Each piece had better excite you.  If not, keep creating. 

Sixth, change your thinking.  Write a self-talk script that includes your new view of food, exercise and weight-loss (see my post: Writing a New Script for Your Inner Voice).  Write it with a positive slant and an attitude of gratitude.  Load that baby with sincere passion! Adopt it, take it to heart, read it until you have it loosely memorized.  Repeat it morning, noon and night. This is the way you will build new neural pathways in your brain and change deeply entrenched habitual thinking about how horribly hard weight loss is, how depriving a change in diet can be, and how you won’t be an optimum person until you are thin!

Seventh, implement your plan with joy and excitement!  This is your plan, personal and specific.  It isn’t a diet!  It’s a plan for optimum health and it’s all yours! Embrace it and feel the love, baby. 

Eighth, remember your plan is a living and breathing thing.  Make changes as you come across ideas for improvement.  Recalibrate as you see fit.  

Ninth, include only positive people in your support group.  Spend minimal time with anyone who’s going to talk about “dieting,” “calories," “diet foods” and the “how-tos” of it all.  After all, this is your habit changing plan of excellence, your creation, your baby-  not some DIET!