Healthy thinking for WEIGHT LOSS

The keys critical for long-term success in the New Year.

- Rena Greenberg

When people get serious about New Year’s resolutions and weight loss, the bottom line usually becomes getting that excess fat off NOW! Yesterday is not soon enough! The problem with this type of impatience is that it often leads to very counterproductive thinking—the exact same thinking that caused the overweight condition in the first place.

When our No. 1 priority is dropping the fat, our thinking becomes distorted at the most crucial times, such as when we “accidentally” let ourselves become ravenously hungry, or when our neighbor or coworker decides to surprise us with a homemade pie. In those moments, our intellect, along with our stated goals, go on pause and the old, default thinking that has preprogrammed us for the same ineffective results we’ve had thus far regarding weight takes over.

That robotic, fear-filled voice can gain control of us in a heartbeat. Worst of all, this familiar dialogue feels so right and true in the moment, but in reality it is nothing more than enemy thinking. Its convincing strategy can cause us to doubt everything we know to be true in that moment. It says things like:

“You’ll always be fat. You might as well indulge today.”

“You’ll get back on the diet tomorrow.”

“You’ve already lost five pounds so you can ‘cheat’ a little.”

“You look pretty good for your age. So what if you are fat?”

“It’s not fair that you don’t get to eat that when everyone else does.”

“How many calories/points could it be? I’ll just skip lunch to make up for it.”

“I’m just a food addict. I can’t help myself.”