When people come to me to assist them on their weight loss journey, I'm sure they don't quite realize it IS a journey. And we come to the starting line of the journey with our own set of maps as to where we want to go.
The first question I always ask is "what do you want?" "To lose weight!" is the common answer. But that's kind of like saying you want a million dollars. What will that million dollars allow you to have and/or do? Buy a new house, send your children to ivy league schools, have time freedom?
What do you want from your weight loss accomplishment? Do you want to feel good about yourself? Do you want to feel attractive? Do you want to have tons of energy and be able to do more physical activities?
Don't you wonder why you can start a "diet" and "be good" on it for a while and then go right back to doing what you were doing before? I believe one reason is because we don't take the time to do the hard work at the beginning. And the hard work is getting REALLY clear on what it is you want. Then stay focused on that.
Once you've gotten really clear on what you want, it's time to ask yourself how you are going to measure your success? Remember you are on a journey. And during the journey you will be stopping along the way to pick the daisies.
The daisies can be valuable learnings that allow us to understand ourselves better. I have one client who isn't at her goal weight, but she is learning about herself and the way she uses food to not deal with a grief situation. Her realization about something that was hidden to her is a great success! No, the scale isn't dropping quickly. But she's having great success in becoming aware of her automatic reaction mechanisms to tough personal situations.
If you are thinking about starting your own health program, I urge you to do the heavy lifting up-front. Get clear on what you want. And decide how you want to measure your successes.
Getting to your destination is sweet. But the journey is where the juice is!
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