The taste of victory is sweet in life and in weight loss. To see the scale move downward and stay there is a true success. However, many people fail to reach their weight loss goals. One of the reasons for this is that they fail to celebrate small victories and keep moving forward. Here are some suggestions that helped me capitalize on every weight loss victories and persevere until I reached my goal.
First of all, I want you to think about this phrase as you read this article:
Success Breeds Success
What about that phrase rings true? When I consider the phrase I think about people who have achieved great successes. I think about athletes like Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt. They didn’t just quit after winning one event. They each kept working hard and built upon early successes.
Weight loss is very much like that. When you begin to have success, the worst thing you can do is give up and go backward. If you do, you will never reach your goals. That’s one thing I can promise you.
I used to be guilty of losing a few pounds and slacking off. Or I would lose some weight, blow my diet over a holiday, and give up completely. It seemed as though I couldn’t keep moving forward losing weight after an initial drop on the scale. Nor could I move forward after achieving another success like fitting into a smaller size dress, saying “No,” to a dessert, or getting myself out of bed to exercise.
If this describes you, here are concrete ways to keep moving forward after some measure of weight loss success.
1. Record Your Successes
What did you do last week? The week before?
It’s hard to remember all the things that happen in your life. It’s the same with weight loss. One week you may lose 2 pounds and then none the next week. If you don’t write down successes, you may forget them.
Grab a notebook or use the note taking app on your phone to record all the weight loss successes you have. Include successes such as:
– Pounds lost
– Inches lost
– Social situations managed without overeating
– Making lower calorie versions of favorite recipes
– Exercising
– Wearing more fitted clothing
2. Remind Yourself Of Your Ultimate Goal
Complacency is a common problem in weight loss. It’s really easy to rest on your laurels and assume that you’ve got this weight loss thing under control.
Avoid this tendency to get complacent by keeping your ultimate goal in mind. Write down your goal weight in places where you can see it, keep track of how many more pounds you have to lose, and remind yourself of why you started your diet in the first place.
3. Don’t Minimize Small Losses
It can be really frustrating to lose half pound a week but every little bit ads up. I’ve heard people complain that they only lost a small amount of weight. If that’s something you do, instead of complaining, hold a couple of butter sticks in your hand and realize that two sticks of butter is half a pound. Over time, every half of a pound you lose adds up to big losses.
4. Recommit Regularly
If you were to begin learning to play an instrument or master computer coding, you wouldn’t master all there is to know in a week or two. You would realize that it was going to take time.
Weight loss is the same way. It takes time to master weight loss.
Recommit regularly to your weight loss goal. I used to look in the mirror most mornings before my walk and say to myself, “I can do this. I am doing this. I will reach my goal.”
Internalizing your recommitment to weight loss can help you during times when your weight loss feels impossible.