foxfieldco
08-10-2004, 06:16 AM
Weight Watchers eTools article of the week: The Secret to Staying on Track
~ The Dangers of On/Off Dieting
There's a lot to think about when you're losing weight: The things you should be doing. The things you shouldn't. How well your efforts are working.
It can be overwhelming. And the long, new task list you're adding to your life is often the culprit behind one of the biggest obstacles in weight loss: on/off thinking.
The "Perfect" Trap
It works like a switch: You start your week motivated, with a mile-long to-do list. You promise you'll be "good" — tracking everything you eat, exercising every day, eating fruits and veggies, drinking water. You swear this is the week you'll be perfect, the day you'll do everything right.
Then something unexpected happens and you're bumped off track. Maybe you worked late and have no time to eat anything other than take-out. Maybe it rains three days in a row and your plans for earning those Activity POINTS® values have gone out the window.
Whatever it is, on/off thinking can be dangerous to your weight-loss efforts. It can cause you to think, "I wasn't on track just now, so I might as well just forget about this whole day and eat whatever I want." Then the next day you figure there's no way to recover, so you might as well just start over next week with a clean slate.
Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. Aiming for perfection might seem like a healthy way to set goals. But you must allow yourself a little room to make mistakes.
Talk Yourself "On"
If you tend to fall into the on/off trap, make a real effort to work on the way you feel, rather than the way you act.
Perfection is impossible, and beating yourself up after every mistake is bound to send you down a disaster spiral. So when you're bumped off track, be kind to yourself instead.
You've probably heard your Leader or other Meetings Members talking about Positive Self-Talking. This tool from Weight Watchers Tools For Living can make a big difference in the kind of feedback you may not even realize you're giving yourself. Imagine how differently you'd behave if, instead of facing every mistake with words of disappointment, you responded with positive words.
~~~
~ The Secret to Weight Loss? Think Positive
As the seasons change, the sweaters move back into storage and out come the tank tops, the shorts and ugh, even the bathing suits. The very thought of squeezing yourself into one of those stretchy, skimpy things now is simply horrifying. But maybe a little self-image horror is just the catalyst you need to jumpstart your weight loss?
Nope. A study conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that people who started a weight-loss plan feeling happiest with their bodies were more than twice as likely to lose weight as those least satisfied with their bodies.
Think Positive
Martha Lourey Bird, a fitness consultant from the University of New South Wales in Australia, agrees. "[The right] mindset and mood keeps you doing it," she says, "and exercise works as a mood enhancer."
So there it is — a neat cyclic effect. You stay positive and plan to eat well and exercise. The exercise keeps you happy — so you eat well and exercise and … well, you get it. Pretty soon, you're well on your way into that svelte suit.
1, 2, 3 … Summer!
You can do it! Here's how:
Mindset. Start here first. Accept yourself as a valuable, beautiful person. Talk to friends, doctors and other health professionals to identify how you can improve your health and appearance.
Food. Lose those "bad" tags for food. Start keeping track of what you eat, and search around for which foods will give you the most energy for the calories. Don't beat yourself up when you falter. Stay positive!
Exercise. Find an exercise you enjoy and you will more likely stick with it. Vary what you do: skip, swim, garden, vacuum, walk the dog — it all counts as exercise and helps you toward your goal.
Indulge. Be nice to yourself and keep that positive mindset going! When you hit a milestone, do something decadent: Get a facial or buy a new lipstick!
~~~
~ The Day I Learned to Love My Body
Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror? Or do you avoid the mirror altogether? Many of us, unfortunately, are not happy with our bodies. But beating yourself up for the way you look only hinders your ability to look and feel better. Though it takes some practice, learning to love your body can make all the difference on your journey to success. And it feels great when you get there.
Choosing You
"You need to learn to love your body before you can be successful at a weight-loss plan," stresses Abbie, a Meetings member from Kalamazoo, MI, who has been on Plan for one year.
"It's hard for me to say I 'love' my body, but I'm content with it. I like what I see, even though there is still room for improvement." It didn't used to be that way, but once Abbie started to accept her body, she felt like it was easier to try to change it.
"You have to make choices about how you're going to spend your time and energy," she says. "This is definitely a better way to live."
A New Outlook
Cary, a New York native who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with Weight Watchers, was typically thin growing up. Once she entered her 20s, she slowly gained weight. "I rarely looked at myself in a full-length mirror, and when I did, I got really mad at myself for letting this weight happen." Now at goal, though, Cary takes every opportunity to look in the mirror and smile. "Learning to love my body has given me a different outlook on life," she says. "I can do anything and be successful at it. There is no stopping me."
3 Steps To Greater Self-Love
Cia Ricco, author of Living As if Your Life Depended On It! (Life Care, Inc., $19.95) and a New York City psychotherapist, explains that every time we say negative things to ourselves, we lower our self-esteem, lose motivation, and have less momentum to take care of our bodies.
"Negative self-talk makes us feel bad," Ricco says. What a person should do is "accept what is," and grow from there. She offers the following advice to those who want to stop loathing and start loving their bodies.
Acceptance is the platform for change. Once you accept yourself and your body the way you are now, you can be catapulted into free choice and free will — a positive spirit that will help you set goals and be motivated enough to achieve them.
Envision yourself the way you'd like to be. Tell yourself how great you look now, but get excited about looking even better. With that mental picture, and positive reinforcement, looking and feeling better will be a snap.
Imagine you are speaking to your best friend every time you look in the mirror. Would you ever tell them how fat they look? Would you ever tell them their thighs disgust you or their stomachs are grotesque? Why, then, would you hurt yourself like that?
~~~
~ Changing from the Inside Out
Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows it's as much a matter of the heart and mind as of the mouth and stomach. How you think and feel about your weight issues, and about yourself, has a strong impact on your ability to lose weight and keep it off. Most of us have learned this the hard way. But we've also learned how difficult it can sometimes be to change how we think and feel.
Unfortunately, many of us regard our own thoughts and feelings as "things that happen to us." For example, "Today I feel guilty" (or happy or blue or motivated — fill in the blank). That's just the way it is, right? Wrong. It's more helpful for us to think of our thoughts and feelings as "internal behaviors," which we can control and adapt to meet our needs. Just as we can develop more positive external behaviors to support our weight loss (taking smaller portions, walking more), it's also possible to develop more positive internal behaviors (thinking "I can" instead of "I can't").
In fact, not only is it possible, but unless we change on the inside, our newly formed eating and exercise behaviors most likely won't last for long.
So Where Do I Start?
The first step is understanding the five different levels at which we are able to change the way we think and act.1 (http://www.weightwatchers.com/plan/tow/article.aspx?topicNamesHidden=The+Secret+to+Stayin g+on+Track*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Track*The+Secr et+to+Staying+on+Track*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Tr ack*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Track*&contentTypeIdsHidden#source) We'll start with the easiest-to-change, most superficial level, and move on to the deepest, most difficult level within us.
Environment. Where and when our behavior takes place.
"It's difficult for me to lose weight with my hectic job and schedule. I'm on the road and eating in fast food restaurants all the time."
Behavior. What we do. The specific actions we take in our environment.
"I don't know what to eat or what exercises I should do to lose weight and become more fit."
Capabilities. How we guide our behaviors. The broader abilities and strategies we use in life.
"I am not capable of losing my weight and keeping it off."
Beliefs. Why we do what we do. The ideas and values we think are true.
"I do not deserve to be thin and attractive."
Identity. Who we are. Our basic sense of self, which is tied to our mission in life.
"I am a fat person."
And How Do I Use My Tools for Living?
So it's easy to see: If, deep down, you still think of yourself as a "fat person," it's going to be difficult to make and sustain the behavior changes necessary to keep weight off for good. The good news is that we can make positive changes at the deeper levels, with our beliefs and identity. You might start by familiarizing yourself with Weight Watchers' powerful set of strategies, Tools for Living (for Meetings Members and subscribers only). Each tool is designed for a specific kind of challenge related to your thoughts and feelings.
One tool, for example, Empowering Beliefs, will help you strengthen your belief that losing weight is worth it, that you can do it and that you deserve to be healthy and feel good. And Anchoring is a powerful technique for tapping your inner resources to help you achieve what you want. Need more determination, for example? Anchoring will enable you to find the will that already exists within you.
Paying attention to your deeper levels of change can pay off big. Combining your "inside" behaviors — thoughts and feelings — with your new, healthier "outside" behaviors will help you not only lose that weight, but, more important, keep it off.
1. Copyright © Robert Dilts. Adapted and reproduced with permission of the author.
~~~
~ Keep Your Motivation Going Strong
When most of us start a new project, we vow to keep our enthusiasm on full throttle and hope to see it through to the end. Indeed, desire and motivation are the dynamite duo. The former gets us going, and the latter keeps us on track.
Yet after the initial inspiration, motivation sometimes loses steam. This is especially true when hard times throw you off track.
Motivational speaker Jeff Keller, author of Attitude is Everything (INTI Publishing & Resource Books, Inc., May 1999), agrees that maintaining staying power can be tough: "No matter what the task, there's usually some obstacle or temptation to keep us from our goal. That's why it's so important to stay positive."
Top Ten Attitude Enhancers
Help keep your mind set on achieving your goals. Here's how:
Celebrate the here and now. Don't look too far ahead. As long as you're committed to your plan, you're succeeding, because you're taking charge of your life.
Change your language. Keller suggests scratching negative phrases from your vocabulary — such as "No," "I can't" or "I'll try" — and substituting with the positive. Say: "Yes!" "I can" and "I will." Remember, words are mightier than the sword. But pictures speak louder than words. So...
Create visual inspiration. Take a photo of yourself before you start your weight-loss plan. Tack it on the refrigerator, bedroom or bathroom mirrors or inside the food cupboard. As you reach new goals, take new pictures. See how far you've come!
Weigh in. Weigh in at your weekly meeting, and keep a chart of the results. Look at your overall progress and visualize that chart whenever you're tempted to cheat.
Believe in buddy power. Exercising with friends is always more fun. Schedule days you can meet, and if one of you tries to bow out, act as the other's conscience. Find a buddy to work out with on Weight Watchers Find a Buddy board.
Steer clear of sabotage. Avoid people who put you down for trying to lose weight, or who encourage you to eat too much. Often these folks feel threatened by your weight loss. It may be plain jealousy.
Set mini goals, like initially focusing on losing 10 percent of your body weight. "By setting realistic goals," says Keller, "you're more likely to reach them, feel successful and move on from there." In other words, keep each day doable.
Reward yourself. When you've reached a goal (and remember: keep them small) you deserve a treat. Buy a new outfit, small piece of jewelry, book or diary, or take yourself to a play or movie.
Keep it out. Don't store your exercise gear under the bed. Treadmills, bicycles, weights, even sneakers and exercise outfits should be left in plain view. This way you won't hide from the fact that you need to exercise. When you see it, you know there are no excuses.
Read success stories. Inspiration often comes from reading about the way others have found success. Just think: One day the story is going to be all yours!
~ The Dangers of On/Off Dieting
There's a lot to think about when you're losing weight: The things you should be doing. The things you shouldn't. How well your efforts are working.
It can be overwhelming. And the long, new task list you're adding to your life is often the culprit behind one of the biggest obstacles in weight loss: on/off thinking.
The "Perfect" Trap
It works like a switch: You start your week motivated, with a mile-long to-do list. You promise you'll be "good" — tracking everything you eat, exercising every day, eating fruits and veggies, drinking water. You swear this is the week you'll be perfect, the day you'll do everything right.
Then something unexpected happens and you're bumped off track. Maybe you worked late and have no time to eat anything other than take-out. Maybe it rains three days in a row and your plans for earning those Activity POINTS® values have gone out the window.
Whatever it is, on/off thinking can be dangerous to your weight-loss efforts. It can cause you to think, "I wasn't on track just now, so I might as well just forget about this whole day and eat whatever I want." Then the next day you figure there's no way to recover, so you might as well just start over next week with a clean slate.
Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. Aiming for perfection might seem like a healthy way to set goals. But you must allow yourself a little room to make mistakes.
Talk Yourself "On"
If you tend to fall into the on/off trap, make a real effort to work on the way you feel, rather than the way you act.
Perfection is impossible, and beating yourself up after every mistake is bound to send you down a disaster spiral. So when you're bumped off track, be kind to yourself instead.
You've probably heard your Leader or other Meetings Members talking about Positive Self-Talking. This tool from Weight Watchers Tools For Living can make a big difference in the kind of feedback you may not even realize you're giving yourself. Imagine how differently you'd behave if, instead of facing every mistake with words of disappointment, you responded with positive words.
~~~
~ The Secret to Weight Loss? Think Positive
As the seasons change, the sweaters move back into storage and out come the tank tops, the shorts and ugh, even the bathing suits. The very thought of squeezing yourself into one of those stretchy, skimpy things now is simply horrifying. But maybe a little self-image horror is just the catalyst you need to jumpstart your weight loss?
Nope. A study conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that people who started a weight-loss plan feeling happiest with their bodies were more than twice as likely to lose weight as those least satisfied with their bodies.
Think Positive
Martha Lourey Bird, a fitness consultant from the University of New South Wales in Australia, agrees. "[The right] mindset and mood keeps you doing it," she says, "and exercise works as a mood enhancer."
So there it is — a neat cyclic effect. You stay positive and plan to eat well and exercise. The exercise keeps you happy — so you eat well and exercise and … well, you get it. Pretty soon, you're well on your way into that svelte suit.
1, 2, 3 … Summer!
You can do it! Here's how:
Mindset. Start here first. Accept yourself as a valuable, beautiful person. Talk to friends, doctors and other health professionals to identify how you can improve your health and appearance.
Food. Lose those "bad" tags for food. Start keeping track of what you eat, and search around for which foods will give you the most energy for the calories. Don't beat yourself up when you falter. Stay positive!
Exercise. Find an exercise you enjoy and you will more likely stick with it. Vary what you do: skip, swim, garden, vacuum, walk the dog — it all counts as exercise and helps you toward your goal.
Indulge. Be nice to yourself and keep that positive mindset going! When you hit a milestone, do something decadent: Get a facial or buy a new lipstick!
~~~
~ The Day I Learned to Love My Body
Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror? Or do you avoid the mirror altogether? Many of us, unfortunately, are not happy with our bodies. But beating yourself up for the way you look only hinders your ability to look and feel better. Though it takes some practice, learning to love your body can make all the difference on your journey to success. And it feels great when you get there.
Choosing You
"You need to learn to love your body before you can be successful at a weight-loss plan," stresses Abbie, a Meetings member from Kalamazoo, MI, who has been on Plan for one year.
"It's hard for me to say I 'love' my body, but I'm content with it. I like what I see, even though there is still room for improvement." It didn't used to be that way, but once Abbie started to accept her body, she felt like it was easier to try to change it.
"You have to make choices about how you're going to spend your time and energy," she says. "This is definitely a better way to live."
A New Outlook
Cary, a New York native who recently celebrated her one-year anniversary with Weight Watchers, was typically thin growing up. Once she entered her 20s, she slowly gained weight. "I rarely looked at myself in a full-length mirror, and when I did, I got really mad at myself for letting this weight happen." Now at goal, though, Cary takes every opportunity to look in the mirror and smile. "Learning to love my body has given me a different outlook on life," she says. "I can do anything and be successful at it. There is no stopping me."
3 Steps To Greater Self-Love
Cia Ricco, author of Living As if Your Life Depended On It! (Life Care, Inc., $19.95) and a New York City psychotherapist, explains that every time we say negative things to ourselves, we lower our self-esteem, lose motivation, and have less momentum to take care of our bodies.
"Negative self-talk makes us feel bad," Ricco says. What a person should do is "accept what is," and grow from there. She offers the following advice to those who want to stop loathing and start loving their bodies.
Acceptance is the platform for change. Once you accept yourself and your body the way you are now, you can be catapulted into free choice and free will — a positive spirit that will help you set goals and be motivated enough to achieve them.
Envision yourself the way you'd like to be. Tell yourself how great you look now, but get excited about looking even better. With that mental picture, and positive reinforcement, looking and feeling better will be a snap.
Imagine you are speaking to your best friend every time you look in the mirror. Would you ever tell them how fat they look? Would you ever tell them their thighs disgust you or their stomachs are grotesque? Why, then, would you hurt yourself like that?
~~~
~ Changing from the Inside Out
Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows it's as much a matter of the heart and mind as of the mouth and stomach. How you think and feel about your weight issues, and about yourself, has a strong impact on your ability to lose weight and keep it off. Most of us have learned this the hard way. But we've also learned how difficult it can sometimes be to change how we think and feel.
Unfortunately, many of us regard our own thoughts and feelings as "things that happen to us." For example, "Today I feel guilty" (or happy or blue or motivated — fill in the blank). That's just the way it is, right? Wrong. It's more helpful for us to think of our thoughts and feelings as "internal behaviors," which we can control and adapt to meet our needs. Just as we can develop more positive external behaviors to support our weight loss (taking smaller portions, walking more), it's also possible to develop more positive internal behaviors (thinking "I can" instead of "I can't").
In fact, not only is it possible, but unless we change on the inside, our newly formed eating and exercise behaviors most likely won't last for long.
So Where Do I Start?
The first step is understanding the five different levels at which we are able to change the way we think and act.1 (http://www.weightwatchers.com/plan/tow/article.aspx?topicNamesHidden=The+Secret+to+Stayin g+on+Track*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Track*The+Secr et+to+Staying+on+Track*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Tr ack*The+Secret+to+Staying+on+Track*&contentTypeIdsHidden#source) We'll start with the easiest-to-change, most superficial level, and move on to the deepest, most difficult level within us.
Environment. Where and when our behavior takes place.
"It's difficult for me to lose weight with my hectic job and schedule. I'm on the road and eating in fast food restaurants all the time."
Behavior. What we do. The specific actions we take in our environment.
"I don't know what to eat or what exercises I should do to lose weight and become more fit."
Capabilities. How we guide our behaviors. The broader abilities and strategies we use in life.
"I am not capable of losing my weight and keeping it off."
Beliefs. Why we do what we do. The ideas and values we think are true.
"I do not deserve to be thin and attractive."
Identity. Who we are. Our basic sense of self, which is tied to our mission in life.
"I am a fat person."
And How Do I Use My Tools for Living?
So it's easy to see: If, deep down, you still think of yourself as a "fat person," it's going to be difficult to make and sustain the behavior changes necessary to keep weight off for good. The good news is that we can make positive changes at the deeper levels, with our beliefs and identity. You might start by familiarizing yourself with Weight Watchers' powerful set of strategies, Tools for Living (for Meetings Members and subscribers only). Each tool is designed for a specific kind of challenge related to your thoughts and feelings.
One tool, for example, Empowering Beliefs, will help you strengthen your belief that losing weight is worth it, that you can do it and that you deserve to be healthy and feel good. And Anchoring is a powerful technique for tapping your inner resources to help you achieve what you want. Need more determination, for example? Anchoring will enable you to find the will that already exists within you.
Paying attention to your deeper levels of change can pay off big. Combining your "inside" behaviors — thoughts and feelings — with your new, healthier "outside" behaviors will help you not only lose that weight, but, more important, keep it off.
1. Copyright © Robert Dilts. Adapted and reproduced with permission of the author.
~~~
~ Keep Your Motivation Going Strong
When most of us start a new project, we vow to keep our enthusiasm on full throttle and hope to see it through to the end. Indeed, desire and motivation are the dynamite duo. The former gets us going, and the latter keeps us on track.
Yet after the initial inspiration, motivation sometimes loses steam. This is especially true when hard times throw you off track.
Motivational speaker Jeff Keller, author of Attitude is Everything (INTI Publishing & Resource Books, Inc., May 1999), agrees that maintaining staying power can be tough: "No matter what the task, there's usually some obstacle or temptation to keep us from our goal. That's why it's so important to stay positive."
Top Ten Attitude Enhancers
Help keep your mind set on achieving your goals. Here's how:
Celebrate the here and now. Don't look too far ahead. As long as you're committed to your plan, you're succeeding, because you're taking charge of your life.
Change your language. Keller suggests scratching negative phrases from your vocabulary — such as "No," "I can't" or "I'll try" — and substituting with the positive. Say: "Yes!" "I can" and "I will." Remember, words are mightier than the sword. But pictures speak louder than words. So...
Create visual inspiration. Take a photo of yourself before you start your weight-loss plan. Tack it on the refrigerator, bedroom or bathroom mirrors or inside the food cupboard. As you reach new goals, take new pictures. See how far you've come!
Weigh in. Weigh in at your weekly meeting, and keep a chart of the results. Look at your overall progress and visualize that chart whenever you're tempted to cheat.
Believe in buddy power. Exercising with friends is always more fun. Schedule days you can meet, and if one of you tries to bow out, act as the other's conscience. Find a buddy to work out with on Weight Watchers Find a Buddy board.
Steer clear of sabotage. Avoid people who put you down for trying to lose weight, or who encourage you to eat too much. Often these folks feel threatened by your weight loss. It may be plain jealousy.
Set mini goals, like initially focusing on losing 10 percent of your body weight. "By setting realistic goals," says Keller, "you're more likely to reach them, feel successful and move on from there." In other words, keep each day doable.
Reward yourself. When you've reached a goal (and remember: keep them small) you deserve a treat. Buy a new outfit, small piece of jewelry, book or diary, or take yourself to a play or movie.
Keep it out. Don't store your exercise gear under the bed. Treadmills, bicycles, weights, even sneakers and exercise outfits should be left in plain view. This way you won't hide from the fact that you need to exercise. When you see it, you know there are no excuses.
Read success stories. Inspiration often comes from reading about the way others have found success. Just think: One day the story is going to be all yours!