Part Two ("Is Someone Hindering Your Weight Loss Goals?")...from 2010

I was paid 3.04 upfront for this article. This is a non-exclusive article from Jan 2010.


http://voices.yahoo.com/part-two-someone-hindering-5257665.html?cat=5



Part Two ("Is Someone Hindering Your Weight Loss Goals?")



Follow up to my previous article "Is Someone Hindering Your Weight Loss Goals".


Remember I mentioned sometimes it may really not be your imagination that someone is hindering your weight loss goals.



Sometimes this may be unintentionally. Maybe your darling husband like mine really thinks taking you out to eat at a high calorie restaurant is a great way to celebrate your weight loss goal for a particular week. And maybe your loved one also thinks following up a "celebration dinner" a nice two hour movie is a good idea. Of course your loved one will remember to have lots of soda's and popcorn or chips or candy or some other mindless junk food ready for you to consume. And will decide right after the movie that you need to be treated to a nice high calorie milk shake, made with a hundred percent high fat calories.



This would sound silly maybe even funny to some of you unless you have actually had this happen to you, not once but multiple times.



Or perhaps something like this, your darling sweetheart decides to bring home dinner when getting off work. Now this bring home dinner will be something you really don't need like a double layer pizza, and soda to go with the pizza. And for dessert encourage you to have a couple of donuts that they just happened to bring home from work. Because these were left over from the company's business meeting.



(Makes me wonder what the company's plan was anyway, perhaps, the company was in on this "weight loss hindering scheme? Well maybe that is just a little too paranoid.)



So moving on, you have in your mind established a pattern of what happens ever y single time you lose a pound or two, much less what happens on the off chance you lose ten or twenty pounds.



What are you to do? Well first you are going to have to break some bad habits you have.



This is going to be hard, especially if it is not just you who need to lose weight but also a friend or loved one. If all parties involved will work together life is going to be a lot simpler and a lot easier.
So first you need to come into agreement that no party will offer temptation to another party when one seems down or depressed, for any reason.



For example if you see that your weight loss partner is a little down or depressed even, DON'T offer to take their mind off things by a night out on the town for pizza, and ice cream and a movie this is NOT going to be helpful at all. Don't use a bad day against someone just because they may be losing weight faster than you are, or have built up stamina faster than you have.



Each person is different, no one lives in the same body as another, and so it is impossible for anyone to really be able to be on the exact same schedule as someone else.



So take things one step at a time, you do not want to be partly responsible for someone not meeting their goals. Now you won't ever be fully responsible, but you will be responsible for being a hindrance to their goals if you continually bring them soda's, chips, candy, pizza, ice cream, dinner out, etc.



Pretend like it is you who has the desire or need to reach certain weight loss goals. Have you taken in to account, that just because you have chosen to lose weight, not everyone in the world is going to be on the same wave length as you. And some people are also going to be insecure when they see that you are beginning to reach small goals.



So what have you planned to do in the advent that someone creates a hindrance for you, whether intentionally or non-intentionally? If you have not given thought to this you may find your weight loss goals very hard to meet. Practically impossible in fact, so this is something you will need to deal with from the start of you weight loss goals. Put this at the top of your notebook.


It is very helpful for you to have a notebook, and to write out specific plans, and or goals. Then after you have written out your plans, and goals you need to read over this often enough so you can remember what your long term goals are.



Long term goals are often lost to the business of everyday living, and everyday stresses.



You may have some very good goals and have a very good plan and reasonable expectations, but if you do not diligently work towards these plans every day, or at the least every other day, it is likely your plans are not worth the effort it took to write them down.



Ok, so the very first thing you need to do before you even develop or write out your weight loss goals is this, decide now how you will deal with down days. The days when you are discouraged or overly stressed are the days that you are most likely to not stick to your plan.



If you live a high stress life for any reason whatsoever this can cause your plan to fall by the way side. When this continuously happens over a period of time, even the best plans will not work.



So if you are the type who tends to turn to towards foods or live with someone who does you will have to be extra careful. Perhaps even carrying a notebook at all times to write down what you are eating and drinking, so that you can "see" exactly how much you are consuming. For some people this will be all that is needed for them to help stop this behavior.



Others may need to take a more active approach. Including setting up a daily schedule that includes set meal times, and times set aside for exercise, even if it is just to go for a walk or to go out in the backyard to jump rope for fifteen minutes or so.



When you find someone or something is creating a hindrance to your reaching weight loss goals you will need to be more observant and diligent to make sure you are able to reach your goals.