by Tim Connor
Losing weight, like any other objective in life requires a plan, a process and action. So here are the ingredients of any good plan;
- Make the decision.
- Have a goal.
- Have a timeframe or a deadline.
- Establish benchmarks.
- Control your thinking.
- Chart your progress.
- Develop a spirit of optimism.
- Believe you can succeed.
- Know why you want to achieve this
goal.
- Don’t lose your passion.
- Overcome temptations.
- Develop a spirit of optimism.
- Don’t quit just cause it’s a little hard.
- Reward yourself.
So, here’s the plan I developed and ask you to consider. Not that you will or need to lose fifty pounds.
Let me make this perfectly clear - this is not a sanctioned O’Charley’s diet. O’Charley’s is not in the diet business and obviously you should check with your physician before changing your lifestyle in any way including your food intake. I am also not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination that all you have to do is eat salads several times a week and you will miraculously lose a lot of weight.
Obviously you need to watch the rest of your diet in between and a little exercise from time to time won’t hurt.
Make the decision
I decided on April first that I would reach my high school weight and I gave myself 12 months to do it. Well, I reached my goal of my high school weight in only three months and I still didn’t like the way I looked. That was 205 pounds and a loss of thirty-five pounds. So I changed the goal to 195. Well, I reached that in just two more months. You guessed it, I still had breasts.
So it was off to 190. Here’s the key, once you make the big decision, I mean really make it, all of the little decisions along the way are easy. Sure there were times when I really wanted a piece of Key Lime Pie, but I carried this little card around with me reinforcing my commitment to my big decision, therefore no Key Lime pie, for now anyway.
Have a goal
It must be written down, specific, realistic and achievable. It should have smaller goals along the way and it should have accountability checkpoints or something to measure along the way
Have a timeframe or a deadline
Establish the time it is going to take you to reach your goal. But, keep in mind that success will require discipline, self-accountability, courage and permanent lifestyle changes and not short term diet fads.
Establish benchmarks
Give yourself monthly goals that are aggressive but achievable as long as you stuck with your plan.
Control your thinking
This will be your biggest challenge. Controlling that organ on top of your neck. It will be the cause of your success or your failure. One way to do that is to memorize affirmations that you really BELIEVE. Just re-stating words won’t do it. Remember for an affirmation to be effective it must be stated in the present. Not, I can lose 25 pounds but I weigh (fill in what ever your goal is). Trust me on this, there is a wide body of evidence from a variety of sources that stating your affirmations “As If” is more powerful than, I hope, I wish, some day etc. By the way putting pictures of yourself 25 pounds thinner on the refrigerator won’t do it. Sorry. Another way is to use psychological anchors. One of mine is – every time I think I want a desert, I picture this 500 pound fat guy with my face, jogging down the beach, flab bouncing off his knees and he is stuffing whatever desert I am thinking about eating in his mouth. Works every time.
Chart your progress
Keep a record of your progress. I don’t care if you do it daily, weekly or monthly but have a routine that you stick with. During the first three months I weighed myself every morning. Now I only weigh myself once a week. I also wrote down my progress in my personal journal every morning, regardless of what the scale said – good news or bad news.
Develop a spirit of optimism
You can do it if you think you can. And remember you are doing it for you, not your parents, spouse or anyone else. Why not surround yourself with some great quotes that inspire you to stay motivated. Email me if you would like a list of mine. (tim@timconnor.com)
Believe you can succeed
If you believe you can do it, really believe, you will. It’s all about intent. If you succeed it will because your intent was to succeed. If you fail it will be because your intent was to fail. You have to be honest with yourself here folks. You can try all you want but you can’t fool your unconscious mind. It is like the hard drive on your computer. Everything is stored there waiting for retrieval. So if you don’t want something coming out of it, you can’t let it in to it.
Know why you want to achieve this goal
Goals are important but reasons keep you on track. Make sure you are clear on why you are doing this.
Don’t lose your passion
If you fall back, so what, don’t let that derail you. No one sails easily from beginning to end in any journey. Expect setbacks, but don’t lose your passion for your goal because of them.
Overcome temptations
This is a lot easier that you might think. And I am not referring here to “Just Say No”. Remember, if you have really made the big decision, all of the little daily decisions are easier. However, if the little daily decisions are hard then you can bet you haven’t really made the big decision.
Don’t quit just cause it’s hard
Quitting is easy. Any success, sooner or later requires effort, commitment and persistence.
Reward yourself
My plan was as follows. Any month I hit my goal I allowed myself either a; desert, bread, or a couple glasses of wine. The second month I was successful I could have two of the above. And on the third successful month I could have one portion of all three or three of one, but that was it.
Now that I have hit my Junior High School weight I allow myself two of all three once a month – that’s it. This is the new plan. Every month I can have – two deserts, two portions of bread ( I love bread) and two glasses of wine – that’s it.
You’ve gotta have a plan with some rules and some guidelines. You can’t just say” I’m going to eat less or I’m going to cut back on deserts or yada, yada yada.
Losing weight, like any other objective in life requires a plan, a process and action. So here are the ingredients of any good plan;
- Make the decision.
- Have a goal.
- Have a timeframe or a deadline.
- Establish benchmarks.
- Control your thinking.
- Chart your progress.
- Develop a spirit of optimism.
- Believe you can succeed.
- Know why you want to achieve this
goal.
- Don’t lose your passion.
- Overcome temptations.
- Develop a spirit of optimism.
- Don’t quit just cause it’s a little hard.
- Reward yourself.
So, here’s the plan I developed and ask you to consider. Not that you will or need to lose fifty pounds.
Let me make this perfectly clear - this is not a sanctioned O’Charley’s diet. O’Charley’s is not in the diet business and obviously you should check with your physician before changing your lifestyle in any way including your food intake. I am also not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination that all you have to do is eat salads several times a week and you will miraculously lose a lot of weight.
Obviously you need to watch the rest of your diet in between and a little exercise from time to time won’t hurt.
Make the decision
I decided on April first that I would reach my high school weight and I gave myself 12 months to do it. Well, I reached my goal of my high school weight in only three months and I still didn’t like the way I looked. That was 205 pounds and a loss of thirty-five pounds. So I changed the goal to 195. Well, I reached that in just two more months. You guessed it, I still had breasts.
So it was off to 190. Here’s the key, once you make the big decision, I mean really make it, all of the little decisions along the way are easy. Sure there were times when I really wanted a piece of Key Lime Pie, but I carried this little card around with me reinforcing my commitment to my big decision, therefore no Key Lime pie, for now anyway.
Have a goal
It must be written down, specific, realistic and achievable. It should have smaller goals along the way and it should have accountability checkpoints or something to measure along the way
Have a timeframe or a deadline
Establish the time it is going to take you to reach your goal. But, keep in mind that success will require discipline, self-accountability, courage and permanent lifestyle changes and not short term diet fads.
Establish benchmarks
Give yourself monthly goals that are aggressive but achievable as long as you stuck with your plan.
Control your thinking
This will be your biggest challenge. Controlling that organ on top of your neck. It will be the cause of your success or your failure. One way to do that is to memorize affirmations that you really BELIEVE. Just re-stating words won’t do it. Remember for an affirmation to be effective it must be stated in the present. Not, I can lose 25 pounds but I weigh (fill in what ever your goal is). Trust me on this, there is a wide body of evidence from a variety of sources that stating your affirmations “As If” is more powerful than, I hope, I wish, some day etc. By the way putting pictures of yourself 25 pounds thinner on the refrigerator won’t do it. Sorry. Another way is to use psychological anchors. One of mine is – every time I think I want a desert, I picture this 500 pound fat guy with my face, jogging down the beach, flab bouncing off his knees and he is stuffing whatever desert I am thinking about eating in his mouth. Works every time.
Chart your progress
Keep a record of your progress. I don’t care if you do it daily, weekly or monthly but have a routine that you stick with. During the first three months I weighed myself every morning. Now I only weigh myself once a week. I also wrote down my progress in my personal journal every morning, regardless of what the scale said – good news or bad news.
Develop a spirit of optimism
You can do it if you think you can. And remember you are doing it for you, not your parents, spouse or anyone else. Why not surround yourself with some great quotes that inspire you to stay motivated. Email me if you would like a list of mine. (tim@timconnor.com)
Believe you can succeed
If you believe you can do it, really believe, you will. It’s all about intent. If you succeed it will because your intent was to succeed. If you fail it will be because your intent was to fail. You have to be honest with yourself here folks. You can try all you want but you can’t fool your unconscious mind. It is like the hard drive on your computer. Everything is stored there waiting for retrieval. So if you don’t want something coming out of it, you can’t let it in to it.
Know why you want to achieve this goal
Goals are important but reasons keep you on track. Make sure you are clear on why you are doing this.
Don’t lose your passion
If you fall back, so what, don’t let that derail you. No one sails easily from beginning to end in any journey. Expect setbacks, but don’t lose your passion for your goal because of them.
Overcome temptations
This is a lot easier that you might think. And I am not referring here to “Just Say No”. Remember, if you have really made the big decision, all of the little daily decisions are easier. However, if the little daily decisions are hard then you can bet you haven’t really made the big decision.
Don’t quit just cause it’s hard
Quitting is easy. Any success, sooner or later requires effort, commitment and persistence.
Reward yourself
My plan was as follows. Any month I hit my goal I allowed myself either a; desert, bread, or a couple glasses of wine. The second month I was successful I could have two of the above. And on the third successful month I could have one portion of all three or three of one, but that was it.
Now that I have hit my Junior High School weight I allow myself two of all three once a month – that’s it. This is the new plan. Every month I can have – two deserts, two portions of bread ( I love bread) and two glasses of wine – that’s it.
You’ve gotta have a plan with some rules and some guidelines. You can’t just say” I’m going to eat less or I’m going to cut back on deserts or yada, yada yada.
No comments:
Post a Comment