Nutrition
6 tips on maintaining weight-loss motivation
Nutrition
6 tips on maintaining weight-loss motivation
1. Remember your initial reasons for wanting to lose weight.
Recall why it was so important to you to slim down when you started this journey, and why you need to persevere.
2. Use physical reminders of your goal.
Keep a picture of an outfit you’re going to buy when you reach your goal, or a photograph of a thinner you where you will see it every day.
3. Keep in mind how far you’ve come.
Compare yourself now to where you were before you started losing weight. How much weight have you lost? How much better do your clothes fit you? How has your energy level and health improved? What can you do now that you couldn’t do before? Going back to your old eating habits won’t seem so tempting when you think how it will undermine all the good things that weight loss has brought you so far.
4. Try the “shopping bag cure.”
Often, people don’t realize how much weight actually weighs. Sounds crazy, but when people tell me they’ve lost “only” 20 pounds, I ask them to fill a couple of shopping bags with 20 pounds of books and carry them up and down the stairs a few times. Everyone is always glad to put the bags down and report that they had no idea how heavy 20 pounds really is.
So the next time you’re feeling uninspired, fill a shopping bag or two with the amount of books or cans of food that equals how much weight you’ve lost and carry them up and down a flight of stairs three times. You’ll be amazed at what you’ve lost, and you’ll be relieved to put the bag down. You couldn’t have put that weight down weeks ago, when it was still around your waist, hips and thighs!
Keep the bag intact, and add more books or cans as you continue to lose weight. It’s a wonderful motivator.
Page 1 of 2 – more tips for weight loss motivation on the next page!
Excerpted from
The G.I. Diet Clinic by Rick Gallop. Copyright 2007 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
5. Get support.
Buddy up with friends, a spouse or family members who are trying to lose weight. They will give you a sense of camaraderie and encouragement as you strive for your goal, and you can turn to them for support when you need it.
6. The $10 cure
This is a motivator that people often stumble upon by accident. The siren song of a greasy lunch draws them into a fast-food chain, where they order a burger with the works, a large french fries and a shake. Mid-afternoon, they feel lousy and can barely keep their eyes open – they’ve found out the hard way where straying from healthy food choices gets you.
I call this the $10 cure because it’s the food version of what immigrants (like me) used to call the “$1,000 cure.” Whenever a new arrival, after a long, cold winter in Canada, started to pine for “the old country,” the cure was to get on a plane and go home for a week. All the reasons that originally persuaded the person to emigrate would come crashing back, and the thought of flying back to Canada would begin to look pretty good again.
With food, the cure costs less – say, $10. But this is a motivator of last resort only; I certainly don't want to encourage people to abuse their bodies and feel awful! However, if you’ve been unceasingly pining for unhealthy foods, go out for lunch with some friends and order a high-G.I. meal – perhaps a couple of slices of double-cheese pizza, a Coke and a brownie. Your mouth may enjoy it, but I guarantee that a couple hours later you’ll be regretting the deviation!
Staying motivated is crucial to successful weight loss. It keeps you focused and on the right path, and it will get you through the pitfalls you’ll encounter. Be sure to use all six of the above strategies – and you probably have a couple of your own that work well.
Page 2 of 2
Excerpted from
The G.I. Diet Clinic by Rick Gallop. Copyright 2007 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Recall why it was so important to you to slim down when you started this journey, and why you need to persevere.
2. Use physical reminders of your goal.
Keep a picture of an outfit you’re going to buy when you reach your goal, or a photograph of a thinner you where you will see it every day.
3. Keep in mind how far you’ve come.
Compare yourself now to where you were before you started losing weight. How much weight have you lost? How much better do your clothes fit you? How has your energy level and health improved? What can you do now that you couldn’t do before? Going back to your old eating habits won’t seem so tempting when you think how it will undermine all the good things that weight loss has brought you so far.
4. Try the “shopping bag cure.”
Often, people don’t realize how much weight actually weighs. Sounds crazy, but when people tell me they’ve lost “only” 20 pounds, I ask them to fill a couple of shopping bags with 20 pounds of books and carry them up and down the stairs a few times. Everyone is always glad to put the bags down and report that they had no idea how heavy 20 pounds really is.
So the next time you’re feeling uninspired, fill a shopping bag or two with the amount of books or cans of food that equals how much weight you’ve lost and carry them up and down a flight of stairs three times. You’ll be amazed at what you’ve lost, and you’ll be relieved to put the bag down. You couldn’t have put that weight down weeks ago, when it was still around your waist, hips and thighs!
Keep the bag intact, and add more books or cans as you continue to lose weight. It’s a wonderful motivator.
Page 1 of 2 – more tips for weight loss motivation on the next page!
Excerpted from
The G.I. Diet Clinic by Rick Gallop. Copyright 2007 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
5. Get support.
Buddy up with friends, a spouse or family members who are trying to lose weight. They will give you a sense of camaraderie and encouragement as you strive for your goal, and you can turn to them for support when you need it.
6. The $10 cure
This is a motivator that people often stumble upon by accident. The siren song of a greasy lunch draws them into a fast-food chain, where they order a burger with the works, a large french fries and a shake. Mid-afternoon, they feel lousy and can barely keep their eyes open – they’ve found out the hard way where straying from healthy food choices gets you.
I call this the $10 cure because it’s the food version of what immigrants (like me) used to call the “$1,000 cure.” Whenever a new arrival, after a long, cold winter in Canada, started to pine for “the old country,” the cure was to get on a plane and go home for a week. All the reasons that originally persuaded the person to emigrate would come crashing back, and the thought of flying back to Canada would begin to look pretty good again.
With food, the cure costs less – say, $10. But this is a motivator of last resort only; I certainly don't want to encourage people to abuse their bodies and feel awful! However, if you’ve been unceasingly pining for unhealthy foods, go out for lunch with some friends and order a high-G.I. meal – perhaps a couple of slices of double-cheese pizza, a Coke and a brownie. Your mouth may enjoy it, but I guarantee that a couple hours later you’ll be regretting the deviation!
Staying motivated is crucial to successful weight loss. It keeps you focused and on the right path, and it will get you through the pitfalls you’ll encounter. Be sure to use all six of the above strategies – and you probably have a couple of your own that work well.
Page 2 of 2
Excerpted from
The G.I. Diet Clinic by Rick Gallop. Copyright 2007 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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