Apr 3
Taking it off, once and for all…
…the key to weight loss and permanent change!
Americans are spending more than $60 billion a year to lose weight. Most of the investment is wasted because two-thirds regain the weight within a year and 97% gain the weight back within five years (Marketdata Enterprises).
The secret to making lasting change is to recognize the five stages you go through as you address any undesirable behavior.
- Pre-contemplation: you don’t acknowledge there is a problem. (You are not at this stage or you wouldn’t be reading this blog.)
- Contemplation: you acknowledge there is a problem but you are not ready or you are ambivalent about making a change.
- Preparation: you start to take small steps and explore options.
- Action: you have a plan and become actively involved with different techniques to change your behavior.
- Maintenance: your new behavior has become the status quo.
Understand relapse happens. It is very normal to slip up when you are creating new patterns of behavior. The key is to learn from each relapse and not indulge in feelings of failure or to become discouraged.
It’s important to learn from the relapse, analyze what triggered the slip. When you anticipate high-risk situations, it becomes easier to stick with a plan. Also, be kind to yourself as you attempt to make lasting change. Most people do not follow a straight path to their new behavior and will cycle through these stages many times until change becomes permanent.
While Attempting Change Ask yourself:
- Where are you on the cycle of change?
- What can you learn from relapses?
- How can you make your new behavior a permanent part of your identity?
Finally, after maintaining the new behavior for a period of time, you will notice that engaging in the old behavior is no longer an option because it is no longer “you”! The new behavior is now a permanent part of your identity. That’s transcendence.
Adapted from “Optimal Stress”, Carol J. Scott, M.D.
