| Personal Support is Essential for Successful Weight Loss |  |
What are the first things you think about if you want
to lose weight? Well, you'll probably think about the
foods you'll eat and the ones you're going to reduce or
cut out altogether. You'll also consider what exercise
you're going to take and how often. But there's one
critical factor that is often overlooked or certainly
not given enough thought. It's the one thing that has
the most dramatic effect on your success with weight
loss.
What is it? It's a support partner, someone who
provides the motivation, encouragement and support
that you most need. After all, you know enough about
eating healthily and sensibly, and exercising
regularly, but it's actually doing it that's the hard
part. When you have someone on your side who will be
there with you whatever happens, celebrating the
successes and overcoming the setbacks, you're more
likely to keep doing what you need to do. If you
continue to eat healthily and exercise, you will
achieve the weight loss results you want and keep the
weight off in the long run. Studies have shown that
people who have support, lose 2.5 times more weight
than those who try to do it alone.
Now, you may have friends or family members who are
willing to support you and that's great to an extent.
However, generally, they will know you too well and be
used to accepting your excuses and habits. To lose
weight, you're going to need to make some changes and
you'll need someone who's willing to make a stand with
you so that you don't slip back to your old ways.
Choosing an outsider who is independent of everything
else going on in your life is much better at not only
giving you what you most need, but challenging you to
see what you're doing and holding you accountable for
making the necessary changes to lose weight. Your
commitment is higher if you share with others your
intentions and you can recap with them on how you're
doing and discuss your intentions for the next week.
You'll also need to be heard and understood, two very
basic human needs that most people don't get in their
lives and this often stands in the way of you
successfully losing weight.
So where do you start? First have a think about what
support, motivation and encouragement you most need and
then define it specifically in writing. To find the
right support partner for you, I suggest you consider
the following:
· What motivates you and what doesn't?
· In what way do you need to be supported?
· In what ways can someone most encourage you?
· What do you want the person to be like? i.e. a good
listener, non-judgemental and a healthy attitude to
losing weight.
· Someone who will keep reminding you of how well
you've done so far, reminding you of your successes.
· Someone who can empathise with you.
· Someone who tells you what to do or doesn't tell you
what to do.
· Someone who's fun and light-hearted even when you're
finding it tough.
It will take a bit of time and thought to be clear
about the type of support you most need and I really
encourage you to do it. Knowing this enables you to
communicate what you as an individual most need and get
it. Once you have the right support partner for you,
you'll find losing weight much easier.
Don't miss out on this one important factor if you want
to be successful with your weight loss. Find a support
partner now. For individual support with a buddy see
http://www.weightlossbuddy.com or professional support
in a group see
http://www.weightlosscoaching.com/WeightLossGroupCoaching.htm
Wendy Hearn
Weight Loss Success Coach
Author of "What's Eating You? - The Top 10 Things That Stop YOU
From Losing Weight" http://www.PositiveWeightLoss.com
Subscribe to her Weight Loss Success Newsletter
mailto:weightloss@wendyhearn.par32.com
Wendy works with people who want to successfully lose weight.
http://www.WeightLossCoaching.com
Copyright 2004, Wendy Hearn. All rights reserved.
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