Conquering the Beginning Stages of Your Weight Loss Journey

The first few weeks of a weight loss program are critical because that is the time when most people throw in the towel. Yes, the majority of people quit before they ever get started! One subject that always comes up is how much weight have I lost in the first few weeks. One must remember that they should use more than just the bathroom scale to determine progress being made. Body measurements, body fat, and energy level are other ways to determine how things are going in regards to their weight loss efforts. I have noticed that true frustration sets in when someone watches the scale and uses that as the ONLY benchmark to measure progress. Once the frustration sets in, look out! Here come the negative thoughts!

When this happens, the chances of someone throwing in the towel are pretty high. Most people start thinking that what they are doing to lose weight isn’t working when actually it is their viewpoint that is not working. The way you see things has a tremendous impact on the outcome of whatever you have set out to do. People that fail in their weight loss efforts have specific thought patterns that cause them to revert back to their old lifestyle. I have worked with numerous individuals that lose weight the first few weeks, for example 5 pounds. Warning signs that they have stinkin thinkin is when they complain about losing ONLY 5 pounds in two weeks. It is almost as if they think they should have hit their goal weight in two weeks. As soon as that person displays disappointment that they ONLY lost 5 pounds in two weeks, I know that they are headed down the road to failure. The crash is coming!

Why does someone complain about losing ONLY 5 pounds in two weeks? It is their negative thought pattern and viewpoint that eventually cause them to quit. When they do that, they are kissing those dreams goodbye and setting themselves up for lifetime of “yo-yo dieting”. They aren’t quitting on me! They are quitting on themselves!

My suggestions to conquering the first few weeks of the weight loss journey would be to:

• Don’t start if you aren’t serious because you are slowing down your metabolism when you lose weight and then gain it back.
• Write down your weight loss goals and have pictures of how you want to look posted all over the house.
• Identify specific thought patterns as to why you failed in past weight loss efforts so that you won’t make the same mistakes again.
• Find people who have been successful at maintaining their weight and do what they do!
• Hire a professional so that you understand what it truly takes to lose and maintain your weight because there are many myths about weight loss. It takes understanding the truth to achieve long lasting success.

For those of you who have lost weight and kept it off, what did you do during those first few weeks to keep a positive attitude? What was your self-talk like?