Are you a ‘look-and-lose' dieter? Have you studied
every diet ever created, read a zillion diet books, and yet are still
unhappy with your weight?
Has your quest for the holy grail of dieting
become a substitute for actually making changes required to take the
ill health out of your current diet?
If so, you may not realise your thoughts are key
to your happiness and success.
Do you look at yourself and say, “I'm fat", or “My
hips are too big"? Many of us look in the mirror and immediately
compare ourselves to those ‘perfect' human specimens we see every
single day on TV, in magazines and in the newspapers.
Often we talk to ourself and make excuses, “It's
my genes", “I'm much too busy to get fit", “I like myself this", as a
way of protecting yourself from the way we see ourselves now and the
way we want to be.
If we were to be truly honest with ourselves most
people actually want to lose a few pounds - if we only knew how.
The good news is you CAN achieve your desired body
shape with the right thinking about yourself, an understanding of how
to get optimal nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to incorporate
activity into your lifestyle to keep your muscles toned.
But most important of all, you need a regular
mental workout to keep your self-image in shape.
Self-image is closely connected to the success or
failure of any goal you choose to seek after, but none more so that the
goal to get yourself fit and healthy.
So how do you go about strengthening your
self-image? Well fortunately your self-image, just like your muscles,
will respond well to a regular work out. You can actually strengthen
your self-image with a few daily exercises.
Exercise One - Self Examination
Start by compiling a list of all those negative
thoughts your have about yourself...I'm undisciplined, I can't manage
my time, I let people down, I can't succeed, I don't exercise enough.
You will need to decide before you start this process that you won't
get discouraged....these are things that you will admit to yourself but
they most certainly don't have to control your life.
Next, compile a second list including everything
you LIKE about yourself. Keep going until this list is LONGER than the
first list you compiled. You might include things such as, I am a good
cook, I can make people laugh, I contribute to the soccer club, my
daughter loves the way I decorate her room.
Then, take your ‘negatives' list and turn it into
your ‘potentials' list. You do this by creating a positive self-image
to every ‘negative' you listed. Instead of “I can't succeed", write a
counter belief, “I will succeed".
Ceremonially throw out the ‘negatives' list - you
are saying goodbye forever! Burn them, trash them, destroy them....they
are no longer going to be a part of your thinking about yourself.
Now, keep your list of potentials in a prominent
place. On your refrigerator door, in your daily journal, or in a
picture frame on your desk. Make sure you have them in front on your
every single day so that you are reading them constantly and
reprogramming your daily thoughts.
Exercise Two: You Can Be What You Want to Be
Now that you have your list of potentials... run
your own visualisation stories so that you can ‘see' yourself in a new
light. For example, if your list of potential includes “I eat just the
right portions", visualise yourself with a moderate portion on your
plate, and feeling completely satisfied at the conclusion of your meal.
Read through your list of potentials every day
taking a few moments of personal quiet time to reflect strongly on your
visualisations. Try starting your day first thing in the morning and
finishing as the last thing at night with visualising yourself being
the person on your list, and doing the things you want to do.
Exercise Three: Keep a Journal of Your Daily
Successes
Keep a record of all the positive changes in
thoughts you have about yourself. We all have triumphs and ‘failures'.
You must record and remind yourself of the positive changes because our
human nature will replay the negatives - sometimes blowing them out of
proportion. It's important to nurture and celebrate the small steps you
make every day.
Exercise Four: Go Easy On Yourself - You Are
Beautiful Work In Progress
Don't listen to the criticism...not your own nor
that of others! Remember you are the designer of your self-esteem, do
not hand this over to other people. You are way too important to give
this away. Protect your role as creator of your own self-image and do
not, take on board negative criticisms. We all make mistakes, and
mistakes can be used to help us learn. Do not criticise yourself for
being human and making a mistake. The only last mistake in the one from
which we never learn to grow.
Exercise Five: Forget About The Past
The only moment you can live is the current one.
You can't live in the future and you most certainly shouldn't live in
the past....the challenge is to take charge of our thinking so that we
think in the same time zone in which we live!
For example we may be tempted to think about
yesterday's failures..."If only I hadn't eaten second helpings", “If
only I didn't reach for the chocolate cookies". If we concentrate on
the mistakes of yesterday this will our brains to replay our failures
and reinforce them to us.
Yesterday is over, today is where you live....make
sure that today you do NOT replay yesterday's failures and make your
resolve to change TODAY.
Exercise Six: Resolve to Change Today
Just as you shouldn't live in the past, you can't
live in the future. You can only live or change today. The oldest
cliché in the world is perhaps one of the greatest truisms of
all...'tomorrow NEVER comes!'
There is no better time than now. So, no matter
what excuses you may have to wait to take those healthy steps you know
you should take, none of them are valid. Do it now, do it today.
Resolve to make a different in your own life before you go to sleep
tonight.
Exercise Seven: Write a Plan For your Life
This is your success plan. If you have not already
done so it is time for you to create direction and purpose in your
plans for yourself. Review your list of potentials and record next to
each potential when you want to achieve this by.
Exercise Eight: Carry Affirmation Cards About
Yourself
This is one of the fastest tools for your success.
You are what you think. Strengthen your self-image every day by
reviewing your thoughts. One of the easiest ways to do this is to carry
affirmation cards in your wallet and review regularly. Affirmation
cards are short bursts of words in business card that prompt and remind
your self-image of your intentions. An example might be:
I can achieve anything that I put my mind to.
I will be satisfied with single helpings.
Try it, you have absolutely nothing to lose and
everything to gain!
Exercise Nine: Change Your Eating Habits
Now that you have set the groundwork in place, you
are now ready to change your physical habits. You are ready to add a
balanced nutritious diet, healthy eating habits, regular exercise and
relaxation.
By using these nine exercises daily to change your
thinking habits, you will be strengthening your self esteem and
unlocking your internal power to make a change in your life. Before you
can change lifelong eating habits, you must first change life long
thinking habits. We are what we think. We can't be something other than
what we believe we can be!
So, do yourself a favour, liberate your self-image
and then, see how much more effective your healthy living plan becomes!
Kim Beardsmore, B.Sc, MBA is a successful weight
loss consultant. To see what you can do today to take control of your
weight, visit her website at http://leanmachine.org/?refid=selfesteem-12867 | 
