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Make it matter

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Kathy wanted to lose "JUST twenty pounds." She talked about this a lot, but since it wasn't such a big deal, she never stayed on her diet long enough to make any progress. When I asked her about ways her weight was impacting her life, she couldn't come up with much of anything.

She was successful at her job, her health wasn't an issue, and many days she completely forgot about her weight. Kathy admitted, "The only thing I can think of is that I wish I could fit into my nice business suits."

Using the following scale from 1 to 10, I asked her to choose how much her current weight was affecting her.

1 - My weight has NO impact on my life
5 - It bothers me some, but not enough to do anything about it
10 - It overwhelms me. I think about it all the time. I desperately want to change

Initially, her answer was a number 3. Because her extra weight didn't affect her very much, Kathy had a hard time staying motivated to work on her goals. Then I asked her to push harder and think of any other possible ways her weight was impacting her life.

As she looked at her situation more closely, Kathy discovered a few more things that bothered her besides her closet full of suits. So she added these items to her list.

* Have more self-confidence in public
* Feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit
* Like myself more when I look in a mirror
* Want to be a singer in a night club
* Want to start a running program again
* Desire to be at a healthy weight before I get pregnant

By identifying more ways her weight was affecting her, Kathy was able to push her level on the life impact scale to from a 3 to an 8 and within a few months, she had lost the 20 pounds.

Drive your motivation

If losing weight hasn't been a high enough priority for you lately, it's time to invent some ways to make it more important. Think more deeply about ways your weight is affecting your life, then write a list of these. Study the list and tell yourself they matter a LOT.

Then draw on self-talk, support systems, or any other means you can find to increase your resolve. Anytime your motivation slides downward, go back to the life impact scale and determine that you will push it higher. Then invent ways to get yourself back on track and keep you moving toward success.


You've probably already made a list of reasons WHY you want to lose weight. Either choose one item from your list or invent a new way that your weight impacts you, then make that your top priority for the next month.
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