Heroic Powers and Permanent Weight Loss

In our previous post we stated that when it comes to weight loss, Just Do It is a myth and not a plan.

We described an individual’s attempt to lose weight permanently as a heroic saga and offered a fresh start to your own weight loss story: examining how you APPROACHED weight loss rather than blaming yourself.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

If you explore different approaches to weight loss, you are confronted with a mind-numbing array of options — literally thousands of self-help books, online workshops, celebrity-endorsed programs, and more.

Your friends, family, and co-workers may also offer guidance based on their personal experience or stories they have heard from others.

Many of these possibilities seem credible.

How are you supposed to decide? Which approach will be more effective than the ones you tried before?

Sorting through the mountain of available information, the different approaches begin to meld together. It is easy to feel overwhelmed.

So you take your best guess.

Whatever approach you choose — a book recommended by a friend who recently cut gluten from her diet, a wellness program offered by your employer, or a free trial membership at a local gym — you bear down and Just Do It.

But this is real life, not a Reality TV show.

Which means that you end up back at Square One.

Rinse and repeat.

Ugh.

Stop The Insanity And Heroically Find Your Way

At the end of our previous post we recommended that you resist the impulse to take immediate action in the throes of a crisis.

But in light of your burning desire to do something, not taking action is easier said than done.

During a crisis every fiber of your being yearns for an answer. The urgency makes it difficult to respond constructively.

But what options exist besides guessing?

Consider the following alternative: admitting that you don’t know which approach to choose.

It’s the truth — and believe it or not — it’s also a step forward.

Now imagine yourself standing alone on a mountain summit, planting a flag in the ground.

A caption below the image reads something like:

“This is one of those moments in life when uncertainty rules, but the challenge belongs to me. I am the only one who can figure out what to do next.”

Feel free to change the image and caption if these don’t suit you. The point is to mark the moment and acknowledge your truth.

We call this Claiming Ownership.

It is a heroic step toward rewriting your weight loss story.

How To Cope With The Anxiety Of Ownership

Claiming Ownership has one notable side-effect: you feel more uncomfortable than if you chose a new approach right away.

Discomfort can take many forms — anxiety, sadness, irritability, and others — all of which feel intolerable sometimes.

These powerful negative emotions compel you to seek out more comfortable terrain by quickly choosing a new approach or returning to an old one that didn’t work.

However, those options require fantasy or sci-fi magic to help you lose weight and keep it off — and this is real life!

A better response is to adopt a Beginner Mindset.

It’s All Relative

Imagine that a little time has passed since you planted that flag on top of a mountain and Claimed Ownership for your weight loss challenge.

It’s an hour or two later — or perhaps the next day and your crisis comes to mind. But instead of feeling resolved about taking your time to find a new approach, you feel anxious.

The feeling is uncomfortable, and instead of passing quickly through your body, it seems to linger. Scary images of your hypothetical future self emerge in your mind’s eye.

You look hideously fat and unable to fit into any of your clothes. Or you are angry and out of control, a bag of chips or cookies in hand.

The images may be figments of your imagination but that doesn’t keep your anxiety from escalating.

Now what?

In this situation the key is to remember that discomfort is expected whenever you’re trying something new — like admitting that you have no clue how to lose weight and keep it off.

You Are A Beginner

Do you remember what it feels like to be a Beginner?

Bring to mind learning to ride a two-wheel bike or swimming in deep water where your feet couldn’t touch the bottom.

Or think of an experience from adulthood such as figuring out a new tech device or taking on a novel do-it-yourself project.

Do you recall being afraid that you’d never actually ‘get it’?

In hindsight it may seem like a fleeting moment. But at the time you made a choice to continue trying in the face of fear and uncertainty.

You probably didn’t think of yourself a hero back then, but you didn’t give up. You eventually figured out how to ride on two wheels, swim in deep water, use that new tech device, or complete that do-it-yourself project.

The point is this: your discomfort did not indicate you were on the wrong track or made a big mistake.

It was a normal and expected reaction to trying something new. And it passed relatively quickly.

If you hold onto this perspective and take the time you need to find a new approach to losing weight, the result will be the same — you will eventually figure it out.

Getting Practical

If Claiming Ownership and adopting a Beginner Mindset resonate inside you, consider the following practical suggestions:

1. Commit to NOT starting a weight loss plan for the next 4 weeks. It will take you at least that long to explore different approaches and find the one that seems right for you.

2. Read this post on 3 consecutive days to allow the ideas of Claiming Ownership and Beginner Mindset to really sink in.

3. Write down your previous approaches to losing weight and try to identify what didn’t work.

4. Formalize your acceptance of being a Beginner by telling a trusted friend that you plan to start losing weight soon but are taking your time finding a new approach.

5. Send us an e-mail message. We’d love the chance to offer encouragement for your fresh start!

When you’re ready, read on to discover the next chapter in your new weight loss story.