Chapter Four

Seeing Your Way through Thick to Thin:

How You Can Put Your Body Image Ahead of that Tantalizing Piece of Chocolate Cake

            Imagine what it would be like to have the perfect body.  Really imagine it.  What are you wearing?  Have you discarded your oversized sweat pants and baggy tee shirts for a form fitting slinky black dress?

            Visualization is an empowering concept that is finding its way into the mainstream.  Athletes do it to catapult their performance to the next level of competition.  Life coaches prescribe it as a form of motivating exercises for their clients.

            Successful dieters do it to set goals for themselves and find inspiration for what it is they’re working so hard towards.  If you see it, it becomes more of a reality for you than if you can’t imagine ever being thin again.

            In this chapter, we’re going to teach you how to use visualization as a powerful diet aid.  We’ll also show you the benefits it can have over your progress when temptations show up on your doorstep and you have to muster the courage to defeat them.

            What Is Visualization?

Simply put, in the realm of dieting, it’s seeing yourself thin - picturing what it would be like if you were a healthy size 12 instead of a 22.  Imagining how you would look as a size 6 instead of a size 16. 

But there is much more to the visualization process than images and photo ops.  It encompasses all five of your senses - sight, taste, sound, smell, and touch.  The cruxes of making it work for you it to make it as real as possible.

Let’s take two people’s experiences with visualization.  Sandy is just starting out.  She hears the word visualization and automatically thinks one thing - picture.  She is able to picture herself thin.  Like a third party looking at a still photo Sandy imagines her new image. 

Sandy likes what she sees, but it’s not very real to her.  It’s like picturing a unicorn - it’s a beautiful sight, but it’s not very realistic and she knows this.  Her visualization doesn’t take long to collapse and she gives up on the process.

Heather, on the other hand, has been practicing visualization techniques for quite a while.  She’s read about the process and it working hard to make it work for her.  Heather uses visualization on a continual basis - throughout her day, as a means to keep her on plan.

How Does Visualization Work?

Close your eyes and picture yourself thin.  Was it like looking at a photograph?  There are two ways to visualize - both can be helpful, but only one will show you what it will be like to live in your new skin as a thin, healthy person.

One is to visualize yourself the same way everyone else does - from the outside looking in.  This is the way Sandy uses visualization, but it’s not a complete method because she’s not imagining with all five of her senses.

The second way is to visualize from inside your own skin - as if you were looking out of your own eyes at the world around you.  Can you see how thin you are?  Yes.  How do you know you’re overweight right now?  You use mirrors.  You look at your stomach hanging over your pants.  You try on clothes and see the bulges in certain areas around you hips and thighs.

Both of these methods can be combined to offer you a comprehensive picture of your future life - if you take the measures necessary to follow through with your weight loss plan.

To intensify the experience, you need to do more than just see things.  Whenever you visualize, you have to hear the sounds around you.  Imagine your husband telling you that you look great!

Hear the waves at the beach as you picture yourself walking along the shore in a bathing suit for the first time in years - unashamed at how you look and not worried about comments people may have made when you were overweight.

Visualize a setting where you are eating according to your lifetime maintenance nutrition plan.  Picture yourself preparing a healthy meal and sitting down at the table to enjoy it without binging on unhealthy foods. 

What does the food taste like?  Don’t imagine cardboard rice cakes or whole grain bread if you don’t like them - visualize tasty foods that are good for you - prepared using one of the new recipes you’ve learned that make diet foods taste like they’re not even diet!

Visualize your new self in a scented scene.  It could be a new perfume you’re wearing with a beautiful new dress as your husband takes you out for an evening to celebrate your success.

Or, you could visualize yourself in a botanical garden having a picnic in a new sundress - with the fragrant scent of budding spring flowers blooming all around you.  It could even be the smell of your husband’s cologne as he embraces you because your newfound body image has rekindled the flame that has long since been dead.

While you’re visualizing using your sight, smell, taste, and sounds, you should also incorporate touch.  Picture yourself sliding on a small pair of jeans.  Feel what it would be like to not have to struggle with a button or hold your breath getting in and out of clothes.

Feel yourself sitting down in a movie or on an airplane and not squeezing between the arm rests.  Feel the energy you have now.  Can you jog a mile when before, you wouldn’t have been able to walk a quarter of a mile?

All of these senses link together to give you a realistic image of what you want your life to be like when you succeed with your weight loss goals.  You have to know where you’re going if you want your map to success to be accurate in getting you to your destination.

What Can I Get Out of Visualizing Myself Thin?

Visualization does more than just make you excited thinking about how sleek you’re going to look in the future.  It prevents bad behavior from making you stumble over common diet obstacles that could plague your efforts.

Whenever you’re faced with a tough craving, for example, call on visualization to help you see that eating a box of cookies is going to make you wait longer to reach your goals.  Instead of reaching your goal in 6 months, those cookies could cause a delay of 3 extra weeks.

It can also help you stop patterns of self-abuse that many chronic dieters face during tumultuous times when trimming calories from their eating plan.  In mid-binge, you can visualize your future progress and put aside the sabotaging meal and be back on track that instant.

Giving up is a big problem for those who go on diet after diet and yo-yo their way to bigger sizes as the years wear on.  Visualization gives you hope that here really is a light at the end of the tunnel.  If you can see it, you can be it.

How to Perfect the Art of Visualization

No one can be a master at visualization the moment they first try it.  Inevitably, you’ll leave off a very important aspect of the imaging process that needs to be incorporated into your scenes.

You can become better at visualization by practicing different scenes that motivate and inspire you to succeed with your weight loss efforts. 

Try different images, such as:

Romantic scenes (with complete adoration from your loved one).

Career scenes (where you’re standing at the head of the board room giving a confident presentation, not hiding in the back of the room stuffing your face with donuts).

New family lifestyle scenes (more energy for the kids or a fun camp-out that you couldn’t manage as an overweigh person).

Shopping scenes (imagine you’re trying on all of the latest styles, in smaller sizes than you’ve work in years).

All of these images will boost your realization that you don’t have to live the rest of your life as a fat person.  It’s hard being overweight.  You’re labeled.  You’re depressed.  You see no end in sight to the humiliation you feel as you walk through the grocery store wondering if everyone is staring at what goes into your basket.

Your romantic life may have become stagnant because you don’t feel comfortable being sexual in your own skin.  Or, your spouse may not be attracted to you anymore since you’ve gained weight.  It’s a harsh reality, but one that can be changed if you do the work and stick to your diet using the tips we’re outlining for you here.

Some people shun the concept of visualization just because they think it’s too hokey or weird for them to try.  Amazingly, though, chronically overweight individuals will try dozens of pills and wonder plans to try to lose the weight.

Don’t overlook the power of your own mind when it comes time to defeat the patterns you’ve put in place to ruin your health and pack on the pounds over the years.  While visualization may be a new concept to you, it’s certainly not new to many successful individuals, and what worked for them just might work for you, too!

Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels

Have you ever heard that saying?  Think about it.  How much do you want to lose weight?  How bad is it gnawing at you to be thin and attractive and healthy once again - or for the first time ever in your life?

You have to be ready to do it before any method of diet and weight loss is going to work for you.  Are you ready to trade in your favorite food indulgence for a smaller size waist?

You need to start weighing in on the pros and cons of whatever you put in your mouth.  Don’t silence your conscience anymore when it’s trying to tell you that you shouldn’t be eating that second slice of New York Cheesecake. 

Use visualization to help you stop, think, and picture what that cheesecake is going to do to your body - to your progress.  Yes, you can use visualization to picture what could happen if you veer off the path of weight loss success, too.

Some people do use negative visualization as a form of preventing themselves from falling off the weight loss wagon.  But if you do use that method, then you also need to counter it with positive images of your future healthy self, so that you know what it is you’re working towards.

Visualize Your Portions

Visualization isn’t only about your body image.  While that is a great tool for picturing yourself thin and setting new goals for yourself, visualization can also help you in another way.

As you may already know, Americanized portions of food are out of control!  We super-size everything for pennies extra, or else we don’ feel as if we’ve gotten a good deal.

In restaurants, you don’t even have to ask for super-sized food, they simply serve a platter piled high with fried food and meals smothered in gravy.  Food chains are competing to see who can serve more for less!

When you buy a hamburger at a fast food chain, you probably think it’s a single serving.  Well our single servings have grown from 1 ounce of meat in those burgers back in the 1950s to 6 ounces in today’s world!

We are so accustomed to our giant sized servings that whenever average folks were asked to show what a single serving was, although they pared it down from a super-size serving, it was still a gross over estimate of a real single serving.

You need to learn how to visualize your portions so that you don’t go overboard in caloric intake.  Bringing your portions under control will help you get your weight under control.

Did you know?

A single serving of fruit is the size of a tennis ball.

A single serving (1 ounce) of cheese is the size of four dice?

A single serving of bread is the size of 2 cassette tapes?

A single serving of pasta or cereal is the size of a hockey puck?

A single serving of a baked potato is the size of a computer mouse?

A single serving of chicken is the size of a bar of soap?

When you begin picturing your food portions the right way, it will help you reign in the calories that are causing your weight to skyrocket.  From now on, get a doggie bag for half of your entrée in a restaurant.  Use smaller plates or bowls to keep you from filling a platter to the outer edges. 

Measure your food, if you think you have a problem with portion control, and when you measure it, ingrain that image into your mind so that you can call upon it the next time you need to visualize correct serving sizes.

Don’t forget that the key to visualization is allowing yourself to believe that you can reach your goals.  Picture you loving your new body, not practicing self-loathing. Every time you visualize, picture you making healthier choices, like preparing a small salad instead of a bowl of ice cream.

 Create a Good Visualization Setting

The best way to visualize anything is to do it without interruptions.  Find a comfortable spot in your home or office and pick a relaxing way to sit or lie down.  Make sure there are no loud noises.  It’s okay if you hear the sound of a clock ticking - some people prefer to have a steady rhythm to visualize by.

Before you launch into a visualization scene, you need to be completely relaxed so that you can tap into your subconscious mind.  That way, you’ll be recording new behaviors, even if they’re only in your mind - it will become more doable for you.

Take several deep breaths and allow your body to relax.  Then, slowly see the picture coming into focus as you prepare your mind to imagine all of the sensory aspects of the scene - the way you look, the sounds filling the air, the scent of your surroundings, the way your food tastes, and the feel of your now thinner skin.

Practice this scenario until you begin to feel comfortable and at ease using visualization techniques to help you through tumultuous times when you’re making lifestyle changes such as your dietary habits.

Chapter Three

Outfox Your Cravings -

Learn to Eat Using Moderation, Not Deprivation!

            How many times have you felt deprived of pleasure, comfort or gratification when you’ve been on a diet?

            Chances are, you’ve experienced those emotions with every diet you’ve tried. Know that these emotions are real, not simply products of your imagination - and, there are some very good reasons for it.

Diets can be good - it’s great to have a plan. But, a rigid diet is bound to make you feel deprived - and this is the number one reason why people fall off the diet wagon. It’s almost as if you’re set up to fail from the get-go.

You won’t transform from the Pillsbury Dough Boy to Elle McPherson on any diet unless you’re aware of how and why your body works for or against you. For example, it doesn’t make sense that we want to eat when we’re not even hungry. But, there are reasons for it.

One of the reasons that we crave foods and eat when we’re full is fairly simple. In a recent scientific study, it was discovered that people link food to positive associations in their lives. Positive associations that serve as stimuli are usually unrelated to food (for example, popcorn and a movie or hot dogs and the Fourth of July).

It was also found that if our brains are working properly and we don’t feel deprived of those foods, we become more relaxed - not quite as likely to binge. So, if we allow ourselves to indulge (moderately) in a piece of chocolate or a donut after being subjected to outside stimuli, we cease to crave it.

“Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly, have seeds of good in them and require moderate use rather than total abstinence.”
-Samuel Butler

            You might think that the diet would surely be over if you started to eat foods that are disallowed on your diet plan. Not necessarily!  If the act of eating the forbidden food is planned and not compulsive, you stand a much greater chance of making the diet a success.

            Compulsive eaters can’t seem to disassociate themselves from the sights, sounds and smells (outside stimuli) that cause these intense cravings. Whenever they’re subjected to outside stimuli, they can’t control the urge to eat - and eat - and eat.

But, what if we planned ahead to indulge just a bit - when and if we happen upon a food with a scrumptious smell?

Allowing yourself the anticipatory pleasure of knowing that you will enjoy the taste or smell of whatever food might tempt you can make cravings much less important. Plan to enjoy that Twinkie or scoop of ice cream - just do it in moderation. You’ll be far less likely to binge.

The Emotional Impact - What Happens When We Suffer from Diet-Related Guilt?

Diet-related guilt causes major emotional impact when we “give in” and indulge in forbidden foods.

We’ve been told time and time again that successful dieting hinges on pure, unadulterated willpower. Now, researchers find that our inability to resist just one more potato chip isn’t about willpower at all.

So what is it about? Shouldn’t you just make up your mind to resist all food temptations that come your way? It isn’t that easy. Willpower alone won’t make a diet successful.

Many people think it’s enough to just make a resolution not to overdo it, and then resolve to follow through on their promises.  Your willpower is not where the diet dos or don’ts come into play.  Willpower will not determine whether or not you win or lose.

If you do rely wholly on willpower to help you succeed in your weight loss program, you are setting yourself up for failure. External factors play too much of a roll in being able to turn willpower on and off.

You never know when you’ll be subjected to a stimulus that will bring your cravings to life. The pungent smell of vanilla can make you crave chocolate chip cookies. The aroma of a roast in the oven might tantalize your taste buds for mashed potatoes and gravy.

            The key to this dilemma is simply to plan ahead. Carry an energy bar in your purse or keep a supply at home to eat when you want a chocolate chip cookie. Know that you’ll allow yourself a small scoop of mashed potatoes and a spoonful of gravy on top - or, if you’re doing the cooking, change the recipe to make it healthier.

            Most of us can’t will ourselves to stop thinking about the foods that outside stimuli is bound to trigger. The role these stimuli play in our everyday lives are forceful and usually strike without warning. Have a plan and say goodbye to diet-related guilt.

            Replace your dependence on willpower with a solid plan. Here are some tips for planning your diet strategy:

            Fill your kitchen coffers with healthy snacks. Get rid of old temptations.

            Plan to give in to your cravings sometimes.

            Incentives work! Plan a massage or a pedicure to boost your morale.

            Try to spend a couple of hours in bright light or sunlight. It’s a scientific fact that this boosts your moods.

            Be patient with yourself.

            Enlist the emotional support of a friend - someone you can call on when cravings set in.

            Meditate. If you’re in touch with yourself, you’ll be far less likely to binge when temptation hits.

            Make a deal with yourself to do one more lap on the track or drink three glasses of water before you give in to a craving.

            Substitute healthier foods (less calories) that have the same flavor as the food you crave.

The Physical Impact - Why and How Do Cravings Affect Your

Body?

            We’ve discussed how the sensory nerves in our bodies greatly impact our ability to diet successfully.  Another factor is your body’s state of health when you begin the diet. For example, if you’re anemic, you’ll tire more easily, and depression can set in and cause you to fall off your diet and indulge in junk foods - just to make you feel better.

            You may be addicted to certain foods. If you have symptoms such as headaches, mood swings, depression, or insomnia, you may have a food addiction. You can control these symptoms on a temporary basis by eating the foods you crave.

            More often than not, the foods we crave are processed carbohydrates. Intakes of carbohydrates actually change the brain’s chemistry by increasing the levels of serotonin - which controls our moods.

Before you begin a diet, it’s a good idea to get a full blood test to find out if you’re anemic, deficient in a certain vitamin, hypo-glycemic or diabetic. If you test positive for any of these conditions, you can work around them by modifying the diet to fit your needs.

            If you just can’t live without a few chips or a piece of pie, have it and enjoy it! Then, reduce (don’t do without) your food intake for the remainder of the day. This is the key to keeping those brain waves (neurotransmitters) happy and still diet successfully.

            All diets promise quick and easy solutions to your weight problem. But, the odds are 20 to 1 that you won’t keep the weight off. Before you begin a diet, consider the health risks and by all means, choose a diet that will work for you. For example, a diet that touts meat as an important staple, won’t work if you’re a vegetarian.

            Know yourself and prepare yourself mentally and physically before entering any diet plan. Then, forgive yourself and start all over if you don’t follow the plan perfectly.

Here Are Some Diet Tips That Will Help Your Body to Withstand

Cravings

            Avoid alcohol and stimulants such as caffeinated drinks.

            Exercise increases the serotonin (the feel-good chemical in your brain) Keep your body moving by finding an exercise you like - dancing, walking, yoga or gardening are just a few.

            Eat small meals several times a day. You won’t be so tempted by cravings if you’re full.

            Don’t seek perfection of your body. Learn to love what you see in the mirror.

            Drink water! Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but without water, the body won’t operate in its full capacity.

            All calories are created equal. But, if you choose wisely, you’ll feel more satisfied with a lot of a low calorie food than a tiny bite of a high calorie one.

            Don’t eat high carbohydrate foods at night. If lots of carbs are in your diet, try and eat them in the early hours.

            Eat dark chocolate when you have a “chocolate” craving. Dark chocolate is lower in calories and sugar and higher in magnesium and fiber.

What Causes Binges - and Why Do You Lose Control?

            In a recent issue of Oprah magazine, Michelle Burford revealed a motto that helped her lose over 60 pounds: “A binge is like a banquet in a graveyard - with me as the only guest.” Now, whenever she feels a “binge” coming on, Michelle plays those words over in her mind to remind herself that her eating habits were literally killing her.

            For some of us, binging is not a life or death situation. It simply keeps us from reaching the goals we’ve set for our bodies. But, as we’ve learned, food cravings that lead to binging is a nemesis that we sometimes can’t control no matter how hard we try.

            We now know that our emotional and physical well-being is closely associated with food cravings. The intense hunger we feel when we binge isn’t always because we’re hungry. In fact, we usually aren’t hungry at all when we binge.

            Binging usually follows a period of dieting and is usually done alone. Large amounts of food are consumed in a relative short amount of time and the ‘binger’ feels a lack of control during the episode.

Some dieters purge themselves after a binge by vomiting (Bulimia) or taking large doses of laxatives. If you have experienced this serious eating disorder, by all means seek help from a professional.

But most of us binge periodically when we crave certain foods. Late night binges are common during dieting and the depression and guilt that follow causes most dieters to just give up.

If you experience this type of binging, there are some things you can do to regain control of your eating:

            Eat regular meals or try eating several small meals a day.

            If your binge eating seems to be associated with depression, try an herbal remedy such as ginseng or rosemary.

            If stress is the cause of your binging, treat it with relaxation exercises, aromatherapy, yoga and massage.

            Develop a hobby, such as sewing, gardening or home improvement to keep you from obsessing about food.

            Go to bed early when you feel like binging. You won’t be as likely to order a pizza after you put on your pajamas.

            Seek help on line with support groups that experience similar problems.

            If you must indulge, think about how you can limit the intake of the food you crave.

For most of us, food cravings are a part of life - sometimes under control, and sometimes not. Resign yourself to the fact that you’re going to give in periodically. If you do, forgive yourself and hop back on the diet plan.

Moderating your eating habits will lessen the chances of giving in to intense cravings caused by outside stimuli. You won’t feel so deprived of the foods you love and you’ll be less likely to binge.

Cravings have been part of humankind for millions of years. Willpower, alone, won’t conquer them once and for all. But, with smart management you can co-exist with your cravings.

Moderation is the silken string running through the pearl chain of all virtues.

-Bishop Hall-

When you’re consciously competent, you are capable of sticking to your diet plan, but you have to think about it.  You have to put in the effort to see the results.  It’s still not quite a natural part of your mental process.

This is a good phase to be in.  You’re past the point of failing your diet programs.  You know what you need to do, and you can accomplish your goals.  It may be hard still, but it’s do-able!

Many of us strive to be consciously competent because we can’t see any further.  We don’t know that there is still one more phase of growth that is possible to achieve. It’s a level that only a few reach - only those who know of its existence and continue on their plan long enough to reach it.

Unconscious Competence

You’re doing it, and you’re not even having to think about it.  It’s as natural as breathing to you.  That’s what unconscious competence is all about.  Have you ever heard people talk about the way some dieters resolve to make their diet program a ‘way of life?’

Once it’s your way of life - your normalcy - then you achieve unconscious competence.  Too many dieters don’t believe there is such as thing as unconscious competence. 

They assume it will always be a chore to diet - planning meals, cooking calorie-friendly dishes, avoiding temptations.  How could anyone ever get over that hump in the road to weight loss success?

But it happens.  It happens to Bill and Shelly and Mrs. Jones.  Every single day people just like you land in this level of contentment.  They are the ones who lose the weight and keep it off - for good - 5, 10, even 15 years down the road.

The four phases of growth are like learning the alphabet.  First you’re not even aware that there is an alphabet.  You’re toddling around.  Your needs are met by the grunts and finger pointing you do to communicate.

Then, you see a string of 26 hieroglyphics.  What could it mean?  Someone tells you it’s the alphabet - it’s how people communicate with one another.  Suddenly, you are aware that there is something you should know, but don’t.

So you begin practicing to learn the alphabet.  You try really hard.  You know the song, you stumble once in a while, but overall, you have the 26 letters down pretty good.  You just need more practice.

All of a sudden, the alphabet is just something you know - like your name.  You don’t think about everything you had to do to learn it, because it’s so uneventful to you now that it’s old news.

Nobody said reaching this level of growth would be easy.  It is difficult at times.  Just like a smoker experiences nicotine withdrawals and cravings, and considers going back to smoking, you will have your battles and mental toughening moments as well.

“If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?”

Knowing these four phases of growth in a dieter’s learning process will give you a map to the winner’s circle.  Now, you’re aware that there is a phase in the process where it won’t be hard work anymore - it will just be a natural part of your life.

To achieve this goal of unconscious competence, you have to continually adjust your program and your mindset.  The more good decisions you make about your diet, the closer you become to your goal.

It’s like the adage ‘practice makes perfect.’  Incorporating miniature successes into your everyday life will blanket you in optimism.  Celebrate every instance where you make a good decision about your diet.

If you pass on a piece of cake, chalk it up as another notch in your belt of success.  If you suffer a lapse and don’t let it turn into a relapse or collapse, celebrate your bravery in accepting your mishap and getting back on plan.

Every meal you eat - along with every bite you pass up - is one reason to celebrate your achievements and help you reach your goal.  We want to feel good about ourselves. 

It’s not fun to be burdened with guilt and worry and health concerns.  Obesity is an epidemic in America today.  Every person is responsible for curbing the out of control eating habits we’ve grown accustomed to in our culture.

In the following chapters, we’re going to teach you what it takes to get to the level of unconscious competence.  You already know it takes time and practice.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  Now, we’ll give you the skills and lessons to rehearse for the day when eating nutritionally is a way of life for you - no longer something you’re “going through.”

Everyone on a diet program will have different demons to combat.  Some will find it hard to stay out of fast food drive-throughs.  Others will need to revise their habit of grazing throughout the day.

Unconscious competent dieters used the impending payoff as an incentive to reach their goals.  They’re enjoying the rewards of all of their hard labor.  They have graduated from the school of nutritional aptitude with a diploma that will allow them to stay thin for a lifetime.

Learn how to turn your diet routine into a regular pattern.  Break the habits that have put your health in jeopardy.  By the time you finish reading Stick to Your Diet, you’ll have leapt from conscious incompetence to a higher stage of victory.

Chapter Two

Dieting is Easy - But Weight Loss Winners Know How to Keep the Momentum Going

            Dieters know how easy it is to pick and plan.  There are probably hundreds of diets on the market - from liquids only to extreme calorie reduced diets.  There are diets that you eating like a caveman, diets consisting of raw food only, and diets that resemble a more natural approach to eating.

            Choosing one is the easy part.  Even starting a diet is easy.  At that point in time, we’re geared up for the task - excited about the prospect of losing weight and seeing ourselves thin.

            But always, in the back of our minds, we’re thinking about what life was like when weren’t dieting.  When creamy sauces and rich desserts didn’t make a dent in our conscious mind.

            Every dieter travels along four phases of growth in his or her journey to becoming physically fit.  Where you fit along this process determines your level of success.  Once you read about the four stages, figure out where you should be categorized, and then work to reach the next level.

            Unconscious Incompetence

            The word ‘incompetence’ usually has a derogatory connotation associated with it.  When you call someone incompetent, it’s usually a slander to his or her intellectual ability or describes a flaw in character.

            All of us start out at the unconscious incompetence stage of dieting.  We eat what our parents feed us, and learn our habits from them.  We aren’t even aware of calories or fat grams or dietary fiber.

            To be ‘unconscious’ doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out cold.  It means you are unaware.  Incompetence means that you’re lacking skill in a particular area.  When you combine the words, you’re at a level of dietary unawareness and lack of skill. 

You don’t know how to diet, and you don’t even know that you should be dieting.  You are oblivious to the problem completely.  This may or may not be before you begin to gain weight.

“Amazing! You just hang something in your closet for a while

 and it shrinks two sizes.”
-Unknown-

If there is no weight problem, then you’re probably not paying attention to what goes in your mouth.  If you can eat 20 donuts without gaining a pound, then you might just continue enjoying your food without any consequences in your mind.

Or, you might have gained 15 pounds, but not really be aware of it - until your doctor points out that you’ve put on quite a bit of weight in the past 12 months.  Suddenly, you’re aware of a problem.

Conscious Incompetence

Once you begin a diet in an effort to lose weight, you’re at the stage of conscious incompetence.  You know the plan you need to follow, but you just don’t seem to do it well.

This phase of growth is plagued by complete collapses in diet regimes.  We know we’re not supposed to eat wrong, but we do it anyway.  We’re aware that we don’t have the skills necessary to stay on track.

This awareness may aggravate the situation because we begin to associate ourselves with being incompetent - and we’re not very forgiving.  We don’t see the word incompetence as meaning “lack of skill,” but rather a more severe label of “stupid” or “failure.”

“The second day of a diet is always easier than the first.

By the second day you’re off it.”
-Jackie Gleason-

This phase of growth if often where yo-yo dieters get stuck.  We try temporarily, fail, and quit.  Try again, fail, and quit.  The more we try and fail, the more we predict our own failures - we’re setting ourselves up to not succeed!

            Unfortunately, of the 45 million Americans that go on a diet each year, most of them suffer a complete collapse and lose the battle of the bulge.  But again - it’s not because diets don’t work, because they do!

            That’s where Stick to Your Diet comes to the rescue.  If diets work, and you know how to stay on plan and not watch your goals and efforts collapse into thin air, then you can join the ranks of the long-term losers - weight loss losers, that is.

            When a dieter has a complete collapse, they don’t just fail for one meal, or one day - they fail over and over again.  They fall off the wagon constantly and consistently until the one thing they’re good at is getting off of a diet.

“I’m on a 30-day diet. So far I’ve lost 15 days.”
-Unknown-

            It doesn’t have to be this way.  You need to learn how to turn an end of your diet program into a temporary and minor setback.  First of all, it doesn’t matter if you caved in for fourteen days. 

            You deal the cards.  You have the choice as to whether or not you want to reenter the game to win, or sit back and let everyone else enjoy the spoils.  Of course, it’s always easier to simply say, “Ah, forget it - I’m no good at dieting anyway.”

            That’s not a fair statement to make.  You just haven’t been given the right tools to succeed on your plan.  I’m not talking about the diet itself - they give you the facts and figures and you know just what to do.

            I’m talking about the tools necessary to play the mental portion of the game - not number crunching your calories or measuring out your meats.  Mental strengthening is a lesson often not included with your diet kit!

            There’s an old adage that claims that nothing tastes as good as thin feels.  Well I know many dieters who would beg to differ - at least in the beginning stages of their diets.  We’re not going to try to talk you out of loving food.

            That’s not a solution.  You’ve tasted it.  You know it’s good.  And unlike other substances, it’s a necessity for you to survive.  The only problem is - mankind eats way more today than we need to survive - we eat for reasons other than survival - we eat for pleasure.

            In Stick to Your Diet, we’re going to explore methods that will help you stay on track using realistic situations and strategies.  We’re going to arm you with a finely tuned defense mechanism that will topple even the strongest temptations - your mind.

This is the End of Chapter One.

The Next Posting Will Be The Beginning Of Chapter Two.

            A lapse is one thing.  You made a mistake.  You got right back on track, and you continued to lose weight on your diet of choice.  With a relapse, you don’t get back on track right away.

            You recognize your failure, but then you give up - but only for a while.  Have you ever eaten a fattening lunch with your co-workers and said to yourself, “Well, I blew it today,” so you ate poorly again for dinner that night?

            This is a very common way of thinking for American dieters.  We love this level of self-sabotage because we get just enough latitude to get our way - and get our fix - but not enough to hang ourselves completely.

            It’s almost like choosing the lesser of two evils.  Either I can get off of my diet completely, or just quit for a day.  Neither one is good for weight loss, and if you’re serious about losing, then you have to combat this way of thinking with a new plan of attack.

            One reason it’s so hard to steer clear of a relapse is because outsiders often con us into believing what we want to believe - that the day is blown and we might as well enjoy the rest of it.

            Food has long been a joyous part of global cultures.  In every society - from the cavemen to modern day - has relied on food for celebrations of birthdays, weddings, promotions, success, and more.

            People on this level tend to talk themselves into thinking they deserve a reward for all of their hard work on the diet so far.  “Oh, one day won’t hurt me - I’ve done well all week.” 

            Any person who’s ever been on a diet and lost 4 pounds in a week knows that you can regain those 4 pounds in half an hour.  This phenomenon has long baffled us, but it happens.

            Many relapses are preventable (or avoidable) just by knowing when it might occur.  Is someone’s birthday coming up in the office - where everyone chips in for pizza and a cake?  Are you going to visit your mom for a Sunday dinner and you know she’ll try to stuff you with fattening foods?

            In order to resist these well-meaning saboteurs, you need to practice what you’ll say when they shove a plate of cookies under your nose, and insist that you take just one.  The best way to reflect their offerings is to offer a compliment of your own.

            “These look absolutely wonderful, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass tonight.”  Lie if you must - a little white tale never caused great damage.  Tell them you’re stuffed!  Tell them you’ll try some another time.  But practice resisting so that you won’t be stammering for an excuse.

A lapse is a very temporary and insignificant mental slip.  It’s a pebble in your path to success, and it’s bound to happen to every dieter at one time or another.  Everyone has lapses. 

Maybe you accidentally complained to a co-worker who was known to gossip to the boss - that’s a lapse in good judgment.  You’ll suffer the consequences, but you learn from it right away and steer yourself back on the right track, vowing not to let it happen again.

When a chocolate cake is calling your name, you have a choice to make.  Deny yourself the guilty pleasure, partake in it in moderation, or cave in and eat a huge slice with extra frosting on the side.

A lapse is the latter of the three.  So let’s just say it happens.  You caved in, and cut yourself a heaping plate of buttercream chocolate cake.  The first bite hits your tongue, and Mmmm…it was worth it.

The fourth bite hits your mouth and you start wishing you hadn’t given in to your cravings.  When the plate is cleared, you feel devastated, like a failure who can’t stay on a plan for any length of time.

Successful dieters know what to do in this situation.  They evaluate their actions.  Did they commit a crime?  No.  Did they clean out the cupboards of every sweet dish in the house?  Not quite.  Did they succumb to their conniving devil-on-the-shoulder and do something they knew was contradictory to their goals?  Yes.

Nothing more.  Nothing less. 

When this scenario happens, you have to nip it in the bud.  Stop it before it gets out of control - before it controls you.  We’re not talking about before you clean your plate - that’s done - it’s over.  The cake was tasty.

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.”
-Erma Bombeck-

Erma’s comments are typical to the mindset of most dieters who have a lapse in their program.  The time when you need to regain self-control is immediately after that savory dessert.  Before your next meal - before the hour is up.  You have to accept that it happened. 

Don’t feel ashamed or depressed about it. It’s normal.  You are normal for wanting to give in once in a while.  Sure, the best option is for you to learn how to live through those impulsive moments without derailing your diet efforts, and we’ll get into detail about how to accomplish that later in the book.

You have a choice.  Recognize that you had a lapse in good judgment and move on - or fall to the next level on the three-tiered sabotage scale and crash even harder when you land.

Falling Off the Wagon:

Why We Cave In and Eat Our Willpower

            Fast food franchise owners are having a hard time figuring out how to spend all of your money!  Representatives for the diet industry say we’re spending more than $30 billion dollars each year hastily stocking up on diet pills, fitness videos, health club memberships, and other weight loss mechanisms - but we’re devouring junk food almost as quickly.

            Diets work.  If you’ve ever been on one - even for a three-day span, you’ve probably seen a reduction in your weight.  Companies in the diet industry are just selling to a never-ending, recycled market.  Customers try one diet, fail, and try another.

            But if diets do work, then why are we failing?  Why do consumers spend money on Atkins and then try Sugar Busters only to move on to Weight Watchers?  What makes them float from one plan to another without seeing success?

            Scientists are trying to figure out if there is some medical reason why we tend to fall off the wagon.  Some blame it on a low level of Leptin - proteins in the blood that make you feel full faster.  Others say it’s a simple formula - eat fewer calories than you spend.  Everybody has their own opinion on the matter.

Every year, 45 million Americans go on a diet.  The key is not in which diet you choose to follow, but in how you prepare and plan to stay committed to the regimen.  Almost all of us have experienced it - you’re doing great, watching the pounds slough off, when all of a sudden, you can’t get that chocolate cake off of your mind.

Some swear they even hear it calling their name!  What you have to learn to do is to analyze that situation quickly - before the calorie-heavy morsels reach your mouth - and stop the damage from being done - or at least minimize its severity.

There are three levels of what dieters perceive as common failures in a diet program.  They’re known as “falling off the wagon” - but you can either bounce off the ground unharmed, or have the back wheels knock you unconscious in the mud.

Part Two Next. Learning to Deal With A Lapse.

How To Stick to Your Diet

Proven Methods to Help You Stay on Track - No Matter Which Diet Plan You’re On!

Say Goodbye to Cheating, Failing, Feeling Guilty, & Falling Off the Wagon Forever

                                                 By Kay Morton

 Table of Contents

Chapter One:                          Falling Off the Wagon: Why We Cave In and Eat Our Willpower

Chapter Two:                          Dieting is Easy - But Weight Loss Winners Know How to Keep the Momentum Going

Chapter Three:                        Outfox Your Cravings - Learn to Eat Using Moderation, Not Deprivation

Chapter Four:                       Seeing Your Way through Thick to Thin: How You Can Put Your Body Image Ahead of that Tantalizing Piece of Chocolate Cake

Chapter Five:                        The Kitchen Is Closed - Prevent 24-Hour Grazing!

Chapter Six:                          Are You Prepared for the Long Haul?

Chapter Seven:                     Reinventing Your Identity - a Healthy New You!

Chapter Eight:                      Refocus, Recommit, and Regain Control of a Situation!

Chapter Nine:                       Avoiding Catastrophes During Special Situations!

Chapter Ten:                         Remember Your Roots - You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!

HERBS

INDICATIONS

DOSAGE

SIDE EFFECTS

Bilberry

Diabetic Retinopathy, Allergies, Cataracts, Varicose Veins

80 - 160mg two to three times daily. Standardized to contain 240mg anthocyanidins

None

Borage Oil

Arthritis, Atherosclerosis, High Cholesterol, PMS

1000mg up to four times daily. Standardized to contain 240mg gamma linolenic acid

None

Boswellia

Arthritis, Atherosclerosis, High Cholesterol, PMS

400mg three times daily

None

Bromelain

Inflammation, Sports Injuries, Respiratory Infections, Dysmenorrhea

250-750mg three times daily on an empty stomach

GI upset at larger doses

Cranberry Extract

Urinary Infection, Kidney Stone Prevention

1 capsule twice daily Standardized to contain 11-12% quinic acid

None

Dong Quai

Menopause, Menstrual Cramps, PMS

500-1000mg three times daily. Photosensitivity at higher doses

None

Enchincea

Common Cold, Viral Infection, Impaired Immune Function

250mg two to four times daily Standardized to contain 3.5-4% total echinacosides

None

Evening Primrose Oil

(See Borage Oil)

Borage Oil has five times the GLA of Evening Primrose Oil

Feverfew

Migraine Headaches Arthritis

50mg twice daily Standardized to contain 0.2% parthenolides

None

Garlic

Infections, High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes

300-600mg up to three times daily

May cause GI irritation

Ginger

Morning or Motion Sickness, Vertigo, Arthritis, Nausea

250-500mg up to three times daily Standardized to contain 0.8% essential oils

Can cause GI irritation at high levels

Ginkgo Biloba

Cerebrovascular Insufficiency, Memory Loss, Dementia, Vascular Disorders

60mg twice daily Standardized to contain 24% ginkgoflavonglycosides

Rare incidence of GI upset and headache

Ginseng, Panax

Illness Recovery, Enhancement of Sexual Function, Mental & Physical Performance, Fatigue

100mg one to three times daily Standardized to contain 7% ginsenosides

At higher doses possible anxiety, irritability, breast pain, menstrual changes, hypertension, insomnia

Ginseng, Siberian

Stress, Fatigue, Atherosclerosis, Enhancement of Mental & Physical Performance

100-200mg up to three time daily Standardized to contain 0.5% eleutheroside

At higher doses possible insomnia, irritability, melancholy, anxiety

Goldenseal

Infections, Especially GI Parasitic & Mucous Membrane

200mg up to three times daily. Standardized to contain 0.5% total Alkoloids calculated as hydrostine

Higher doses may interfere with B vitamin metabolism-Not recommended during pregnancy

Gotu Kola

Cellulite, Wound Healing, Varicose Veins, Scleroderma

60-120mg daily. Standardized to contain 60% asiatic and madecassic acids & 40% asiaticosides

None

Grapeseed Extract

Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration, Bruising, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Vascular Fragility

50-100mg three times daily. Standardized to contain a procyanidolic value of 95

None

Gugulipid

Atherosclerosis, Elevated Cholesterol & Triglycerides

25mg three times daily

None

Hawthorn

Atherosclerosis, High Blood Pressure, Congestive Heart Failure, Angina

120-240mg three times daily. Standardized to contain 1.8% vitexin - 4′-rhamnoside or 10% procyanidins

None

Licorice

Allergies, PMS, Menopause, Peptic Ulcer

380-760mg 20 minutes before meals. Delycyrrhizinated licorice (DLG) is preferred

Can cause sodium retention, high blood pressure

Milk Thistle

Liver Disorders, Hepatitis Cirrhosis, Psoriasis

100-200mg up to three times daily Standardized to contain 80% silymarin calculated as silibin

None

Saw Palmetto

Benign Prostate Enlargement, Decreased Function of Testes

160mg twice daily. Standardized to contain 85% to 95% fatty acids and sterols

None

St. John’s Wort

Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia

150-300mg three times daily. Standardized to contain 0.14% hypericin

At high levels can cause photosensitivity

Valerian

Insomnia, Anxiety, Intestinal Spasm, High Blood Pressure

150-300mg one hour before sleep time. Standardized to contain 0.8% valerenic acids

None