Before Starting Any Weight Loss Program

Imagine for a moment, sitting in your Doctor's office, when she enters and, with a solemn tone, informs you that you have contracted a rare disease called...

"Avoidus-exerciseitis".

You Doctor explains that, while potentially deadly, your condition can be treated. To stay alive, you must get thirty minutes of exercise each and every day. Missing even one day would mean instant death.

Given the circumstances, do you think you'd ever say to yourself, "I just don't have the time to exercise today?"

Without knowing you, I'll go out on a limb and say "NOT". Even if it meant the dusting didn't get done...or the lawn went another day without being cut...or any one of the thousand-and-one things on your "to do" list went unfinished, you would do anything to make sure you fit that thirty minutes of exercise into your day.

You see, when you have strong enough reasons for doing something, you'll do it...no matter what. If you say you can't lose weight because you don't have the time or you don't have any willpower, or the sky's too blue, what you're really saying is you haven't come up with enough strong reasons for doing what's necessary.

Every year, millions of people resolve to lose weight. Every year, millions of people fail to follow through on their resolution. Why? They didn't ask...

A simple question. Just 3 little letters. Letters that make a BIG difference.

Most people fail by diving right into a weight loss program without first answering this question. They begin exercising, eating plenty of fruits and veggies, give up that evil chocolate and those hip widening chips. Doing all the things they've been told to do.

But about six weeks later, something happens to challenge their resolve. It could be a party, an illness or a vacation. Whatever the disruption, without a list of strong reasons for not eating that cheesecake, or for getting to the gym when they don't fee like it, they return to their old, familiar ways.

If they had first taken the time to create a list of strong, meaningful reasons for wanting to lose weight, their resolve would have been much stronger and they would have been more likely to stay with their weight loss program.

So if you've tried and failed to shed those unwanted pounds and keep them off, try this simple but powerful exercise before starting another weight loss program.

First, on a piece of paper, write down your goal. Then underneath your goal, complete the statement, "I am (insert goal) because..."

For example, let's say you want to lose twenty pounds. You would write...

"I am losing twenty pounds because..."

-I want to feel better about myself.
-I want to have more energy.
-I want to look sexy in a bathing suit.

...And on and on.

When you've exhausted all of the possible reasons why you want to achieve your goal, take it one step farther. Take each reason and ask "WHY?" again.

For example, "I want to have more energy because..."

• I want to be able to keep up with my kids so we'll have lots of fun and create many happy memories.
• I want to experience more passion in the bedroom.
• It will help me play better golf.

When you can't squeeze another reason from your brain, put your list where you will see it every day. You don't even have to read it daily. Just seeing your list will remind you of what needs to be done to reach your goal.

Having strong reasons - I mean really strong reasons - for achieving your weight loss goal can help pull you through even the most challenging of times.